Sand Mines on Mansfield Road

[Limey 242]

Bored at work today I was browsing the archives of the "Peak District Mines Historical Society" and came across THIS article on sand mines along Mansfield road in Nottingham.

I do remember seeing the caves in the cemetery at the top of Gallows Hill from the top deck of the bus going into Nottingham as a youngster.

[plantfit 7,655]

Ayup Limey,

Back in the early eighties I was invited to go down the caves on Peel street by the Nottingham civic society to have a look round and to see if it would be viable to clear them out and open them to the public. It started off by going through a locked steel door and down about twenty concrete steps into an old air raid shelter, from there through a small hole cut in the sand stone and along a passage way that was part of the original sand mine, this went towards the rock cemetery where our guide told us there was a cave in during mining operations back in the 1700s, some miners were killed and because it was such a disaster a bill was passed in parliament banning any form of deep mining for sand in England. there was some dates scratched in the walls and roofs of the "caves" which would support the 1700s mining operations,

Cheers

Rog

[i the t 5]

do you mean the entrance on the corner of peel st and north sherwood st which in the car park at the back of the golden fleece ?

[plantfit 7,655]

Thats the one, looks like a small brick built block with a steel door

Rog

[radfordred 6,284]

They just get better - Flythrough of the Peel Street caves or Rouse's Sand Mine

[smileysal 3]

Oh My God! Peel street cave system is huge. I've seen a snippet of a map before, but didn't realise just how big it is. I do hope they decide to open it up to the public, i for one, would love to go and see this. Cheers rr.

[carni 10,094]

Bump

I am just doing a bit of browsing the archives and came across this thread about the Tunnels and Caves under Peel St and Mansfield rd. We have quite a few different discussions on this subject but I have been reading up on this one. The fly through on #5 really shows how much area they cover under ground in the City. I can't help wondering if there have been any known subsidence causing damage to buildings over the years and also the view of the tunnels underneath the Cemetery makes me wonder how deep they are beneath the graves.

[mercurydancer 1,104]

What a fascinating post! I lived on Bobbers Mill Road in the 60s and 70s and there was a sand quarry close to us which was about exhausted then was a scrap metal yard, then into housing. It appears to be the same seam of sandstone as at the Mansfield Road end of the cemetery.

[DAVIDW 1,695]

Crikey ! Amazing .

Wonder who pays the electric for all those spotlights ?

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

I believe the sandstone found around Nottingham, including the huge outcrop that Nottm Castle sits on is what was known as the Bunter Sandstone measures, now called the Sherwood sandstone measures.

It forms an anticline, or should that be a "syncline" I can never remember, around Nottm City, dips down from the castle going south, and dips down north of the castle, though at a shallower angle, hence the sandstone mining north of the city.

At what was Clifton Colliery, it was found just below the shaft depth, so shows how steep the dip angle is from the castle to the Trent.

It is fairy thick too, the Stone Head drift went through it to get through a major fault, 1:6 to 1:4 for 3/4 mile, and most of that was through the Bunter Sandstone.

The South Main Returns drift ran parallel, but was so steep in parts that it had wooden steps and safety rails to hold on to descending the drift, no supports either, just natural sandstone all the way down.

[Limey 242]

The Bunter sandstone was also the major aquifer north of the city that a number of pumping stations like Papplewick removed water for the city from although water was(is) pumped from the Bunter within the city limits - which shows how thick the sandstone is!

You are correct John - a "hump" type structure is an anticlyne whereas a trough is a syncline. The Peak District National Park is basically centered on a huge anticlyne that has been weathered away from the top revealing the limestone structure in the center, followed by millstone grits (of which I think the bunter is part), then the coal measures. This explains why the district is surrounded by coal mining areas. The coal measures get progressively deeper as you go east and west from the peak district, and to a certain extent to the north and south too!

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Now here's a little question, what is the Millstone Grit??? There are so many of them now that geology interested people have stopped calling them that.

Now, at the bottom of the "lower coal measures" is a thick gritty sandstone that was called the Millstone Grit for well over a century, ironically, looking at oil drilling bore logs, there are coal measures below that Millstone Grit, though none are workable.

There is also a Millsone Grit at the bottom of the "Upper Coal Measures". The Notts and Derbyshire coalfield doesn't have the Upper Measures, they start in Yorkshire. In most of our old collieries around Nottingham, we have the "Barnsley Bed" Top Hard seam, which in Yorkshire is in the Middle Coal measures, overlain with.......Millstone Grit.

They also have a Millstone Grit at the bottom of their lower coal measures, then a couple of workable seams below that.

There also must be a couple of Millstone Grits closer to the surface that were mined for "Millstone" grinding wheels.

When you look back, it's no wonder the NCB/BC started numbering the seams instead of using the old names..So many had different names as you went around the country, and yet were the same seams...I think the Clowne seam of Derbyshire was the deep soft of Nottingham, and of course the famous Barnsley Bed that used to power the huge power stations was our Top Hard seam.

So geologists should start to think of starting at the top and call the "Millstone Grits" MSG1, 2, 3 etc..

Incidently, the Sherwood Sandstone layer at Boulby Mine, in North Yorks is saturated with heavy brine, whereas, as you mention, it's a principle source of fresh drinking water across Nottinghamshire, South Yorks and Lincolnshire.

And the same aquifier almost outcrops just west of Ruddington and was the reason Clifton could not access coal reserves any further than Ruddington.

[DaveN 1,118]

There's a book called "Sandstone Caves of Nottingham" published by East Midlands Geological Society with history of the caves with maps and photos

http://www.emgs.org.uk/files/publications/sandstone.htm

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Somewhere on this site is a link to a digital tour of the caves.

[poohbear 1,360]

It's hard to imagine what Nottingham looked like before the sandhills on Mansfield Road and the Derby Road/Canning Circus area were levelled over the last three centuries.

Mansfield Road had sandy cliffs and caves the full length right up to Forest Road and the windmills as can be seen in this painting.

Derby Road was a deep rutted narrow cutting into the town until the whole area was levelled and filled in the 1700s and the following century. Dozens of ancient man made caves were exposed as the sand was removed and the hollows filled.

Clues can be seen on Wollaton Street where the worked sandstone can be seen in places. The workmen removed millions of tons of sandstone to form a cutting, making Wollaton Street a gentle slope down to the town.

[Cliff Ton 10,498]

Derby Road was a deep rutted narrow cutting into the town until the whole area was levelled and filled in the 1700s and the following century. Dozens of ancient man made caves were exposed as the sand was removed and the hollows filled.

Even in the 1860s it still looked like a dirt track. This is the top of Derby Road, and today the entrance to The Park would be immediately on the left. The toll-house is built into the excavated rock.

[Chulla 4,946]

In front of a house just down from St Andrew's church (Forest Road and Mansfield Road) there is an entrance, clearly visible from the road, to underground caves. Same system or a different one?

[Cliff Ton 10,498]

This entrance?

I always assumed it was the servants entrance for the big house. Never thought about it being an entrance to caves.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

That looks like a Watson Fothergill house.

[DaveN 1,118]

According to a map in the EMGS Book "Sandstone Caves Of Nottingham" the entrance in front of the house on Mansfield Road led to "Gallows Hill Mines"

[poohbear 1,360]

There is an extensive system down there including areas used as air raid shelters in WW2.A lot of it is considered unsafe nowadays.I lived with a girlfriend in that house for a while in the seventies and there are bricked up cave areas in the rear gardens of those houses.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1823325