Dunsley Springs Level above the Via Gelia
Mines trip to Dunsley Springs Level. Sunday 24th
Nov Present: Clive B, John K & Jon H
What was originally billed as a full day
investigating some of the Mine adits in the Via Gelia
in the Peaks, ended up as an afternoon exploring one
of the many delights of the area; the Dunsley Spring
Level. Clive and John arrived at a good time, about
10.30 in the morning, just in time for breakfast! And
then Clive made himself very useful by playing with my
baby son whilst John mithered over whether we'd ever
get underground! Mid-day marked the time for action
and we drove up to near Slaley on Bonsall Moor. With
map and description in hand we headed across the
fields. The mud was thick and glutinous, boding well
for next week's Alstonfield Walk! A little bit of
searching on the wooded slopes high above the road
running along the Via Gelia brought us to an obvious
entrance in a dip not too far below the Dunsley
Spring. The entrance floor itself was littered with an
array of rubbish, especially broken bottles, which we
cautiously crossed. This very quickly cleared though
and became a spacious walking passage, about 2 metres
in height. Not far into the adit, the floor was
covered with a beautiful, white crystalline layer and
a little cluster of cave pearls . The wall itself was
coated with gleaming, white flowstone made up of a
multitude of tiny, hanging gours. There were lines of
'sharks-teeth' drip formations at roof level. This is
a really beautiful stretch of passage.
  
Some very pretty formations are forming quickly.
The formations ended after about 60 metres, and
the passage continued as easy walking. Further along
we came across some fine examples of sweeping
pick-marks in a dead end passage, 'Egg and Eye'
(hand-picked sockets) appear at regular intervals, and
in some places decayed timber stemples are still in
place, although, even when new, some seem unlikely to
have been substantial enough to actually support the
roof-blocks they are set against !
 
Very clear pick marks on the wall.
Eventually the passage entered a section where the
miners found the roof was so unstable that they had to
insert a series of stone stemples, with their lower
ends supported on a pack of rubble running along the
left wall. Some of these stemples have collapsed, and
it is necessary to squirm carefully through the
resulting jumble of blocks which almost block the
passage. At the far end of the adit (which must be at
least 300 metres in), we reached a shaft in the floor
which occupied the whole width of the passage floor.
It looked to be about 15 metres deep, and provided
temptation for a future trip!
 
The ghost of 'T'Owd Man' still walks these
passages!
Having finished the trip we retired to the Bonsall
Barley Mow for an exceptionally tasty pint and Alan,
the landlord came across and filled us in on some very
interesting facts about the Springs and the likelihood
of a settlement in that area in days gone by called
Dunsley.
 Jon Hardy
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