Gell's Adit, a lead mine adit in the Via Gellia, Derbyshire
Date: 9th April 2008
Overview:
A pleasant little lead mine adit high in the wooded slopes of the Via Gellia consisting mainly of a single mined passage with short interconnecting oxbows.
Make your trip worthwhile by visiting a couple of other mines in the area too, such as Bonsall Leys Level and Slaley Sough.
Weather conditions:
Warm and dry.
How to find it:
Park in the Goodluck Mine layby (see Slaley Sough description for further details). Take the public footpath that starts at the layby and crosses the small wooden bridge over the stream, following it steeply uphill. A less-vegetated area on a very steep slope, with small open workings, appears. There's a ramshackle wooden fence around part of these, over a rock bridge.
Bear upwards and left of this, almost as far as the fence line at the top of the hill. Keep left along a vague track through the trees, passing a couple of indentations that one can reasonably expect to be "run-in" mine shafts. Eventually you will reach a ruined coe (miners' building); the small entrance to Gell's Adit is to the right of this and can be missed. Just before the coe, there is another partly-collapsed shaft directly adjacent to the track - take care, especially in summer when the path can become very overgrown.
Access:
The land on which Gell's Adit lies is privately owned, but a long tradition of sensible use of the land (eg sticking to public footpaths wherever possible) means that, as far as we are aware, no formal approach needs to be made to the landowner for permission.
Kit required:
Description:
A crawl through a low, stone-stempled passage soon enlarges to walking height past a couple of small collapses. Follow the passage straight on, crossing four deep holes in the floor (the first is crossed with aid of an in-situ plank of wood) - beware of false floors. None of these holes leads anywhere, so they are not worthwile descending - unless anyone wants to retrieve the vintage Mars Bar that graces the foot of the most impressive shaft.
A wet section is then traversed, with some nice flowstone on the walls in a high rift passage and impressive stacks of miners' "deads" (waste rock). Beyond the wet section, the passage continues with a fine stone stempled roof and a couple of side passages that eventually rejoin the main route, and finally ends at a forefield.