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Old 18th Nov 2014, 7:34 pm   #81
McMurdo
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Default Re: Radar units dumped down mine shaft

For anyone wanting to research within the Hansard archive, the New Haden colliery is erronously reported as 'Newhaven'.
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Old 20th Nov 2014, 11:47 am   #82
Stripey Cat
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Default Re: Radar units dumped down mine shaft

I'm in cornwall and do a lot of this stuff.

The myths of things being slung down shafts are pretty outstanding. We've had brand new Rolls Royce Merlin engines in their wrappers, to Jeeps, to radio gear, to Elvis. Everything is down a shaft in Cornwall. There are rumours that you can walk from Penzance to Laansun via the county adit, there is also a massive lake under Camborne, I imagine you've seen journey to the centre of the earth?

Right. Stuff down shafts. I'll first address the point of storing things down holes in Cornwall.

-You are not going to put anything in a hole in Cornwall, unless you don't mind it being dissolved by nasties, or getting thoroughly wet. The exception is Holman's Test Mine. This is a place where drills were tested and there are dry and large passages. It is possible that this was considered for the storage of "things".

Military and X-Files things down shafts.

-Military Stuff.

There are lots of rumours about things in holes and by and large, a lot of it is unsubstantiated, some WW2 camps were on mine sites and it's probable that shafts were used as bins. This was confirmed at a mine near Scorrier when my chums and I came across lots and lots of military telephones. All in perfect order, but with anything metal utterly corroded (the guts). There were also bits of military uniform and a load of ampoules of morphine. For the record, this isn't the sort of thing normal people come across, it involved an 80m abseil to get in there and then crawling around in a maze of tunnels. I suspect the rubbish had been thrown down a shaft and had then subsided down slot like workings into a big scree of interesting junk.

Going into other mines sometimes sees you in an underground rubbish tip. There is one shaft which has the contents of a photography shop down it. All ruined, but some nice bottles of reagents.

-X Files stuff.

United Downs is interesting. Legend has it some seriously interesting stuff was thrown in the tip and there are rumours about never going under there due to "danger". We have tried to get in via various ways and have never been beaten back by lack of air. We were stopped by a blockage and in another case, a tiny mud filled tunnel which was a ridiculous struggle to go along. This would be another candidate for military rubbish, however it will probably be underwater (deep shafts mostly flooded). United downs has a mystery associated with it and it would be interesting to know more about this. A study was done on pollen in a shaft below the tip to try and ascertain where the mine was draining (the drainage adit is blocked). I wonder why this was done, after all, the dump was subsequently abandoned and is now landscaped. At various points are Schrader valves in metal tubes. These allow you to draw off what is perhaps best termed as landfill gas. This connects with something else which sounds very fishy. It would be interesting to draw off some gas at run it through a mass-spec to prove or disprove the rumours. There is something in there which shouldn't be in there and it's in the form of a "mass=3" particle. I have heard rumours about the presence of Tritium (heavy, heavy hydrogen) being present in various forms and apparently, this is bonded to methane, so it's tritiated methane.This is exceedingly odd, since Tritium has a half life of about 11 years (off the top of my head). I think it's more likely to be Helium 3, itself a radioactive breakdown product of tritium. This is exceedingly interesting, as neither 3He or 3H should be found in a landfill. The rumour is that nuclear reactor material was slung in there, "sludge" being one word used. Possibly primary coolant type stuff. This would most certainly have contained tritium and released 3He.

It would be interesting to test this theory. Sadly, I do not have access to Mass Spec.

-Chemical Weapons

Wheal Sally is under RAF Portreath, which itself was the site of the secret chemical weapons manufacturing site which closed in about 1982.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP6aL43nYDw

When they closed the site, lots of stuff was thrown down shafts. They also used to close the coast path when they burned stuff (offshore winds). There was also a pipe coming out of the cliffs and when Surfers Against Sewage asked about this, the first thing was denial and then they launched a huge clean-up and check operation which must have cost millions. This involved men in spacesuits, old mine adits being cleared out and huge excavations and an ET style "dome". All for something which wasn't a problem. What is marked as "quarry" on the map is in fact old open mine workings. These were investigated by some chums years ago and they found yellow bags of waste which were marked "hazardous" or similar. When they decommissioned the plant, a lot of stuff was chucked down holes and earthed over. They found nothing. Interestingly, despite the huge attention paid to nearly everything, there is a significant drainage level (in the next cove) which received no treatment at all. This would have gone under the "rubbish quarry". Anyway, nothing to see there, move along. This is another site where military junk could have been got rid of....also an air base. I've been in the tunnel under the base and it is very interesting. I came out alive and there were no chemical warheads, or brand new Jeeps.

-Sovereigns

This is an interesting anecdote and one which I believe to be real. I have a mate who lives near Hayle and his chum does house clearances, anyway, they sound like "a right set of hillbillies". Good stuff on ebay, big stuff at auction, other stuff and boot sale and rubbish down a mine shaft. They cleared out an old-boy's drawers and put it into big tubs. There were loads of Steradent tubes and these were heaved into the buckets along with the rulers, pens, packets of tissues, etc. When chucking them down a shaft "near Hayle" one of these tubes fell on the ground and broke. It was filled with sovereigns. Presumably the old boy's nest egg. I have been unable to get to the bottom of this. I imagine the shaft is in fact considerably filled with rubbish over them, however it would pay to dig them out.

-Objects d' art.

The famous sculptor Bernard Leech had a mineshaft in his back yard. Apparently, the sculptures of creations he didn't like got heaved down the shaft. The chap surveying the workings was explicitly told not to touch anything. Apparently the shaft was vertical for a very limited amount and then was inclined and flooded. That one would be one to dive, even if it was to retrieve bronze.

I won't talk about explosives or ammo underground, as that might upset the authorities.
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Old 21st Nov 2014, 9:43 am   #83
Mike Phelan
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Default Re: Radar units dumped down mine shaft

I think we'll put the lid on this one while everyone is off to Cornwall with their buckets and spades.
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