“The
Underground Journey” was originally shot on 16mm cine film in 1968/9. In 2008 a
badly worn copy was donated to film maker David Webb, who spent many hours
restoring and transferring it to DVD.
In
2012 at the BCRA “Hidden Earth” conference David, a long time Red Rose member
was awarded the prestigious Giles Barker Award for his many years of
underground filming which also includes “To Titan from the Top”, concerning
the discovery of Titan, and “Fight for
Life” about the tragic loss of Neil Moss in Peak Cavern. David outlines
below some background notes to this project.
In the early 1960s a small group of cavers
saw an opportunity to use their expertise and interest in the exploration of
old lead mines and soughs as a means to supplement their incomes! They
approached a few landowners with the offer to explore and map the old lead
workings on their land, an offer which was taken up and which kept them busy
for several years.
The group called themselves rather grandly –
“The Operation Mole Mines Research Group”, or Op Mole for short, and soon they
were at work on shafts and workings in the orefields around Cromford, Middleton
and Wirksworth.
Doug Nash and Doug
Fearn with inner tubes
In 1962, they were invited to start work on
a condition survey of the great Meerbrook sough, which plays a major role in
draining water from these mines which was in danger of blockage form collapses.
The outcome was that they were asked to undertake stabilising and clearing work
which continued for six years until 1968!
During the course of the work they had persuaded team member Doug Fearn,
a local photographer for a local newspaper, to film their work and the various
moods of the sough. This created an amazing and pioneering project involving ex
military gear, heavy batteries, car headlights and an improvised raft using a
large tractor inner-tube and a canvas canoe for transporting the heavy
equipment.
Meerbrook Sough with
Canoe
The results of filming in the sough were so
good that they decided it deserved to be made into a ‘proper’ film with a
storyline. They already possessed detailed knowledge of the mines in the area
from their earlier work and work started amassing enough footage to eventually
produce, when edited, an exciting 45 minute adventure film. The film was shown
countless times to astonished audiences throughout Derbyshire, some knew of the
mines beneath their feet but few ever imagined the reality of the awful
conditions of mud and water.
I
eventually inherited the tired and worn 16mm sound film and spent many hours
cleaning and restoring it until it was good enough to play all the way through
without jumping or chewing itself up. I then filmed it on a digital format and
loaded into my computer for further enhancement and DVD production.
I am often asked if the Journey was actually
undertaken as depicted in the film, and there is no doubt that it would just
about have been possible whilst the mines were being worked. What I can say is
that what you see is as near as possible to what the old miners would have
experienced had they made that journey 200 years ago..
