Tuesday 10th May 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Two mixes of cement used building up the wall at the Swildon’s end using rocks from the surface. Still not looking safe. 2 hours. John.

Sunday 8th May 2022

John Cooper joined Dave King and Mike Kousiounis for the end of day session. Geoff Newton had already left. Sent a bit of mortar and some rocks down to Mike for walling. 1 hour. John.

Thursday 5th May 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Andy at the bottom and John on the surface. Andy started by breaking up the big rock left by Mike and then another one from the side. John hauled the bits to the surface. Then some clatch hauled out. Finally a few rocks broken up for Mike to use as walling material. Depth now 10.8m. 6 bags of sand, 2 bags of cement and 2 containers of water on site. 2 hours. John.

Tuesday 26th April 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Started by hauling clatch out. Then a bit of boulder breaking to create walling material for 2 mixes of cement. During the hauling of clatch a boulder was dislodged from somewhere in the shaft which fell hitting John’s helmet and left shoulder. A bruise is now developing from the rock which was about the size of 2 house bricks. Later on the empty bucket came down on its own! I really don’t trust the hook on the hauling rope, needs to be a closed one so it cannot fall off accidentally. Depth was 10.4m to foot level. 2½ hours. John.

Wednesday 20th April 2022

John Cooper, Mark Helmore and Andrew Thompson. Started by hauling clatch out. Then 1 mix of cement and a bit of boulder breaking, just hammer. Depth was 10.4m to foot level. 2 hours. John.

Monday 18th April 2022

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis and Andrew Thompson. When we arrived the winch setup was a real mess. We reset it up and later watched as one of the sheep had another go at demolishing it. The sheep went under a scaffold leg and lifted it up as a means of scratching its back. With no weight on it they were able to move the legs several metres rotating the winch itself at the same time! With Andy and Mike at the bottom a steady stream of debris, rocks and clatch, came out. A half hour lunch break was an opportunity to take one of Mike’s batteries back for recharging. Continued after lunch using my batteries before finally going to get the newly charged one to finish off the day. One mix of cement done in the morning session and a second mix in the afternoon one. Depth now 10.2m. 5 hours of work. John.

Friday 15th April 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Started with 1 mix of cement which was used cementing the boulders left from last time. Then hauled some clatch out. Then a spell breaking up the bigger boulder on the solid wall side. Still 10.1m to bottom. 2 hours. John.

Tuesday 12th April 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Started by hauling clatch out. Then 1 mix of cement and a bit of boulder breaking. Depth was 9.8m to top of talus cone, 10.1m to foot level. Winch bearing died at end of session. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 9th April 2022

John Cooper joined Mike Kousiounis and Dave Morrison for the last part of the session (Mark Helmore having already left). Mike was breaking up rock with plug and feathers when I arrived but soon switched to clearing. Loads of rock and a bit of clatch hauled up before calling it a day. 1 hour for me. John.

Thursday 7th April 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Plug and feathers used to create wall building rocks. 2 mixes of cement then used to build wall. There are 4 bags of sand and 1+ bags of cement remaining. 2 hours. John.

Tuesday 5th April 2022

John Cooper, Mark Helmore, Dave Morrison and Andrew Thompson. Quite a bit of clatch removed. Plug and feathers used to break up a few boulders. One mix of cement used to build wall. Measured depth 9.7m but did fill up the hole again so probably 9.5m now. 2 hours. John.

Saturday 2nd April 2022

Mike K, Andy T and Mark H. Removing the large boulder and clatch. Surprised how low we are after John’s sessions. Roof looked very suspect towards Wookey so cemented 2 bags of sand early for support, Chris W joined us and so did John later. 6½ hours. Mike.

John Cooper took over from Mark Helmore for the last cement mix of the day. Others were Mike Kousiounis, Andrew Thompson and Chris Williams. They had been there all day whilst I only joined after I’d finished in Dave Mitchell’s Dig. Mike had removed the big pointy boulder but decided more support was required before proceeding further along. 1 hour for me. John.

Friday 1st April 2022

John Cooper, Dave Morrison, Geoff Newton and Andrew Thompson. Quite a bit of clatch removed. Spent some time working on the pointy boulder but it just splintered when drilling the end. Eventually it wouldn’t release a plug and broke the tip off the drill bit. Dropped the boulder so it is now possible to drill the top of it. Depth at end of session was 9.4m. 3 hours. John.

Wednesday 30th March 2022

John Cooper, Dave Morrison and Andrew Thompson. Depth at end of session was 9.2m. Plug and feathers used to break up boulders. Quite a bit of clatch removed. Some cementing done at end. Need more sand and cement. 3 hours. John.

Tuesday 29th March 2022

John Cooper and Andrew Thompson. Depth at start 8.5m. Plug and feathers used to break up boulder. Not very effective at start because boulder surface kept fracturing. Eventually got it sorted. Bit of cementing done at end. 2 hours. John.

Thursday 24th March 2022

John Cooper, Dave Morrison and Andrew Thompson (and Wayne stopped by for a visit). Widening the bottom by John using plug and feathers. Also some clatch removed. Depth measured at 26¼ ft (must do it myself next time in metres!). 2½ hours. John.

Tuesday 15th March 2022

John Cooper, Mark Helmore, Dave Morrison, Andrew Thompson and Chris Williams. Took across another large water container. Plug and feathers used to break up a couple of boulders into bits small enough to haul out. Also removed a load of muddy clatch. Some work done on surface repositioning haul line. Draught coming outwards today. 2 hours. John.

Sunday 13th March 2022

John Cooper and Andy Thompson went across early afternoon and assisted Kushy, Mark Helmore and Al Mills for a bit of rock hauling. Tuska had already left. Empty water container brought back to Upper Pitts for refilling. 1 hour. John.

Sunday 6th March 2022

Mike, Tuska, Chris W. and John. Mike and Tuska breaking up boulders and winching out for a few hours, about 6ft lower again. Bedding type roof heading towards Wookey direction at about 45°, the opposite way there is a draughting hole in the floor. Cement work done at the end with Chris and John popped over to say “Hello”. Mike.

Friday 4th March 2022

John Cooper and Dave Morrison. Some clatch moved to surface so Kushy can Plug and Feather more boulders. 1 hour. John.

 

Saturday 12th February 2022

John Cooper joined Mike Kousiounis (Kushy), Dave Morrison (Tuska) and Chris Williams for the afternoon session setting up on the surface. 2 hours. John.

Initial setup.

Wednesday 2nd February 2022

John Cooper and David Morrison (Tuska). Tuska organised delivery of the winch and ladder which he started fettling in the morning. I turned up about 1.30pm with some water as there was none for mixing cement. Spent a while deciding where and how to fix the entrance ladder. Left it propped on rocks pending a proper base being constructed Sunday. Finally spent some time cutting off welded on nuts from the winch frame. 2 hours for me. John.

 

Wednesday 26th January 2022

John Cooper and David Morrison (Tuska). Tuska on the surface mixing with John below cementing boulders to prop up the entrance pipes. Not quite so muddy today. 2 hours. John.

 

Sunday 23rd January 2022

Mike K, Tuska, Alan Mills and Mark Helmore. Cementing and stabilising the shaft again, a dozen loads put in. The shaft is now cemented all 360° all around the edge and tied in 2-3ft. deep all around. PF’d a boulder directly down and looking at a 6ft. drop down. Mike.

 

Tuesday 18th January 2022

John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Cool overcast but dry and no wind. Mike was working at the bottom cementing boulders to prop up the entrance pipe. John was on the surface mixing cement. Two bags of slab mix and two bags of sand. To each bag was added half a bag of ballast and some cement. The four mixes were split in half to lower down to Mike. Half a dozen small loads of mud were hauled out. Very muddy underfoot on surface. 2 hours. John.

 

Thursday 2nd December 2021

About 2ft. below the shaft now, support work around the base of the shaft before more digging. Removed one boulder and an incredible breathing draught coming from below. I think T’ might be hiding a secret. Mike, Wayne and Tuska.

 

12th November 2021

From Kushy. We used the digger on the 12th November '21. So I would count that as the first session. I didn't write a report sorry. Wayne, Tusker and I there. We uncovered the sleepers, then spent a few weeks moving them into place and digging out the soil.

Images from 2016

Tuska looking down pipe

Covered over 19 Apr 2026

 

 

Images from 2015

 

John Hill and Dave Speed.