Just another exciting day with Geoff…

How it all began…

In 1932 Geoff’s father was a warden at Overton Hall Youth Hostel in Derbyshire.

Geoff has a set of photos on flickr named Overton hall.

Last week a lady called Maggie got in touch with Geoff after finding these photos on flickr.

She now lives in part of Overton hall and is keen to collect as much history about the place as possible.

Maggie told Geoff that this weekend they intended to open the Overton Lead mine once again,and he was more than welcome to attend.

So that’s how I found myself at Overton hall yesterday going down an old lead mine.

I was not quite sure what to expect and my first reactions were ones of shock.

To get into the mine you had to be winched down 80 foot on a small seat, through a man hole.

Thankfully I  was given a hard hat to wear and a head torch.

While being winched down you became very aware of the beautiful stone that sparkled with the light from the head torch.

Once at the bottom I realised how wet and muddy it was,also how small the corridors and caves were but also how wonderful to see all the fossils and orange iron deposits.

We spent 3 hours walking, crawling and sliding through tiny gaps,amazing to think these used to be working mines where men/boys spent hours chiseling away for the lead. 

A truly wonderful day and many thanks must go to Maggie, Liz, Nick and The Wirksworth Mines research group for making it all possible.

After we all got safely out the mine Maggie gave us much needed refreshments and treated us to a tour round Overton hall.

Going up on the roof was the highlight for me, the views were spectacular and we got to see the beautiful Greenhouse and gardens.

It was hard to pick just 3 photos to post here as 273   fantastic photos were taken  but they can all be seen  here .

Certainly a day I will never forget  🙂