Drygill
Caldbeck Fells, Cumberland
The Range Rover at the shaft entrance in later years.
And the rescue of a wayward collector from the hole... he lived to tell the tale, but I dont think he's been back to Drygill since..!
The hole from which the huge vug appeared...
The main stope at Drygill. Timber at the top is about where Dick ended up when the deads collapsed!
Clearing snow from the steel lid which used to cover the main shaft - Dick and Ralph put this in place in about 1976-77 in conjunction with Lindsay Greenbanks who originally found it.
The main stope at Drygill. Timber at the top is about where Dick ended up when the deads collapsed!
Introduction
Drygill was one of the first mineral localities I really ever went to.
I'd seen some bright orange crystals from Caldbeck - a place called Drygill. I wanted some. Badly. Dick Barstow intervened. He'd started a dig and had some contacts. Grant lived at the farm at the foot of the fell, and we soon struck up a friendship that resulted in me almost living on the farm. Our first visit to Drygill was on the old Massey Ferguson tractor - the collecting gear stacked in the sheep carrier on the back. It soon became apparent that this was a major locality.
Drygill is a sad place these days - opencuts overgrown, entrances and stopes collapsed and almost obliterated - what a sad end for such a glorious locality that is so world famous. Another few years and you'll never know there was a mine there - probably just what the national parks people want..