Blackdene

Introduction

Blackdene was one of those dreamy places that used to produce specimens literally by the truckload. We used to drive past, and see sparkly white quartz crystals on the belts feeding the crusher - so we'd take a few beers for the night watchman, and climb down through the old workings at night, into the stopes.  It was always weird coming out, and seeing the bright lights of the bottom of the decline, with the loco sitting on charge.  I'm so glad we took a few photos down there - I've never seen any other underground photos of the mines in Weardale when they were worked. 

I drove past one day and the belt was covered in sparkly quartz and calcite crystals. That evening, as the afternoon shift emerged from the decline, we dodged past them (having left the night watchman with a case of beer...) and scarpered into the workings. It didnt take long to find an exploratory drive that was following a quartz stringer which had opened up into a continuous series of big cavities. I can honestly say that in a lifetime of collecting, I've never seen anything like it - the walls of the cavity, which was 4 feet high, and up to 3 feet wide, were completely lined with huge fluorite crystals up to a foot on edge, and covered in quartz crystals. The middle of the cavity was packed with brecciated material - but no ordinary breccia. Every single piece was a museum quality fluorite specimen, with or without calcite crystals stacked like pagodas, with occasional groups of glittering pyrite scattered amongst the rubble. I worked the cavity, and four mates supported me, wrapping and carrying specimens through the workings and up to surface. We worked all night, never stopping. By morning my hands and fingers were numb - blood was dribbling from my elbows from deep gashes all over my hands and arms where the razor sharp calcites had caught them. We must have packed thousands of pieces that night, from an inch to over a foot across. By morning, I had tunnelled nearly 15 yards down the cavity and there was still more to come. We suddenly realised that the morning shift would be arriving, so packed up and dragged a final load of bags wearily up the decline - only to meet the morning shift coming down. Its funny how you manage to blag your way out of a situation sometimes .... we just tipped our hats forward a bit, and kept walking - they barely glanced at us.!!! A quick dash across the carpark to the landrovers, and off we went. It was the most amazing experience of my collecting life - few people ever get to experience the thrill of finding such a massive cavity, let alone finding it full of loose, museum quality specimens not even needing a prybar to loosen them... Those were the days ...