J.H. (James Hall's Over Engine Mine), Derbyshire
Grade 5 SRT Cave
J.H. is perhaps the most demanding of the vertical cave/mine complexes
in Derbyshire. From the lidded entrance to the Boulder Piles at the bottom
is a vertical distance of 190m and that distance is often hard-won.
There's very little straightforward caving in JH. You're either on rope in
a tight rifty shaft, hanging in space or making difficult horizontal
progress. J.H. asks alot of you and that's one of the things that makes it
such a great trip. Exploration of J.H. began in the 1960s when the Technical Projects Unit of
the Technical Speleological Group (the present TSG) put a lid on a shaft
near Rowter Farm. At the time this was just one of many similar shafts
around the area and was named TSU63. The bottom of the shaft was blocked
with loose boulders and although some work was done sporadically it was in
the early 1990s that leading Derbyshire digger Dave Nixon and friends
realised the importance of the mine above Speedwell's Boulder Piles and
had a good look at it. They pushed through seven boulder chokes and
eventually found Leviathan - a huge natural shaft. After descending this,
digging continued at
the bottom and finally the breakthrough to the Speedwell Streamway was
made. The opening of J.H. was key to the subsequent finds made at this end
of the Peak-Speedwell system, including Titan.
It's hard to get an impression of the depth of J.H. on the way down and
teams have been caught out by it's size. A fit and capable team will take
over 2 hours to get out and some sections are made very difficult when
carrying gear. There's a lot of loose rock around and the SRT is only
suitable for experienced SRT cavers. On this particular day in May we arrived as
a team of four supporting a diver having a look at Main Rising. Main
Rising is the source of the Speedwell Streamway and the easiest route of
access for cavers is J.H. it's the deepest dive in Derbyshire and may go
deeper yet. A TSG team had carried equipment in with the
diver and our job was to be there when the diver surfaced and carry kit
out.
The capped shaft is in a field near Rowter Farm. There's a scaffold bar
belay above a nice ginged winding shaft. This first pitch is 50m and takes
you past many worked out stopes. The pitch lands you in the Cartgate - a
narrow passage which goes on for 200m past a number of water-filled holes
in the floor. The Cartgate is fine on the way in but can be hard work on
the way out when carrying alot of gear. There's walking, stooping and
crawling passage before the passage narrows further to the head of 'bitch
pitch'. This is a very narrow pitch which is fine on the way in but can be
very hard work on the way out. There are a number of deviations and
re-belays in here. Bitch pitch
lands you in the Workshop where many old miner's artifacts can be found.
With the first part of the descent made we stopped, had a drink and
stashed some water for the return.
From the Workshop there are two ways on. The original route takes a low
crawl on the opposite the entrance to the Workshop. The crawl curves round
and descends a loose rock slope to the head of Leviathon's first pitch.
This is 40m deep and lands you on a ledge overlooking the bottom section.
Climb down through a hole and find the head of the final 30m pitch. This
is a great free-hanging descent to land on a slope at the bottom. This
original route can be very wet after rain. The alternative route takes a
slot in the floor at the Workshop and a pitch comes out in the side of the
Leviathan shaft. Downhill from the bottom of Leviathan, small, crawling
passage takes you to the Far Sump Extensions whilst a climb uphill past
huge stemples takes you to an unlocked gate. Through this gate, a series
of iron ladders climbs down through a choke to eventually arrive at the
Speedwell Boulder Piles. Once at the bottom we splashed upstream past to
Main Rising - a large flooded shaft in the floor at the end of the
passage. The diver surfaced soon after we arrived and as bags were packed
we set off individually. You really don't all want to arrive at the foot
of Leviathan together. The ones at the back of the queue would be in for a
long wait. Back up the ladders to the foot of Leviathan and
then up the rope. The jummaring is hard with a heavy bag and we were glad
that we stashed some water. The bitch pitch is even worse and then when
you're starting to really struggle you have to get your bag and your sorry
ass along the cartgate. It's worth taking a breather before the final 50m
entrance pitch up to the surface.
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