Deneholes (& the later Chalkwells) were dug to extract chalk to fertilise arable land. There are many historical accounts of deneholes on record. It was only in 2nd half of the 19th Century, with an ever more urbanised society, that people from London, who traveled out on the new railways and saw such holes, and, not realising they were simply a means of getting free fertiliser, started suggesting they were grain stores or holes dug to hide from the Danes. This was despite a few chalkwells still being dug in rural Kent up until the early years of the 20th Century! 'True' Deneholes have shafts about 3ft in diameter and have two sets of three chambers (giving a double trefoil pattern of side chambers) and were dug up to the 14th Century. For some reason they went out of fashion in the 15th and 16th Centuries. They started to become common again in early in the 17th Century but now had wider shafts, about 4ft to 6ft wide, with two to four roughly cut chambers, and these latter ones are called 'Chalkwells' to distinguish them from truw Deneholes. Here's a few quotes from a selection of historical records about deneholes/chalkwells: The Roman historian Pliny the Elder wrote how the Britons mined chalk as a fertiliser in AD70. He wrote "...the chalk is sought from a deep place, wells frequently being sunk to 100feet, narrowed at the mouth, the vein spreading out within, as in mines,. This is the type most commonly used in Britain. It lasts for 80years and there is no instance of anyone who has put it on twice in his lifetime..." Old Norman leases often had covenants that explicitly stated that chalk had to be regularly applied to the land, and in 1225 a statute from King Henry III gave every man the right to 'sink a chalk pit' on his land In 1570 the historian William Lambarde wrote in his book "Perambulations of Kent": "There are to be seen, near this town, sundry artificial caves or holes in the earth, whereof some have ten, some fifteen, and some twenty fathoms in depth: at the mouth (& thence downward) narrow like the tunnel of a chimney or passage of a well: but in the bottom large, and of great receipt: insomuch as some of them have sundry rooms (or partitions) one within another, strongly vaulted, and supported with pillars of chalk, and, in the opinion of the inhabitants, these were in former times digged, as well for the use of the chalk towards building, as for to marle their arable lands with...", (n.b. He was talking about the deneholes in Stankey Wood, Bexley/Crayford). John Bannister, an agricultural writer, wrote in 1799 how chalkwells were dug by teams of intinerant workers who hired out their services to local farmers. The team of 3 men would charge £10 to dig a large chalkwell which would provide 360 tons of chalk, sufficient for 6 acres, giving a dressing of 60tons of chalk per acre. They'd commonly be dug at the intersection of 4 fields to make it as easy as possible to hoist up and spread it out. Interestingly, the old name for these farmer's mines was a 'grove'. So in the old days, you can imagine, if someone was giving directions they'd say "Walk across the field and turn left at the old grove"... What they meant was 'turn left at the mineshaft'... but where the farmers would not have ploughed up to the edge of the shaft a clump of tress would obviously grow. So, again, with the urbanisation of the land and people losing touch with the land, the word 'grove' became associated with the obvious clump of trees and not the 'out of sight out of mind' shaft below the ground. As you, (I think!) also live in Kent you'll know how often Kent has a 'sinkhole' or some road or other collapses. Next time it happens see if the road it's in has the word 'Grove' in it. It's surprisingly common and shows that the developers knew damn well they were building over a hole!! Indeed, I've yet to find one of these 'sinkholes' that isn't already recorded in one of my old books as a Denehole or Chalkwell, (as you can tell I find them fascinating and have a few obscure books about them).Anyway, when a hole opens up in the local news the Council always send out their inspectors and they blame leaking water pipes, underground rivers, etc. etc. ... but they're all simply old deneholes/chalkwells and the Council knows damn well they're there but they don't want to (i) be made liable for allowing, over the decades, houses and roads to be built over them without them being properly filled in, and (ii) they don't want people asking for their records as all hell would break loose as Kent is absolutely riddled with them, (e.g. I've just opened one of my books at random and it opened at 'Challock'....and there are 46 Deneholes/Chalkwells listed!... and Challock ain't that big!!... Just imagine if in the decades to come some housing estates are built around the village, you can bet your last pound that the developers and the council will keep quiet in case profits are affected!!!).
i had one of these holes in my back garden you wouldn't believe how useful these really are ,i used it a few times a year especially when my wife throws a wobbly ' strait down there for a week ⌛
I know it is tempting to go down into these shafts but I can tell you a big danger I hope that you thought of the danger of poisonous gas that deep down. Here in America when I was a boy man would dig water wells in rural areas. Several times I remember men would be overtaken by the gas and some had to be rescued. I remember they said it was an ammonia type gas. I like your blogs you are doing something I would like to do. Be careful in your exploring.🇬🇧👍
Finding bad gas in this particular region is almost unheard of. Had it have been a deeper mine then we would certainly have taken more of a precaution 👍
Nice vid as always! A note on the air quality though: You mention the graffiti in the chalk looking fresh. That is definitely a sign of [pretty-] low oxygen levels; there is almost nothing to oxidize the chalk. There's also nearly nothing to breathe 😂 You need a gas level meter. Make sure it (can be separate meters) do at-least those: Oxygen (O2) Carbon dioxide (CO2) Carbon monoxide (CO) - preferentially binding to hemoglobin: essentially disabling your red blood cells, odourless Methane (CH4) - fire hazard, odourless Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) - strong smell of rotten eggs, but only in very small concentrations; any more than that and your nose won't be able to smell it, and past that point: death. Save yourself from the trouble of dying, get a gas level meter!
Ive seen a few similar around the UK but never had the bollocks to do this. I dont think many people have the drive to actually do this as a prevention unless your a council or have children in a nearby house. The majority of these are put there after an incident. Similar to speed cameras and speed bumps 👍
I appreciate that you take the time to show how much safety precaution you go to with the ropes before abseiling down, it's fun to watch the context of how you do this but also shows people inspired to follow in your footsteps that this is not an activity to undertake lightly or without preparation
Hate to be the safety Steve one here but did you test the air before going down? If not you should invest in a air monitor. See two many people die due to lack of oxygen or from gases. Just looking after you.
@@peterzingler6221 Some of them look new; some look like they belong in a mansion or a shopping mall and there are no indications nearby that there was ever anything else there, house of otherwise.
As already mentioned, this is most likely an old flint mine. Chalk and flint are 2 materials which are usually found together. Chalk is much softer, of course, so when a seam of flint is found, they mine down a shaft and along to extract it.
Just wondering if you guys ran any kind of air meter before or turning the explore? Their expensive I think but you should be able to find a rental place.
It looks like a stone age flint mine, there are a few black chunks of flint in those side cavens. The hole is cut and shaped exactly like the ones at Grimes Graves in Norfolk, see English heritage website or I've got photos I can send you. Actually that's another place you might like to visit as you can get down in some of those shafts too. If you find uneven ground nearby you'll probably find more shaft heads. The miners would infill the last shaft with spoil from the next. Tbh not many chunks so could have been a test mine that was abandoned.
Actually I didn't realize they were still going on for that long but makes perfect sense, if it was neolithic it would have filled up with dirt long before now.
It’s an old chalk and flint mine all those little cut outs are where they mined and did it that way to stop the roof coming in it’s called in mining terms pillar and stall
Love the page my man, i love how you guys just stay true to who you are and that makes me feel more involved on this adventure 😊 these are the sort of videos i genuinely love. Great work brother 👍👍👍
Took us an hour to work up the nerves though 😉 It was much deeper than Sam had told us. We measured it to be aprox 49.83 feet deep. Had the mound of dirt not been there then it would have easily exceeded the 50ft mark.
Another fantastic video, enjoy watching your videos their excellent. Can't wait for Monday for the sale to start on the torch. Does the kit come with a charger
With that modern descender, why should you get friction burns on your hand. Also the ratchet ascender should make getting back up fairly easy, compared to older methods.
The shaft is the most dangerous part of a mine due to rocks falling... get some helmets lads! Even builders ones are better than none. Love the enthusiasm though.
09:47 That is a copper and abestos company birmingham air cleaner off a Reliant Robin... the little wheel inside the tractor wheel also looks like either a smallframe or 8 inch wheeled Vespa wheel, I know the air cleaner as I have the exact same on my three wheeler :)
I must say watching you climb up out of there made me almost short of breath and tired. That looked like one heck of a workout. Tell Sam thanks for finding that hole.
Climbing back up was our main concern as ascending anything more than 30ft using this technique does take its toll. We measured this one to be 49.83ft deep. As such, we implemented a system whereby if we ran out of steam, someone up top could help to hoist you out.
Great video. Very well done. Has anyone fell down it that you know?..Very claustrophobic.. Lol.. Ty again for sharing.Love your channel. Just found today.
Look up the frog technique for SRT . It is easier than the method you where using for you assent. Also you probably want cows tails and traverse line to project you approach. I used to do caving and both work. Or just look up SRT and pick which method suits you. Good explore :)
9:46 that is an air filter off what looks similar to a Ford engine. My dad had a Ford Classic from the 60s and it had an air filter box similar to the one you tipped over with your foot. It sits on top of the carburettor
You guys getting excited about how deep a 60ft shaft is... you need to watch the mine shaft video where a guy gets lowered down a 600ft shaft. Now that's impressive!
Try a different rope ascending technique. I'd recommend the Frog technique. There are much easier ways to get up hundreds of metres of rope without that much effort.
10:10 what is that stuff coming out of the ceiling. Maybe it was a hideout for Robin hood. 11:15 just to the right of the bottom looks like handholds were originally carved into the side. Light a lighter if the flame is dull and weak oxygen is low. Bring an oxygen meter or a multi gas meter if you can afford it. 14:41 interesting claw marks.I just looked up Dane holes. They actually date to pre-history. The claw marks are marks left by the miners picks. They used antler or bone picks to mine with. They were either mining chalk to spread on the fields for agriculture or mining flint for tools. It actually said they also could have been used later by the smugglers as ready made hiding places thus the references to robin hood make more sense.
My only query with that theory would be that if the claw marks where from the tools used to dig then i would have expected to see the marks all over the hole in its entire construction.
I thought these were flint mines? like grimes graves. I think grimes graves probably are as the alcoves are quite small as if they were following seams of flint, too small to be used as rooms iirc. maybe this one was a mine and later the alcoves were made bigger for storage or something. do you think (when it was made) with the foot holes being each side of the shaft it would be possible to climb out using them with your back resting on the side or are they too far apart, i.e shaft too wide to do that? l think Royston cave was originally entered in this way.
We put this at around the 1300's. The shaft is a little wide to be able to do that if you think of the average height of a human back then. A Tall person could probably do it these days but the chalk is very slippery and could be a real risk.
If it was in the U.S. I'd say it was a coyote hole, also known as a coyote dig. Vertical shaft that branches in different directions at the bottom. Typically dug in creek bottoms or washouts to get down to long buried gold deposits.
Nice one Simon, no way would I be able to get back out of there. Very closterphobic just watching. To think how old that thing must be, probably dug by the same guys used for well digging. Looking down that dark hole kinda reminds me of my ex 😂. Great video 😎👍👍👍
Try using led lenser head torches, best you can buy, not cheap but I’ve been using them for caving for years, small, lightweight and very powerful! Been my trusted friend in dark places for years! Great vid!
I have a collection of both Olight and lenser gear. I've found that lenser are better for an even light distribution but olight has them very much beaten for power.
I cannot see it being used as a store but more for chalk extraction as it's similar to what a bell pit was. You extracted out all that you could in this case chalk and left a hole in the ground and moved on. It seems to deep for a storage area.
I've got a few videos coming up with shaft work about a similar height, apart from ours start inside the mine. Wow, he goes down fast, can't do that with a normal descender lol. Yes, helmets are essential, especially in shafts, the amount of times I've been at the bottom, monitoring things above and bits have come down on me. Having climbed shafts, I know your pain lol
Not flint but one of the theories about dene-holes was that they were for chalk excavation. Just happens to be a couple of flints mixed in so i dare say they probably used those too.
Sub Exploration the amount of work to they put in to get chalk them holes they cut in the side to climb up and down I bet that was fun when they were wet. They were a crazy bunch back then Keep up the great explores
Shame I can't by the flashlight! You forgot to menson the Olight terms & conditions: "We do not ship to overseas territories" I waited for the countdown till midnight, and have to get up for work at 4.00 I was not a happy camper at the checkout....!
Sorry to hear about that. Olight ship globally but I guess you have to order from the correct region. For the US for example you would need to go to olight World... olightworld.com/
Deneholes (& the later Chalkwells) were dug to extract chalk to fertilise arable land. There are many historical accounts of deneholes on record. It was only in 2nd half of the 19th Century, with an ever more urbanised society, that people from London, who traveled out on the new railways and saw such holes, and, not realising they were simply a means of getting free fertiliser, started suggesting they were grain stores or holes dug to hide from the Danes. This was despite a few chalkwells still being dug in rural Kent up until the early years of the 20th Century! 'True' Deneholes have shafts about 3ft in diameter and have two sets of three chambers (giving a double trefoil pattern of side chambers) and were dug up to the 14th Century. For some reason they went out of fashion in the 15th and 16th Centuries. They started to become common again in early in the 17th Century but now had wider shafts, about 4ft to 6ft wide, with two to four roughly cut chambers, and these latter ones are called 'Chalkwells' to distinguish them from truw Deneholes.
Here's a few quotes from a selection of historical records about deneholes/chalkwells:
The Roman historian Pliny the Elder wrote how the Britons mined chalk as a fertiliser in AD70. He wrote "...the chalk is sought from a deep place, wells frequently being sunk to 100feet, narrowed at the mouth, the vein spreading out within, as in mines,. This is the type most commonly used in Britain. It lasts for 80years and there is no instance of anyone who has put it on twice in his lifetime..."
Old Norman leases often had covenants that explicitly stated that chalk had to be regularly applied to the land, and in 1225 a statute from King Henry III gave every man the right to 'sink a chalk pit' on his land
In 1570 the historian William Lambarde wrote in his book "Perambulations of Kent": "There are to be seen, near this town, sundry artificial caves or holes in the earth, whereof some have ten, some fifteen, and some twenty fathoms in depth: at the mouth (& thence downward) narrow like the tunnel of a chimney or passage of a well: but in the bottom large, and of great receipt: insomuch as some of them have sundry rooms (or partitions) one within another, strongly vaulted, and supported with pillars of chalk, and, in the opinion of the inhabitants, these were in former times digged, as well for the use of the chalk towards building, as for to marle their arable lands with...", (n.b. He was talking about the deneholes in Stankey Wood, Bexley/Crayford).
John Bannister, an agricultural writer, wrote in 1799 how chalkwells were dug by teams of intinerant workers who hired out their services to local farmers. The team of 3 men would charge £10 to dig a large chalkwell which would provide 360 tons of chalk, sufficient for 6 acres, giving a dressing of 60tons of chalk per acre. They'd commonly be dug at the intersection of 4 fields to make it as easy as possible to hoist up and spread it out.
Interestingly, the old name for these farmer's mines was a 'grove'. So in the old days, you can imagine, if someone was giving directions they'd say "Walk across the field and turn left at the old grove"... What they meant was 'turn left at the mineshaft'... but where the farmers would not have ploughed up to the edge of the shaft a clump of tress would obviously grow. So, again, with the urbanisation of the land and people losing touch with the land, the word 'grove' became associated with the obvious clump of trees and not the 'out of sight out of mind' shaft below the ground. As you, (I think!) also live in Kent you'll know how often Kent has a 'sinkhole' or some road or other collapses. Next time it happens see if the road it's in has the word 'Grove' in it. It's surprisingly common and shows that the developers knew damn well they were building over a hole!! Indeed, I've yet to find one of these 'sinkholes' that isn't already recorded in one of my old books as a Denehole or Chalkwell, (as you can tell I find them fascinating and have a few obscure books about them).Anyway, when a hole opens up in the local news the Council always send out their inspectors and they blame leaking water pipes, underground rivers, etc. etc. ... but they're all simply old deneholes/chalkwells and the Council knows damn well they're there but they don't want to (i) be made liable for allowing, over the decades, houses and roads to be built over them without them being properly filled in, and (ii) they don't want people asking for their records as all hell would break loose as Kent is absolutely riddled with them, (e.g. I've just opened one of my books at random and it opened at 'Challock'....and there are 46 Deneholes/Chalkwells listed!... and Challock ain't that big!!... Just imagine if in the decades to come some housing estates are built around the village, you can bet your last pound that the developers and the council will keep quiet in case profits are affected!!!).
Wow, thats one hell of a write up. Thank you for sharing.
The longest and most educational comment in UA-cam history!
Awesome!
@@KingPopinLockin Thanks! It took my ages to write as I was downing a bottle of finest Asda vino at the time :)
Thank you so much for this educational comment, I enjoyed reading it
I like how you find a random hole in the middle of the woods, and immediately decide to explore it. 10/10
It has to be done 😂👌
I like how you found UA-cam and then immediately wrote a sentence. / s
That is what I tell her
Not to mention exploring it in the middle of the night.
You better get some rest, don't ask anymore questions. You have big loops under your eyes. Get some sleep, watch UA-cam videos tomorrow.
Guy in the hole “Don’t kick down stones !!”
Buddy up top “he, he, he,”
Should have started screaming bloody murder "It's got me, it's got me" while down there. LOL
hahaha that's a good call.
i had one of these holes in my back garden you wouldn't believe how useful these really are ,i used it a few times a year especially when my wife throws a wobbly ' strait down there for a week ⌛
Lmao I need one of those 👍
😂🤣😂🤣😂 oublette styleeee
🤣
trust me these do help ,especially when she doesn't do the cooking or cleaning.time to reflect
My wife’s useless, I think I would put her down there and only let her up in times of need! I’m not talking about cooking and cleaning.
I know it is tempting to go down into these shafts but I can tell you a big danger I hope that you thought of the danger of poisonous gas that deep down. Here in America when I was a boy man would dig water wells in rural areas. Several times I remember men would be overtaken by the gas and some had to be rescued. I remember they said it was an ammonia type gas. I like your blogs you are doing something I would like to do. Be careful in your exploring.🇬🇧👍
My first thought was an old abandoned well lile here in the States
Finding bad gas in this particular region is almost unheard of. Had it have been a deeper mine then we would certainly have taken more of a precaution 👍
I saw an episode of Little House on the Prarie where they dug a well and used a candle to tell if they hit bad gas. Does this actually work?
You can smell ammonia and i think it is built up from essentially decaying bat shit
Nice vid as always! A note on the air quality though:
You mention the graffiti in the chalk looking fresh. That is definitely a sign of [pretty-] low oxygen levels; there is almost nothing to oxidize the chalk. There's also nearly nothing to breathe 😂
You need a gas level meter. Make sure it (can be separate meters) do at-least those:
Oxygen (O2)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Carbon monoxide (CO) - preferentially binding to hemoglobin: essentially disabling your red blood cells, odourless
Methane (CH4) - fire hazard, odourless
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) - strong smell of rotten eggs, but only in very small concentrations; any more than that and your nose won't be able to smell it, and past that point: death.
Save yourself from the trouble of dying, get a gas level meter!
Yes the comments relating to gas detectors are ever increasing. Perhaps it's time to invest.
Sub Exploration, it was time for them a very long time ago.
Thanks for these info
@@SubExploration even gloves rusty ass gate aint no body wants a tetanus shot
That cage was probably put there after someone or something fell down
Yeah it's a public liability thing. Hence why we made sure it was secure when we left.
Ive seen a few similar around the UK but never had the bollocks to do this. I dont think many people have the drive to actually do this as a prevention unless your a council or have children in a nearby house. The majority of these are put there after an incident. Similar to speed cameras and speed bumps 👍
@@SubExploration so why not just fill it in
I appreciate that you take the time to show how much safety precaution you go to with the ropes before abseiling down, it's fun to watch the context of how you do this but also shows people inspired to follow in your footsteps that this is not an activity to undertake lightly or without preparation
What about lowering a gas meter down on a rope prior to going down. Does that count? ;-)
Hate to be the safety Steve one here but did you test the air before going down? If not you should invest in a air monitor. See two many people die due to lack of oxygen or from gases. Just looking after you.
Yeah it's a fair point. We need to invest in one to be honest 👍
I liked to think there was enough of them there to take action. In that event
Lol mate its just a skyrim sewer
Well rack shit it is
And you got beautiful face
Can someone do a series on those random staircases people keep finding in the woods?
Those are mostly rest stones from old building
@@peterzingler6221 Some of them look new; some look like they belong in a mansion or a shopping mall and there are no indications nearby that there was ever anything else there, house of otherwise.
@@loki.odinson legend has it that once found, they mysteriously disappear. I suspect photoshopping
@@loki.odinson Anyway, try your search engine
As already mentioned, this is most likely an old flint mine. Chalk and flint are 2 materials which are usually found together. Chalk is much softer, of course, so when a seam of flint is found, they mine down a shaft and along to extract it.
Just wondering if you guys ran any kind of air meter before or turning the explore? Their expensive I think but you should be able to find a rental place.
It looks like a stone age flint mine, there are a few black chunks of flint in those side cavens. The hole is cut and shaped exactly like the ones at Grimes Graves in Norfolk, see English heritage website or I've got photos I can send you. Actually that's another place you might like to visit as you can get down in some of those shafts too. If you find uneven ground nearby you'll probably find more shaft heads. The miners would infill the last shaft with spoil from the next. Tbh not many chunks so could have been a test mine that was abandoned.
Actually I didn't realize they were still going on for that long but makes perfect sense, if it was neolithic it would have filled up with dirt long before now.
@@infurno1975 It was diglet afterall.
I came over from Exploring with Fighters (ie. Dan) channel and subbed and notified. Cool little explanation, thank you for this. Stay safe.
Thanks for taking us on the adventure.
It’s an old chalk and flint mine all those little cut outs are where they mined and did it that way to stop the roof coming in it’s called in mining terms pillar and stall
Similar to "Grimes Graves" in Norfolk
@@bradwilcox924 love that place. 👍
9:44 looks like an air filter box for a car .
I sure didn't expect to see that much down that hole !
Be safe my friend !!!
Car or a tractor.
@@seannot-telling9806 tractor car
That was my first thought.
I had an airfilter thingy on my Wolsleley 1500 just like it.
How did they make it and with what tools
SAS Dave just drops down the hole like nothing makes it look so easy
Yup, Dave's mental 😂
Sub Exploration defo just swings in then he’s gone down lol
@@couterei.1953 Super Army Soldier
Where's your oxygen sensors, where's any of your sensors, are you new to this stuff?
I was there today was there no lock on the little hatch or do you know the key holder. I'm desperate to get down in there with my equipment.
These shafts are deep and sealed for a reason.
It's not to stop you from entering, it's to keep whatever is down there from getting out....
😁😄😅
What type of role setup did you is to get up and down
Love the page my man, i love how you guys just stay true to who you are and that makes me feel more involved on this adventure 😊 these are the sort of videos i genuinely love. Great work brother 👍👍👍
You’ve got balls of polished brass going down there man, great stuff and I learned something.
Took us an hour to work up the nerves though 😉 It was much deeper than Sam had told us. We measured it to be aprox 49.83 feet deep. Had the mound of dirt not been there then it would have easily exceeded the 50ft mark.
This channel is god tier
the giggle from the top when you're having stones kicked down was ace
🤣 yup, everyone's a joker when we're out doing this stuff!
Another fantastic video, enjoy watching your videos their excellent. Can't wait for Monday for the sale to start on the torch. Does the kit come with a charger
No this model is not supplied with a charger. You need the M2R model for that but you won't get it at such a good price.
Where is the location, I will go there
If you find one of those here in California. It’s no doubt a mine shaft. Could even have several feet of water at the bottom.
We have mines here too but not too many in this area.
I like that you guys get all the kit out. Dont see many other urbexers abseiling. Would love to you doing an old mine shaft
Not all other urbexers are as unhinged as us 😉 We plan on doing some mines very soon ;-)
Superb!! Well done!!
Could they have been mining flint ?
You a smoker? No judgment! Last fall we went 120ft down and up taking our time. No rush mate! No reason to beat yourself up.
Yeah we measured this one to be 49.83ft deep. Yes I’m not in the best shape stamina wise but I’m working on that 😂
so what was that?
With that modern descender, why should you get friction burns on your hand. Also the ratchet ascender should make getting back up fairly easy, compared to older methods.
The shaft is the most dangerous part of a mine due to rocks falling... get some helmets lads! Even builders ones are better than none. Love the enthusiasm though.
Good plan 👍
Should of taken a metal detector down ..see if there's any old coins
You All guys are just amazing. Salute......
Thank you.
9:49 that is an air intake filter housing off a car engine probably 50s vintage maybe an Austin engine perhaps
I think you are correct. Others have said the same thing 👍
09:47 That is a copper and abestos company birmingham air cleaner off a Reliant Robin... the little wheel inside the tractor wheel also looks like either a smallframe or 8 inch wheeled Vespa wheel, I know the air cleaner as I have the exact same on my three wheeler :)
I knew that someone would know EXACTLY what component it was. Well done 👍
What an interesting shaft you found. You obviously enjoyed going down and up.
Men...
Must explore every old hole they find!
Be safe guys!!
🤣
I must say watching you climb up out of there made me almost short of breath and tired. That looked like one heck of a workout.
Tell Sam thanks for finding that hole.
Climbing back up was our main concern as ascending anything more than 30ft using this technique does take its toll. We measured this one to be 49.83ft deep. As such, we implemented a system whereby if we ran out of steam, someone up top could help to hoist you out.
@@SubExploration I think I would of ran out of steam at about 15 feet up.
I'm a tree surgeon and climb like this several times a week ..its the air quality that will zap your strength
I have a touch of claustrophobia so I wouldn't like it down there. How did they find it and how deep is it
I've got a 1968 Ford Fire Truck that has an aircleaner offset can just like the one shown at 9:46
Great video. Very well done. Has anyone fell down it that you know?..Very claustrophobic.. Lol.. Ty again for sharing.Love your channel. Just found today.
As far as i'm aware, no one has fallen down it in recent years but given it's age, someone must have at some point in time.
when you made what is that looks to be the top of a airfilter for a car that had carbs
Another top explore as usual mate! Also, noted the protecting the rope on the metal, lol.. and that's a nice hoodie, I have one just like it ;)
Yeah, lessons learnt mate. You have a hoodie like this one? Man has style 😉
@@SubExploration Except mine is from the company I work for, exploring the deep ocean in Submarines.. HAHA
Really interesting gents thanks for sharing this.
Why at night?
It's dark underground 24/7 so makes no real difference to us.
The oval aluminium tub is whats called a "tin bath"There was various sizes.Used in houses with no bathtooms......Just for your info.
1:55 heard a beer opening 🍻
😉
The monster waiting at the bottom: HEHE👹 here comes my dinner….😵💫🤣🤣🤣🤣
very interesting video well done guys
Thank you 👍
It’s a gold mine, the black, red, and white spot in the back is mineralization
Thanks for the heads up on the olight M2T deal. Just ordered one.
Just don't look directly into it. I did 😂 never again.
Look up the frog technique for SRT . It is easier than the method you where using for you assent. Also you probably want cows tails and traverse line to project you approach. I used to do caving and both work. Or just look up SRT and pick which method suits you. Good explore :)
The method we use is very similar to the frog. I guess it's down to personal preference.
@@SubExploration And urban exploration is different than both caving and rock climbing so go with what suits you.
9:46 that is an air filter off what looks similar to a Ford engine. My dad had a Ford Classic from the 60s and it had an air filter box similar to the one you tipped over with your foot. It sits on top of the carburettor
I thought as much 😉👍
Why you go at night?
The only time we all had free.
You guys getting excited about how deep a 60ft shaft is... you need to watch the mine shaft video where a guy gets lowered down a 600ft shaft. Now that's impressive!
Too much of a Hot spot from that torch, bit hard to see whats its pointed at
I did try to illuminate the graffiti with the halo rather than the hot-spot for this exact reason 👍
sir.. is their any paranormal things happen during exploring somethings in some peculiar places.
Not yet
great video as always guys :)
Another classic explore great job done fellas
Amazing effort, always great to see the places most of us would never get to see.!
Thank you 👍
Try a different rope ascending technique. I'd recommend the Frog technique. There are much easier ways to get up hundreds of metres of rope without that much effort.
Thanks, I'll look that one up 👍
🐸
Frogs are delicious
10:10 what is that stuff coming out of the ceiling. Maybe it was a hideout for Robin hood. 11:15 just to the right of the bottom looks like handholds were originally carved into the side. Light a lighter if the flame is dull and weak oxygen is low. Bring an oxygen meter or a multi gas meter if you can afford it. 14:41 interesting claw marks.I just looked up Dane holes. They actually date to pre-history. The claw marks are marks left by the miners picks. They used antler or bone picks to mine with. They were either mining chalk to spread on the fields for agriculture or mining flint for tools. It actually said they also could have been used later by the smugglers as ready made hiding places thus the references to robin hood make more sense.
My only query with that theory would be that if the claw marks where from the tools used to dig then i would have expected to see the marks all over the hole in its entire construction.
Please explore more Daneholes Darenth Wood Denehole, Kent has one.
We'd probably be able to see more if you had your torch on the correct setting
Dene holes are fascinating, you missed as meeting/ceremonial places
I'd not heard that theory. I'll have to look it up.
Well done Simon.
Thank you 👍
A latrine ?
Bit deep for one of those.
I thought these were flint mines? like grimes graves. I think grimes graves probably are as the alcoves are quite small as if they were following seams of flint, too small to be used as rooms iirc. maybe this one was a mine and later the alcoves were made bigger for storage or something. do you think (when it was made) with the foot holes being each side of the shaft it would be possible to climb out using them with your back resting on the side or are they too far apart, i.e shaft too wide to do that? l think Royston cave was originally entered in this way.
We put this at around the 1300's. The shaft is a little wide to be able to do that if you think of the average height of a human back then. A Tall person could probably do it these days but the chalk is very slippery and could be a real risk.
What a good night it was fella nice little gem to visit 💯
Top night indeed mate 💪
9:46 is a air filter from a car or truck
Great safety effort chaps, nice to see it being done properly.
Thank you sir 👍
Dude ur so brave to get that far.
Looks similar to a prehistoric flint mine, only deeper and with a smaller shaft diameter.
If it was in the U.S. I'd say it was a coyote hole, also known as a coyote dig. Vertical shaft that branches in different directions at the bottom. Typically dug in creek bottoms or washouts to get down to long buried gold deposits.
Thank for the info. Did not know that 👍
Good professional job , like to see the safety good job...
With such a deep hole, we made extra effort to stay safe 👍
We use the Petzl Avao Croll Fast harness for all our climbing, be ideal for holes like that, not the smallest of harnesses to be fair though!
Oooooooo that does look like a nice harness to be fair. May have to take a closer look 👍
Nice one Simon, no way would I be able to get back out of there. Very closterphobic just watching. To think how old that thing must be, probably dug by the same guys used for well digging. Looking down that dark hole kinda reminds me of my ex 😂. Great video 😎👍👍👍
Try using led lenser head torches, best you can buy, not cheap but I’ve been using them for caving for years, small, lightweight and very powerful! Been my trusted friend in dark places for years! Great vid!
I have a collection of both Olight and lenser gear. I've found that lenser are better for an even light distribution but olight has them very much beaten for power.
I have never tried the olight before but I might look into one for experimental purposes!
looks like a stone age flint mine. is it in norfolk? the shape of the mine is the same as grime graves.
Kent ;-)
are there more mines near the one in the video? At grimes graves the flint seam was beneath the limestone in the side galleries.
Love how u all have some old cool shit over there looks bad ass glad u took us for the ride
All good fun. Perhaps i need to invest in a gas meter as people keep having a go at me for 😂
@@SubExploration true true just in case
NIce explore simon !....27k subs !.... you deserve it bro.
Thank you sir, much appreciated.
I cannot see it being used as a store but more for chalk extraction as it's similar to what a bell pit was. You extracted out all that you could in this case chalk and left a hole in the ground and moved on. It seems to deep for a storage area.
I've got a few videos coming up with shaft work about a similar height, apart from ours start inside the mine. Wow, he goes down fast, can't do that with a normal descender lol. Yes, helmets are essential, especially in shafts, the amount of times I've been at the bottom, monitoring things above and bits have come down on me. Having climbed shafts, I know your pain lol
I'll keep an eye out for you vids 😉
9:45 it’s an air cleaner off a tractor os something
You guys have balls of steel - nice video
You know, over the years I've slid into a few big wet holes in the woods....
Was it a flint mine
Not flint but one of the theories about dene-holes was that they were for chalk excavation. Just happens to be a couple of flints mixed in so i dare say they probably used those too.
Sub Exploration the amount of work to they put in to get chalk them holes they cut in the side to climb up and down I bet that was fun when they were wet. They were a crazy bunch back then Keep up the great explores
How cool would it be to go back and excavate the mud mounds at the bottom!
It would certainly open it up quite a bit down below 👍
Might find many an old coin or 2!
Stannis baratheon, that you?
This is one you definitely should not try at home. Thought these deep holes were just an American thing, I was wrong
Shame I can't by the flashlight! You forgot to menson the Olight terms & conditions:
"We do not ship to overseas territories"
I waited for the countdown till midnight, and have to get up for work at 4.00
I was not a happy camper at the checkout....!
Sorry to hear about that. Olight ship globally but I guess you have to order from the correct region. For the US for example you would need to go to olight World... olightworld.com/
Why do they put the pillow over the bars
To protect the rope from rusty metal. Rusty metal goes through ropes pretty quick.