BOX FREESTONE MINES by the Cotham Caving Group Third Edition, revised and
updated 2002. iv + 67 pp, 4 pp maps, 7 colour plates on 4 pp [=total 79
pp], 17 B&W photos in text. A5 SB price £7.95 Mike Moore can supply:
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The first edition was published in 1967 and if I remember correctly is
was a quarto sized publication, run off on an old Gestetner duplicator.
Interest in these mines is still as keen as ever, hence this new glossy
publication.
Since 1967 the mines have seen many changes, as mining became uneconomic
many quarrying firms ceased production and only three companies are still
working today. The end of the cold war sounded the end of the great
underground weapons store at Box and this closed in the 1990’s.
Likewise, many of the entrances have been filled in and today only the
entrance to Jack’s Workings is left. The Backdoor is officially closed.
Bath stone or Oolite is quite soft when first cut, but after being
allowed to dry out, it turns into hard building stone. It has been used
in the construction of such edifices as the Georgian Crescent in Bath and
the Houses of Parliament in London. The removal of the stone has left a
maze of passages over 35 miles long.
In 1959, teenage cavers, from Cotham Grammar School, Bristol,
rediscovered the old Box workings. Exited by what they found, they began to
spend their weekends exploring and map making.
Travelling to and fro by bus, they often camped underground to gain extra
time for the work. The major routes were surveyed, measured and recorded in
scrupulous detail. The only omission I could find was that they did not
identify the original explorer of the A. O. Route.
AO
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