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Singing River Mine

Shipham.

This intricate and interesting mine is one of the longest now open on Mendip and offers the visitor a veritable maze of passages, chambers and rifts to explore. Rediscovered by ACG in 1971, the main passages are laid out along an east-west axis and the entrance shaft enters the mine roughly at the centre. To the east lies a series of impressive and watery chambers, while to the west, an active streamway can be pursued for almost 100m, crossing a series of attractive deep blue pools. The mine was originally worked in the 18th century and reached its peak in the 19th century, when a Wells chemist undertook the financing of the mine. Extensive engineering during the 1920s modified the Great Hall and Stinking Gulf for use as a reservoir. However the plan was abandoned when water levels were found to be too low. Shipham dowsers claimed to have traced the course of the Banwell spring back to a spot in Longbottom valley near Shipham, where, in 1813, a shaft was sunk in search of coal. However all attempts to prove a connection with the area (including the stream seen in Singing River Mine), have so far failed.

Alternate Names: Shipham Old Mine Well

Notes: The mine was originally worked, chiefly for calamine, in the 18th century and reached its peak in the 19th century.

Hydrographic Resurgences: 1979 : failed (WCC Jnl 16:124)