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Grime's Graves Flint Mines
Trip No.10 Entry No.4 Date Added: 12th Apr 2017
Site Type: Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 6th Apr 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Grime's Graves Flint Mines submitted by ermine on 7th Apr 2017. Antler picks, Greenwell Pit, Grimes Graves
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Log Text: It's worth bearing in mind that to see much underground you will need to enter the shaft on hands and knees, so dress accordingly. The temperature is about 10C.
The flint was mined from the chalk using red deer antlers that had been naturally shed - the antler material is hardest when just shed.
There are two other pits which have been entered by the public on the site - one which is now closed was the one open to the public in the 1960s and 70s, and the current public access pit, Pit One.
(part 4 of 4)
Grime's Graves Flint Mines
Trip No.10 Entry No.3 Date Added: 12th Apr 2017
Site Type: Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 6th Apr 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Grime's Graves Flint Mines submitted by ermine on 7th Apr 2017. Descent into Greenwell Pit - ladder
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Log Text: Unlike the public access pit this one will generally be via restricted ticketing, the event I was at was a members event. The English Heritage description of the event
thanks to a new winch and harness system we can now access Greenwell’s Pit and see a mining shaft in its original archaeological state.
Join our Neolithic expert Will Lord and discover the history and archaeology of the site before he leads the descent in to the newly opened pit.
This event has been graded as challenging access as the descent in to the pit is by winch and harness only and will require an extended period underground.
made it sound like we were going to abseil into the pit, but although visitors are kitted up with a harness and attached to a winch with a breakaway cable, this is only a safety requirement in case someone slips or has a heart attack underground, entry is quite conventional, down a steel ladder.
(part 3 of 4)
Grime's Graves Flint Mines
Trip No.10 Entry No.2 Date Added: 12th Apr 2017
Site Type: Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 6th Apr 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Grime's Graves Flint Mines submitted by ermine on 7th Apr 2017. Grazing sheep used to keep the English Heritage site of Grimes Graves clear of trees and brushwood
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Log Text: There’s not much to see above ground at Grimes Graves, this is a mine, after all, so all the action happened underground. The surface is pockmarked by depressions where the backfill has settled, and sheep are used to keep the ground clear.
(part 2 of 4)
Grime's Graves Flint Mines
Trip No.10 Entry No.1 Date Added: 12th Apr 2017
Site Type: Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
Country: England (Norfolk)
Visited: Yes on 6th Apr 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Grime's Graves Flint Mines submitted by ermine on 7th Apr 2017. One of the radial shafts at Grimes, Graves, Greenwell Pit. Originally the floor would have been covered in flint
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Log Text: English Heritage have opened up a new pit to occasional public access. Greenwell Pit is one of the 433 on the Grimes Graves neolithic flint mine site at Grimes Graves. I was on the first public descent into this pit – it had of course been opened and entered before by archaeologists, but the 6th April was the first time it had been opened to the public.
(part 1 of 4)