Box Freestone Mine, Wiltshire
Box Freestone Mine is one of those places that I’d wanted to visit for a long time before I got round to it. When I finally did I barely took a single photo, witnessing the place itself was a whole lot more awe inspiring than any photo could portray.
I was hooked. Another four visits took place over the following two years, during which I actually took more than three photos as I did on the first trip. The aptly named “Cathedral” chamber is pretty unique as far as underground spaces go. It kinda makes you feel like you just tumbled down the rabbit hole.
Aside from Cathedral, there are no other points where natural light penetrates into the mine. There are some 90km of pitch black tunnels.
Towards the east end of the workings are a series of brick monoliths and “robots” built over the years by visitors to the mine.
Also to the east end of the workings, there are are two ventilation drifts that connect Box Mine to a series of MOD owned underground quarries.
Barbed wire and large metal gratings once protected the drift shafts from intruders, though since the MOD’s declassification of the sites these have been neglected.
Brewer’s Drift, which provided ventilation for the MOD owned Tunnel Quarry, also goes by the name of “Heart Attack Alley.” At the far end of this drift lies a dead end with a single red blast door leading to the MOD owned area.
Heading back west brings you to Groundstone Quarry, which Brewer’s Drift cuts through. Following the south passage to the left in the above photo brings you to the other ventilation drift, which is called Wind Tunnel. This also contains a long breached anti-personnel grating.
At the east end of Wind Tunnel lies another single red blast door. This leads to the MOD owned Spring Quarry, although has long been sealed shut.
After many tiring hours underground, we made our way out to make camp for the night.
The first light of morning penetrates the Cathedral chamber, highlighting a cloud that has formed as moisture begins to evaporate in the chamber.
This time we head north from the chamber, where the passages quickly narrow back down again.
When the workings closed for the last time in 1968, workers left many tools, drink cans and bottles. Even a few pairs of their work boots remain.
A winch truck remains on the rails within the Northern region of the workings.
Small piles of “deads” adorn a lot of the mine’s 90km of passageways. These are fragments of material that were unsuitable for quarrying, so were simply left in the passages.
I’ve still got a lot more to see…
In the mean time, if you like this then you’ll love my adventurers and sense of place portfolios.
Mike
Hi Mike,
I’ve been searching for weeks to find an entrance to this place! My girlfriend is visiting me this weekend and i really want to go and explore. Can you please PM me and let me know where i need to go? Where did you set up camp?!
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide,
Lewis
Hi Lewis, if you head to The Quarryman’s Arms they have all you need to know. You can buy laminated maps of the mine and ‘rent’ the key to the mine. I’d highly recommend taking several backup lights and batteries, wearing good strong waterproof boots with ankle support, and letting someone know when you go down and what time you expect to be out. Also take a compass to accompany the map. Mike
hi
I absolutely love the photography i went down about 4 weeks ago and am going back down next week but am in need on some advice for lighting i took many pictures but they are not very good, what lighting do you use so i can prepare better for next week any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks
Dion
Hi Dion,
I use a variety of powerful LED torches, including a few from LED Lenser and a few cheap Chinese CREE models from ebay. The LED Lenser lights create a very smooth and controllable light which is great for light painting, although they can sometimes not be powerful enough. This is where the CREE models come in, they produce a much more powerful light although the beam pattern that they produce is quite uneven… You have to be very careful with the way you use them in photography. Saying that, they are excellent for back-lighting tunnels as they produce both a wide spread of light whilst having a more focussed beam too, which counteracts the effects of light falloff in tunnels.
Aside from that, experimenting with different techniques and then practising them is a huge part of it. But that’s also the more rewarding part of it!
Hope that helps,
Mike
Me and my friends are thinking about going down I’m just worried about getting lost 🙁 what do you suggest ty.
Hi Mike,
Have been down several times now through the back door entrance to the cathedrall , but today we explored the north section by climbing up the dirt mound in the cathedrall and dropping down the other side.
We saw the cranes and tools and made it to the north entrance and to the plaque but can not seem to find “the red door” any advice on how to find it ?
Cheers , Mark
Hi Mark, the red door is at the east end of Wind Tunnel.
Hi Mike ,
Re-visited the mine today and finally found “the red door” altho decomisioned years ago you can still hear the generators running and a new motion sensor alarm on the wall? Did you come across this or is there something else going on i wonder ?
Also just a heads up for anyone thinking of visiting there has been a lot of cave ins which are new since our last visit 2 months ago between the back door and the cathedral
Cheers Mark
Hi Mike. have been trying to find maps of the mine, could you please help in anyway. me and my girlfriend have not been down box freestone mine before. so we would like to find some good maps of the mine. we have found so on line. but they were not very good and the detail on the maps was poor. we dont want to get lost so could you please help,
pete & karen
if anyone could help we would be greatful.
peterfox11960@gmail.com
Hi Mike, would it be possible to use your Cathedral Photo box-freestone-mine-01.jpg as part of a display in the Corsham Visitor’s Centre.
Of course, we’d acknowledge you as the source?
Regards, Julian
Hi Mike, please can I have permission to use the Cathedral photo at the top of your page http://mikedeere.com/box-freestone-mine/. I am updating the old photos in the Corsham Information Centre in Arnold House on Corsham High Street (on their photo notice boards). Of course, I will acknowledge you as the source. Regards, Julian Carosi