Monument record MDR13079 - Orchard Sough and Sough Tail, Snitterton, South Darley

Orchard sough has a classic example of a bolt tail running into the Wensleydale brook at SK 28156079, 50 yards from its confluence with the Derwent to the north. The bolt tail empties via a low narrow drain in a meander in the brook, 1ft 3ins wide and 1ft high, with a flow rate of about 6 litres per second. The tail is built into a wall. The sough itself remains close to the surface as far as the Snitterton-Oaker road before it gains depth below the increasing hillside. From a shaft near the road (at SK 28046062), looking north, a line of dirt mounds can be seen leading to the tail. It is from this shaft that the sough follows the Orchard vein to join the Oxclose vein at SK 279603. The sough then follows the Oxclose vein to a shaft shown on Barmasters' maps as 'Orchard Sough Shaft'. According to Barmasters' books, the sough was driven in the mid 1800s with the intention of deep drainage and exploration of the Oxclose mines, but was never completed. It was actually only driven for 650 yards, ie to Orchard Sough Shaft. It is also known as Snitterton Sough and was driven in shale and a little way in limestone. It is not clear why a second sough of the same altitude as Oxclose sough was driven to the same group of mines - possibly Oxclose sough was in a bad state of repair by the mid-1800s, or was unable to cope with the large amounts of water in the wet seasons. The Orchard sough, as well as the Oxclose sough, must be partially blocked, because during excessive rainfall the whole system now floods, with the water levels becoming high enough to resurge at an old mineshaft west of Snitterton Hall, at a level of 450 ft OD, 150ft above sough level. (1) Orchard Sough High Priority Lead Mining Site has a low slabbed sough bolt. (2)