This year’s Ruddlesden geotechnical educational/ social fieldtrip was to the Combe Martin Silver Mine in North Devon.

This year’s Ruddlesden geotechnical educational/ social fieldtrip was to the Combe Martin Silver Mine in North Devon.

The mine is owned by volunteers, who are working to preserve its heritage and kindly took us on a tour underground.

Among other things, the visit highlighted the following points:

1. Metalliferous mining in the South West is far from restricted to the more famous heartlands of Camborne and Redruth.

2. The older workings are commonly nearest to the surface, the most poorly recorded and the most irregular, and so are often the highest risk from a surface development perspective.