Ashford Black Marble Mine

Another short trip underground today, this time a wander around Ashford Black Marble Mine near Ahford in the Water. It has a locked gate on the entrance but it is possible to arrange trips to see the mine.
This is an interesting small mine (I suppose it's technically and underground quarry as it was the rock which was being extracted for itself rather than as an ore for metal or mineral) and was used to supply a black marble.
From Wikipedia “Ashford Black Marble is the name given to a dark limestone, quarried from mines near Ashford-in-the-Water, in Derbyshire, England. Once cut, turned and polished, its shiny black surface is highly decorative. Ashford Black Marble is a very fine-grained sedimentary rock, and is not a true marble in the geological sense. It can be cut and inlaid with other decorative stones and minerals, using a technique known as pietra dura. Derby Museum has a diagram of Ecton Hill made from Ashford Black Marble and other minerals”.
Some parts were marked with read and white plastic tape to warn of dangerous sections but most of the mine was accessible and except for a few feet as you entered through the locked gate into the mine, it was all easy walking with more than enough head room.There were a few places where some calcite formations had grown which were impressive and an area where there was a lot of graffiti, some from the 19^th Century.