stone series - mine workings

...the weather today was, quite frankly, rubbish. It poured rain all day, almost without cease. As the light was beginning to fade, I rushed back to Durlston Country Park for another of my Purbeck stone series.

To the right of the service road to Anvil Point lighthouse, there is the entrance to an old stone working that has an incline into the mine supporting a tramway and sledge that was used to drag out the stone. The sledge is connected to a steel chain that, in turn, is connected to a capstan winch, which was either turned by hand or, possibly by horse. I usually prefer to photograph this looking seaward, because it is then possible to include Anvil Point lighthouse as well as the capstan and sledge, but It was so wet and windy that I decided to take two separate images and combine them to illustrate the workings.

Despite the rain, it has been a lovely day catching up with my daughter and having fun...