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e13-12

5th Nov 2005:

Burtree Pasture and Sedling Mine, Cowshill Chunks of spar lie everywhere, purple, rich and battered. Some exceptional specimens must have been found here but I have never seen any of them. Looking for an ironstone outcrop on the fells to the north west I trace the direction from the adit of Burtree Pasture mine. A miserable hope of finding specimens on an overcast and wet day. I eventually discover the outcrop after trudging around the wringing wet hillside. It will need a considerable amount of work to find anything, although there are clear signs of previous collecting. Pale mauve and very corroded fluorite crystals are visible but not worth the taking. Best leave the old outcrop alone. It has been hammered enough in the past. Despite the poor showing it was interesting enough to make some drawings of the location if for no other reason than to fathom out what was going on in the rock face. There are extensive workings yielding the odd specimen from blocks of ironstone that litter the hillside. I collect a few specimens. After that, having misjudged my capacity to balance on the rock face, I take a tumble down the hillside. I am getting too old for this lark. Later my knee gets very painful and swells up to alarming proportions. A throbbingly uncomfortable evening follows. DWB