Principally an arsenic mine, with a little copper, a letter dated 19 September 1807 notes "'tis a rich lode in Mundick, with some copper ore intermixed with it", but it is unclear whether it was worked at this time. Ding Dong was incorporated into the Bedford United sett in the 1840s, which closed in 1890. Re-opened during the 1939-45 war seemingly mostly for dump picking but also with some fresh trials for tin and tungsten.

There is quite an extensive sand and rock tip between the forestry track and the river just beyond the entrance to the woodland. This is centred on a shaft but there is no evidence of the adit portal mentioned by Dines. A small chimney stands in the trees a little above the forestry track. Jan 2005.

Thomas' shaft lies in the trees further up the slope and is reached along a narrow adit of maybe 200m which is flooded waist deep in very acid water. The shaft is some 120 feet deep with and adit driven off about 50 feet from the bottom.

The adit has some stoping and climbs through a series of short steps and collapses before levelling off at the bottom of Dyers shaft. The first 30 feet of Dyers reaches a second adit level above which the shaft is blocked. The adit is narrow and flooded reaching a hauling shaft after about 50m. This shaft is 70 feet deep and comes out in the floor of an extensive stope. The stope is about 50 feet long and 40 feet high though only 8 to 10 feet wide at most. An adit off the stope returns to Dyers shaft about 20 feet above the blockage and 100 feet below collar.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References