Yes, although the roof of the mine shows the signs of being battered by hammerstones, the sides have been chipped out by iron chisels - in places there are chisel marks. And the niches seem only wide enough for more modern candles. The tunnel does wander though. There's no trace of any rails or similar.

It's not widely recognised that there is copper ore (and iron) amongst the Alston Block minerals - everyone immediately thinks about lead, primarily, and silver, but the river Nent is stained green from an algae that incorporates the copper from upstream mine runout - so there will have been multiple sources.

The Great Orme ore deposit is/was a soft substance bedded in limestone - at the Knar it was an intrusion in sandstone, and so a different geology. On the Victorian geological survey (which I last consulted in 1991) the Bold Venture seam (it has another name) emerges in the next valley, at roughly the same height. That valley - Burnstones Burn - would be the principal place to look for more workings. (But I've got a tonne of stuff to investigate already - I'm looking for support and aid, rather than suggestions of where to go).

I went down the Bold Venture mine in 1985, and then in June, this year. On the way down the tunnel I could see my undisturbed footprints from 21 years before. I could remember the wellies I was wearing (new Hunters) and, roughly, everything else. That was strange. The lefthand tunnel - and it takes a bit of scrambling through a low section to get to the fork - is still unexplored. It's like the Famous Five, or similar - Scooby Doo perhaps. The mine is at the heart of things and, yes, I have artefacts.