The Underground Journey was originally shot on 16mm cine film in 1968/9. In 2008, after many showings around the county, the badly worn film was donated to film-maker David Webb who has spent many hours restoring and transferring it to DVD.
The stars of the film are members of a mines exploration group known as “Op Mole”. This small but hardy band undertakes a hazardous underground journey beneath Cromford Moor using interconnecting old lead mine shafts, passages and soughs. Filmed under extremely hostile conditions using bulky and heavy equipment, the film brilliantly depicts this journey through mud and neck-deep water..
Although the route undertaken was once possible, deterioration of some of the centuries old mines forced the use of a modified route, but the conditions and surroundings are truly representative of the original and offers a gripping and realistic account of what it must have been like for the “old man” (the old lead miner) as he toiled beneath the earth to earn a meagre living
Originally filmed on 16mm cine film in late 1960s by Mines Exploration Group member Doug Fearn, this film brings you the digitised version along with a fascinating prologue of an interview with the leader of the expedition, Doug Nash.
Underground Assignments with David Webb 