Final chance to see inside amazing caves

Workers died while carving it with their bare hands and young children were among those who toiled tirelessly in the petrifying darkness as they struggled to make a living in the limestone mines beneath the Black Country.

But in a matter of just a few weeks, the vast Cathedral Cavern their work created beneath Dudley's Wren's Nest National Nature Reserve will be filled completely with sand.

Experts are now on site gleaning every last detail they can about the magnificent cavern, which makes up part of the Step Shaft Mine, before it is sealed up.

Express & Star journalists were among some of the last people invited to take a look around the cave before is closes – potentially for good. The precious hollow is said to be in serious danger of collapse and experts have warned it must be filled in until the investment can be found to carry out vital stabilisation and improvement works.

But there is a real danger the shaft could be sealed forever if the cash needed to transform it into a world-renowned tourist attraction never materialises.

Engineers, archaeologists, geologists and mining specialists know there is a danger that the many treasures which the cavern holds could be lost forever.

But they remain upbeat as they go about there daily business of collating as much information as possible ahead of the closure.

All of their detailed analysis, rock castings and surveys will form part of a three-dimensional exhibition due to open at Dudley Museum and Art Gallery later this year.

Mine manager Ken Leech, an expert on the Earl of Dudley's limestones mines beneath Dudley, says he is sad to think of the cavern – known affectionately as The Grand Old Lady – being filled in. But he is not sorry.

"The cavern is so important that we cannot risk it collapsing," he said.

"This work will allow us to preserve it and hopefully one day we will be able to re-open it once again."

Work to fill in the cavern will start next week with sand first being pumped into the Grand Old Lady's tunnel entrance.

Then a shaft will be created so that sand can be poured in from above until the levels are high enough for someone to enter an area known as the Minstrel's Gallery – a smaller, off shoot cavern found high up in the main one. Dudley's Keeper of Geology Graham Worton is relishing the opportunity to explore the cavern so closely.

"I think Ken already has the rights to the Minstrel Gallery under the name Ken's Cafe," joked Graham.

"You would get such a great view from up there that he wants to open it as a cafe in the future when we re-open the mines."

Ken refers to the cavern as "the birth place of geology" and says he is wowed by the appearance of the underground haven – something the limestone miners who carved it would never have fully appreciated.

Experts from as far afield as Cornwall have been drafted in to use pioneering techniques so that elements of the historic cavern can be recreated above ground.

Among the techniques in use is a type of rubber paint – made predominantly of platinum – which once dry, creates a perfect cast of the cavern's surfaces. The rubber cast can then be rolled up and removed from the caves and taken above ground to be re-examined and re-cast for the 3D exhibition.

Once research work is completed next week, engineers will start to sensitively infill the vast space with a sand and water paste mix which will stabilise the cavern walls and roof. This work is expected to take up to 16 weeks. When funds become available in the future to re-open it, engineers can flush the sand with water and pump the resulting mix up out of the ground.

"This cavern is so important to Dudley and the rest of the world," said Graham.

"It is our history and our heritage and it is our duty to preserve it."