Rainford Old Delf - Crank Caverns

At Rainford Old Delf - a disused 18th Century quarry there is a small underground section quarried out and supported with rock pillars giving the effect of several small caves, known locally as Crank Caverns.

Although an easy-to-enter artificial “cave” there is not much to see and the experience is spoiled by the masses of litter at the site - and I’m going to say it - graffiti. None of the tags here look anything special and I much prefer decent graffiti to add interest to otherwise grey, urban areas, better without.

The quarry looks typical sandstone possibly with the good beds dipping under a more fragmented rock. The caverns area looks more modern than the rest, perhaps as time wore on it became only viable to get the better rock out. I would guess with the caverns cut out around the turn of the 20th Century. A few buildings on the site at around the same time with the last couple to go occupying the site of the current private house.

There are further tunnels leading deeper once past all the litter with a few quite tight squeezes required in places and there’s a lot of passages blocked by debris. Not really for the casual passer-by. Graffitsi mostly throughout although much sparser in the deeper sections.

There are local legends about ghostly monks and a secret passage from several nearby historic buildings but all the tunnels at Crank Caverns are mined and not natural caves or tunnels and are were probably quite open and easy to access when made, all the tight squeezes and narrow entrances found today are caused by rockfalls and soil being pushed in from above to seal old entrances.

There are also tales of an underground lake at Crank, also quite common in other sandstone areas and these are found where water accumulates in mined out cavities in the rock. When a quarry or mine is running commercially it takes a lot of effort to keep water out, either by pumping or cutting smaller drainage tunnels downslope from the mine itself.

Rainford Old Delf isn’t really worth the visit unless you are close by - even then it’s probably only for completists.

Created: 18  March  2019  Edited: 29  November  2023