Top 20 Caves around Brachbach

We parked in the Otto-Hellinghausen-Platz (Kirmesplatz) car park on the corner of "Im Hüttenwald"/Brückenstraße in 57555 Mudersbach. From here, the slate mine can be easily reached on foot in 5 minutes.

The route there isn't the best, but the rest area at the slate tunnel entrance is really great.

Quiet and beautiful place!

The slate tunnel is part of the slate-ore-iron path, the easy-to-drive path leads directly along the Sieg

Visitor mine SGV slate tunnel "Wilhelmslust" "Slate is a product of nature and was formed in Siegerland, especially in the Devonian period 350 to 400 million years ago, through deposits of fine-grained clay mud masses, which solidified into clay stone under the pressure of the deposit. Later mountain formation caused the clay stone layers to unfold due to lateral pressure . During these tectonic processes, the clayey rocks shattered. This gave the original claystone a new structural element: cleavage. Historically, the quarrying of slate can be traced back to the Middle Ages. The oldest surviving concession to quarry slate dates back to 1717 In the early years, slate was mined in open pits, with underground mining only going on after 1850. The heyday of the roofing slate industry came in 1860 with a ministerial decree stating that roofs could no longer be thatched mines and tunnels where miners earned their daily bread. For three centuries, slate was a sought-after building material far beyond the borders of Germany. The Wilhelmslust slate tunnel was hewn by a master roofer from Mudersbach in 1856 after obtaining permission from the Forest of Interest. The length is approx. 80 m with two large mining halls. The miners opened up the tunnel by hand, armed only with a hammer and chisel, and brought the valuable slate to light. About 10% to 20% of the rock mass moved was useful material as the end product. The surrounding rock was used to build paths and quarry stone walls. Some stalactites and stalagmites have formed in the corridor. The air in the tunnel is clear and pure. The temperature is around 8ºC and the humidity is a comfortable 90%. In the years 2004 to 2006, the Sauerland Mountain Club Dept. Siegtal-Mudersbach e. V. (SGV) prepared the tunnel for visits." https://www.tourenplaner-rheinland-pfalz.de/de/punkt/bergwerk/besucherbergwerk-schieferstollen-wilhelmslust/42129335/

A nice place to pause and switch off for a moment...

Fits to the history of the Westerwald and Siegerland

<< "Dwarf Cave" gallery in a pinge of the Arbacher Gangzug >> "... In the early Middle Ages, the new heyday of the local ore mines began with the introduction of tunnel construction. This technology enabled a new mining method for iron ore extraction. The tunnels were driven with mallets and iron by hand to under the ore veins and the iron ore then from below The first tunnels were built quite high up on the mountain slope in order to have to cut the tunnels as short as possible. The resulting rock material could be stored directly in front of the tunnel mouth hole If the iron ore was mined above from these tunnels, the next tunnel was set up further down the slope in order to get to the lower lying ore. Due to the sloping slopes, the deeper tunnels were correspondingly longer. As a result, the tunnels built on the valley floor were the longest. With a larger cross-section, it was possible to bring the rock into the light of day with wooden mine wagons, the so-called Hunten. These tunnels, laid out in stages, were used until the valley was reached. If the vein was thick enough (extensive), or if several veins appeared in the mine structure, which led to the suspicion that veining could continue at greater depths, further civil engineering was carried out (die mining) and a production shaft was sunk (dug into the depths). ... " The "dwarf cave" (colloquially) is located at the lowest point of this pinge and has a length of 35 m. Entering the dwarf cave is prohibited - danger to life!