Cowshill sinkhole: 200ft chasm 'almost repaired'

The hole (left) opened up above an unstable lead mine and has been filled in with debris from surrounding land

A 200ft (60m)-deep sinkhole which opened up above an old lead mine is close to being filled in, ten months after it first appeared.

The crater appeared metres from the home of landowner John Hensby in Cowshill, County Durham.

Mr Hensby said bad weather had held up efforts to repair the hole, which had been slowly growing in size.

But the Church Commissioners, responsible for the mine, said it was in the final stages of repairs.

Rock and dirt from surrounding land, as well as spoil from the former mine, were used to fill the hole and Mr Hensby, 71, said a "remarkable job" had been done.

'Bottomless pit'

He said: "It was like a bottomless pit - we had mine groupies getting too close to the edge and defying all the warning signs and we were worried about sheep falling in.

"Bad weather has hampered the work, but basically mine spoil has been pushed in with a bulldozer and the contours smoothed off.

"The landscape level is slightly lower, but it's a remarkable job."

Mr Hensby plans to plant trees and shrubs to "bind" the spoil and prevent further slippage

Mr Hensby, who lives in the former mine manager's home, owns 10 acres of surrounding land, and plans to plant trees and shrubs to "bind" the spoil and prevent further slippage.

'Adverse weather'

A spokeswoman for the Church Commissioners said adverse weather had caused a slight delay.

"There is still an excavator on site which will be used to carry out the final re-grading when the site is dry," she said.

"We still need to fence the shaft location disturbed by the re-grading works. No material was imported to site, it was filled in with mine spoil occurring at the location.

"The Commissioners are meeting the costs."

Mr Hensby heard enormous rumblings from the ground before the hole opened up