England - A giant sinkhole has opened up in the Peak District after torrential rain and storms battered the UK over the festive period.
The hole is estimated to be 130ft deep and 160ft wide and has appeared in the village of Foolow in Derbyshire.
Local caver Mark Noble, 58, said the opening has grown bigger since he first spotted it during a walk on Christmas Day.
‘It’s quite a large hole and it’s getting bigger all the time. It’s probably increased by about 10 per cent since it opened up,’ he told the BBC.
‘It is quite interesting but there are two other similar large holes that appeared about half a mile away from this one in the 1970s, so it’s not a new thing.’
It is thought the area, believed to have caved-in on Sunday, was part of the old Mill Dam Lead Mine near Buxton.
‘There are old mine workings directly below the sinkhole with huge cavities left, where the old mine was extracting lead centuries ago,’ Mr Noble added in an interview with ITV News.
‘The modern Mill Dam Mine is working at a much greater depth in the area of the sinkhole, but its collapse does not appear to have had a great impact on the mine.’
http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/31/peak-district-sinkhole-160ft-wide-hole-opens-in-foolow-derbyshire-4245624/
