The huge sinkhole, believed to be formed because of mine work, was first spotted on Thursday at Cowshill, in the rural countryside region of Weardale — and by Monday the hole has become three times it previous size. In fact, the hole is now so deep it's not possible to see the bottom.
When it was first
discovered on Thursday by a woman walking her dog, it was no more than about five metres wide. However, when her partner John Hensby, 71, decided to look for himself, he said it had grown three times bigger by Friday morning.
Many of the local farmers are worried that sheep may plunge down
sinkhole and county council officials have had to close a public footpath that runs close to the newly-formed hole in the ground. Mr Hensby said:
Sam came back and she was looking quite shocked. She told me that a hole had appeared and I said I best go and have a look. At the time, it was about five metres round. Throughout Thursday night it got bigger and bigger until it was about three times that size on Friday morning. It is about 35 metres wide and you can't see the bottom of it. The sound was phenomenal. We could hear rumbling and smashing and crashing from down below – all of these great lumps of earth were falling in and falling in. If one of the dogs or the sheep fell in we would never see them again.
The local
weather forecast predicts long spells of rain to arrive by Monday and Tuesday and this could make the hole substantially bigger and far more perilous to go near very soon.
