History
Moel Fferna Quarry lies at the end of the valley Moel Fferna. The mine opened in the 1870s and was worked almost entirely underground, and eventually working on seven levels. It developed a reputation for good slab and efficient working. Until a mill was built in 1911 slab was taken to the nearby Nant y Pandy mill. The mill that was constructed used a gas engine to power sand saws. In 1923 an oil engined electric generator enabled the mill to used diamond saws.At Moel Fferna a team could produce up to 35 tons of finished slate per week. In 1877 they received about 7 shillings a ton for this. After paying wages for the manager, clerks and 'trammers' the company could make a clear profit of twice this amount. After being worked for around 90 years, the mine closed in the 1960s. Following closure the level adits have been infilled, although still easily identified from the surface, the only way in is via the air shaft.
So for another one of our monthly group explores we headed to wales again with a few slate mines lined up. Knowing we were planning on heading to Moel Fferna, a couple of the guys (mainly @mineorluke) knocked together a rather dodgy looking wire ladder, as we're usually exploring on a rather tight budget, and our safety wasn't worth the £100+ cost of a proper caving ladder
After completely failing to check the weather forecast beforehand, and a slight error finding the nearest road, we began our walk to the mine.... 2 miles of walking over boggy, hilly moorland in the wind and rain later, we'd found the air shaft. Once the ladder was secured, we began our descent one by one down into the mine. Another rope was already in place when we arrived, so somebody else was down there, although we never saw them, and the rope was gone when we emerged.
We didn't spend a massive amount of time exploring the mine as we were all pretty exhausted, wet and hungry after the long walk getting there....
1. View down the air shaft, the way in
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7. The bridge of doom
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9. A little waterfall inside
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11. Bridge of doom from below
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13. The bottom of the air shaft from inside
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7. The bridge of doom
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9. A little waterfall inside
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11. Bridge of doom from below
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13. The bottom of the air shaft from inside
