Brief History
Parc was the largest, most successful and last mine to close in the Gwydyr Forest. Official records date production from the mine to around 1860-ish (exact date varies by source) as the Gwydyr Park Consols by the D’Ersby and Gwydyr Company formed from an amalgamation of older workings . The mine was operated on and off before finally finishing up in 1958. It for experiments into automated milling during 1962-3 before finally closing for good.
Rock was extracted and then crushed on site and the lead and zinc ore extracted before being sent away for processing. Very little of the surface workings exist. The site was revegetated in the 1970's to reduce environmental impacts due to erosion of the spoil heaps allowing lead and zinc to leach into the nearby stream, enter the Afon Conwy then polluting agricultural land downstream on the floodplain. The ore vein was followed and extracted along roughly a 40 degree angle in a process known as "stoping". The void was then propped with wood to prevent loose rock from falling; this is known as "Stulling". Because the ore vein was followed all the way down, false floors were added to provide the tramways for the carts to extract the ore.
Parc was used in a research project investigating the elastic behaviour of the Earth’s structure. A monitoring station was set up 41m below the ground. Due to deformations of the cavity of the tunnel itself accurate readings could not be made and the project here was abandoned.
The explore
We entered at, i think, Adit 3/kneebone cutting. The wooden props with the consistency of a soft cheese above our heads pretty much set the mood for the explore upon entering. Unfortunately due to the lack of kit we could only explore this one level partially. We got along the tramway as far as we could, with the rockfalls and flooding becoming more and more frequent the deeper into the level we got. The final decider to turn back sharpish was the slight eggy smell coming from the disturbed wood in the water....no one likes a lungful of hydrogen sulfide !
This mine is sketchy to say the least and not recommended for anyone without a few EXP points. The false floors have given way in places, especially the tramway junction near the entrance. The stulls have rotted in many places as well as the spoil chutes. We decided not to venture down the ladders to the lower floors as we did not have SRT gear, were fairly confident that the ladders were stable but were unsure about the landing platforms. No photo is worth your life. Anyway onto the pics, hope you enjoy!!!
Pics
Had a right mare uploading these so hopefully they aren't three pixels wide!
Parc was the largest, most successful and last mine to close in the Gwydyr Forest. Official records date production from the mine to around 1860-ish (exact date varies by source) as the Gwydyr Park Consols by the D’Ersby and Gwydyr Company formed from an amalgamation of older workings . The mine was operated on and off before finally finishing up in 1958. It for experiments into automated milling during 1962-3 before finally closing for good.
Rock was extracted and then crushed on site and the lead and zinc ore extracted before being sent away for processing. Very little of the surface workings exist. The site was revegetated in the 1970's to reduce environmental impacts due to erosion of the spoil heaps allowing lead and zinc to leach into the nearby stream, enter the Afon Conwy then polluting agricultural land downstream on the floodplain. The ore vein was followed and extracted along roughly a 40 degree angle in a process known as "stoping". The void was then propped with wood to prevent loose rock from falling; this is known as "Stulling". Because the ore vein was followed all the way down, false floors were added to provide the tramways for the carts to extract the ore.
Parc was used in a research project investigating the elastic behaviour of the Earth’s structure. A monitoring station was set up 41m below the ground. Due to deformations of the cavity of the tunnel itself accurate readings could not be made and the project here was abandoned.
The explore
We entered at, i think, Adit 3/kneebone cutting. The wooden props with the consistency of a soft cheese above our heads pretty much set the mood for the explore upon entering. Unfortunately due to the lack of kit we could only explore this one level partially. We got along the tramway as far as we could, with the rockfalls and flooding becoming more and more frequent the deeper into the level we got. The final decider to turn back sharpish was the slight eggy smell coming from the disturbed wood in the water....no one likes a lungful of hydrogen sulfide !
This mine is sketchy to say the least and not recommended for anyone without a few EXP points. The false floors have given way in places, especially the tramway junction near the entrance. The stulls have rotted in many places as well as the spoil chutes. We decided not to venture down the ladders to the lower floors as we did not have SRT gear, were fairly confident that the ladders were stable but were unsure about the landing platforms. No photo is worth your life. Anyway onto the pics, hope you enjoy!!!
Pics
Had a right mare uploading these so hopefully they aren't three pixels wide!
