The first post in this series was about Clogau gold mine - this one covers the valley between Clogau and Foel Ispri, the next hill along, with the red dots being mine entrances.
Mineralised veins in this region run roughly east-west, so once gold was discovered in the waste from copper mines on Clogau, any quartz outcrop further east was investigated in the hope of finding more.
The result is numerous holes both in the valley and on Foel Ispri.
Although some gold was found, there was too little to make these mines viable with the technology of the time and many of the excavations don’t extend very far.
This report is the product of several walks, phone for above ground and increasingly battered camera for below.
About a third of the underground bits have been left out as they were not particularly interesting, or in some cases, gated.
Cambrian. For simplicity I’m calling anything on Foel Ispri east of the river the Cambrian mine after the last company to work this area (the rest of the levels on Foel Ispri will be covered in a future post).
Some of the excavations here may previously have been named after local places (Taicynhaeaf or Maestryfer).
It was originally opened for lead in the 1850s with sporadic attempts to extract gold until 1905.
Like most mines it apparently had its own mill, but it’s not shown on maps and I didn’t find anything that looked like mill remains on this part of the hill.
A low level tunnel, also not on maps, was begun to drain the higher workings and I did find a likely candidate for this, right next to the road.
It starts with a well-built portal and goes all of 20 yards - the entrance is visible above and to the left of the metal gate.
Uphill is a level (adit/tunnel) which went in a satisfactory distance to worked-out area but didn’t extend much further.
Further up are some run-in levels, and a shaft with a pile of pinkish quartz speckled with pyrites nearby.
About half way down to the river are some flooded shafts, a run-in level and an open one, which didn’t extend far.
Right down on the river at the bottom of a gorge are a couple more levels.
The first has a double entrance and stops almost immediately in what was either a shaft or an open stope, now full of waste rock.
There’s a corresponding, but much shorter excavation on the other side of the river.
Nearby is another level which was more interesting, barreling in a fair distance.
Up and over a roof-fall leads to a flooded area where the ‘floor’ has gone - hard to see how much further this went from where I was standing.
Immediately upstream is a channel with an opening at the front - this might have been a wheel pit, or just some sluicing device - I can find no mention of a mill here.
Further upstream is another level heading east.
It leads to a shaft coming out behind someone’s house.
Beyond here it’s time to walk the plank…
…looking back before it eventually fizzles out.
continued
Mineralised veins in this region run roughly east-west, so once gold was discovered in the waste from copper mines on Clogau, any quartz outcrop further east was investigated in the hope of finding more.
The result is numerous holes both in the valley and on Foel Ispri.
Although some gold was found, there was too little to make these mines viable with the technology of the time and many of the excavations don’t extend very far.
This report is the product of several walks, phone for above ground and increasingly battered camera for below.
About a third of the underground bits have been left out as they were not particularly interesting, or in some cases, gated.
Cambrian. For simplicity I’m calling anything on Foel Ispri east of the river the Cambrian mine after the last company to work this area (the rest of the levels on Foel Ispri will be covered in a future post).
Some of the excavations here may previously have been named after local places (Taicynhaeaf or Maestryfer).
It was originally opened for lead in the 1850s with sporadic attempts to extract gold until 1905.
Like most mines it apparently had its own mill, but it’s not shown on maps and I didn’t find anything that looked like mill remains on this part of the hill.
A low level tunnel, also not on maps, was begun to drain the higher workings and I did find a likely candidate for this, right next to the road.
It starts with a well-built portal and goes all of 20 yards - the entrance is visible above and to the left of the metal gate.
Uphill is a level (adit/tunnel) which went in a satisfactory distance to worked-out area but didn’t extend much further.
Further up are some run-in levels, and a shaft with a pile of pinkish quartz speckled with pyrites nearby.
About half way down to the river are some flooded shafts, a run-in level and an open one, which didn’t extend far.
Right down on the river at the bottom of a gorge are a couple more levels.
The first has a double entrance and stops almost immediately in what was either a shaft or an open stope, now full of waste rock.
There’s a corresponding, but much shorter excavation on the other side of the river.
Nearby is another level which was more interesting, barreling in a fair distance.
Up and over a roof-fall leads to a flooded area where the ‘floor’ has gone - hard to see how much further this went from where I was standing.
Immediately upstream is a channel with an opening at the front - this might have been a wheel pit, or just some sluicing device - I can find no mention of a mill here.
Further upstream is another level heading east.
It leads to a shaft coming out behind someone’s house.
Beyond here it’s time to walk the plank…
…looking back before it eventually fizzles out.
continued
