BertyBasset
11 years ago
Whilst on a Friday afternoon walk in the environs of Llanddulas and Abergele, I chanced across a shaft in Gopa Wood with a wooden walkway across it SH 935 770. Further investigation showed a ravine to the east with more workings dotted around to the west - so obviously a strong vein.

The shaft seems to be quite deep. and could be easily descended by Srt. Internet investigations afterwards show it to be Ffos y Bleiddiad mine and dated anything from Roman to 18C depending on which web site you look at.

Does anyone have more concrete information, or has anyone been down for a look?

http://chrislad.worldonline.co.uk/page13.html 

Cheers,

Robin
dtyson
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11 years ago
"BertyBasset" wrote:

Whilst on a Friday afternoon walk in the environs of Llanddulas and Abergele, I chanced across a shaft in Gopa Wood with a wooden walkway across it SH 935 770. Further investigation showed a ravine to the east with more workings dotted around to the west - so obviously a strong vein.

The shaft seems to be quite deep. and could be easily descended by Srt. Internet investigations afterwards show it to be Ffos y Bleiddiad mine and dated anything from Roman to 18C depending on which web site you look at.

Does anyone have more concrete information, or has anyone been down for a look?

http://chrislad.worldonline.co.uk/page13.html 

Cheers,

Robin



Robin,

Stuart France & I had a poke around this area a few months ago to see what the state of play with the workings was. This area together with a few others (including Parc Mine at Llanrwst) are in the initial agreement for access which the Cambrian Caving Council and Natural Resources Wales hope to sign very shortly. Once this is signed then this should permit access to mine explorers with BCA insurance.

The whole area is interesting and there are quite a few open stopes which could be descended. There are suggestions that the was a connection between the Gwrych castle adit and the Ogof Dulas cave. The line of stopes/collapses is in the correct direction.

There is a bit of info in one of the GOES reports:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goes.org.uk%2Fassets%2FJournals%2F1990_GOES_Christmas_Issue.pdf&ei=0jbvU9_CJZOy7Ab17oDYDg&usg=AFQjCNFVLfR30_VCmubrfmjrI0xEvvgUpw&bvm=bv.73231344,d.ZWU&cad=rja 

and another snippet:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goes.org.uk%2Fassets%2FJournals%2F1989_02_Extravaganza_Special.pdf&ei=nTvvU7ysDOXQ7AbfyoHYDA&usg=AFQjCNHP8_0pBzAt8bqxsEPKxolRfu8zxQ&bvm=bv.73231344,d.ZWU&cad=rja 

Could be an interesting area to have a poke around. Access is a bit awkward as there are few public paths and some locals are quite hostile :-)

Dave

BertyBasset
11 years ago
Hi Dave,

You're not wrong about access. I came down off Gopa Hill with the intention of following a continuation footpath to take me to a track to hopefully gain access to the Gwrych Woods. No sign of a path, just a wall, so had to walk along the road to Llanddulas, viewing the various 'Private' signs at any hopeful access to the wood. Basically, only access is from Llanddulas side. Fancy a look at the shafts marked on the os map as well as any potential adits from the Dulas.

Regards,

Robin
BertyBasset
11 years ago
Had a good look around Cefn yr Ogof and Gwrych yesterday. My initial doubt about a passage from the Dulas Valley to Gwrych is now not so incredulous.

The veins crossing the hill west to east appear to have been extensively worked from the surface. Although the OS map shows 'shafts' I didn't come across any of them. The GOES link above does have them descending a shaft, but does not describe where. Having crossed the hill to Gwrych, I came across the adit quite easily. It's not particularly spacious, and terminates at a gradually rising floor level blockage rather than a dead end. Some of the references I've seen state it doesn't reach the vein, but given the closeness of the vein, I'd be surprised if it was abandoned before reaching it.

Having had a quick look at the Cefn yr Ogof caves, I had a look at Ogof Dulas. This is an old phreatic passage, about 200m long that has been utilised by miners. This must go somewhere as the draught and temperature drop is pretty impressive. A hole in the floor was passed, which leads to a series of stopes almost reaching surface - to which some of the airflow can be attributed. I followed it for most of it's length until the prudence of carrying on with just a hand held torch and little else brought me to my senses. The end, apparently is a muddy boulder blockage. But given the airflow, this must continue, either as an adit, or to some shaft linking to the surface.

There are signs of visitor activity, but I doubt if anyone has had a proper go at extension since the 70's. I think that there might be some stuff to find here.

Robin
Ian A
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11 years ago
The "hole in the floor" leads to a T junction and a flooded passage. You can walk left or right. Well, I say "walk", I mean "swim". I haven't ventured down either because they "appear" to be blind but they won't be because the water isn't sumped backwards into the passage under the hole ...

Ian
A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction.
BertyBasset
11 years ago
Might be worth doing some sort of a smoke test at the end of the main passage - although might be too far below the surface. Might be one for the the Thursday Nighters to have a look at ?
BertyBasset
11 years ago
Anyone know the location of this ?


It's not the adit next to Ogof Dulas as that doesn't have a gate.

Robin
BertyBasset
11 years ago
"Ian A" wrote:

The "hole in the floor" leads to a T junction and a flooded passage. You can walk left or right. Well, I say "walk", I mean "swim". I haven't ventured down either because they "appear" to be blind but they won't be because the water isn't sumped backwards into the passage under the hole ...

Ian



Hi Ian,

I read somewhere that the shot holes indicate that this passage had been driven towards and not away from Dulas Cave.
Ian A
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11 years ago
"BertyBasset" wrote:

Anyone know the location of this ?



It's not the adit next to Ogof Dulas as that doesn't have a gate.

Robin




I've been to it (and been in) but other than saying it is "nearby" I can't for the life of me think where it is. The best person to ask is "Sweetie" on the UCET forum ;)

Ian
A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction.
suboffender
11 years ago
This has been covered here:

http://www.ucet.org.uk/index.php/forum/18-mines/7843-coed-y-gopa-coed-bryngwenallt-woods-abergele?limitstart=0 

And here, by GOES in 1990:

http://www.goes.org.uk/assets/Journals/1990_GOES_Christmas_Issue.pdf 

If you go down, take photos please, as i have seen nothing up to date from inside the mine.
davel
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11 years ago
"BertyBasset" wrote:

Anyone know the location of this ?


It is Tan yr Ywn lead mine, SH906767 - see J R Foster-Smith, The Non-Ferrous Mines of Denbighshire (British Mining 5), 1972

I'm not sure how much ore came out of it, there's not much development in there. It was possibly only a long trial. The rails are wooden with iron plating on their top surface.

My avatar shows me sitting by the entrance (which didn't have a gate in 1961).

Dave
BertyBasset
11 years ago
Ah, ok. That's on the other side of the valley then.
Caver kenton
6 years ago
Hi sorry to bother you, I've found this adit, if you join north wales mine/cave explorers on Facebook I have a video of it, I've been told by local farmer that there is another adit very close by, I've searched the area and can not find it anywhere, would you happen to know where it is? Thanks Adam
BertyBasset
6 years ago
Hi Adam,

Which adit? This thread has meandered across several distinct sites!
Caver kenton
6 years ago
Hi sorry it's tan yr ywn lead mine
euros
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6 years ago
FFOS -Y-BLEIDDIAID, with a ^ above the O ( I don't know how to do that!)
sinker
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6 years ago
"euros" wrote:

FFOS -Y-BLEIDDIAID, with a ^ above the O ( I don't know how to do that!)




Ta-da!

Ffôs y Bleiddiaid

:smartass:
Yma O Hyd....
Caver kenton
6 years ago
My message was for dave.
euros
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6 years ago
johnwin
6 years ago
If it is of interest I have just uploaded a sketch I did of Ffos-y-Bleiddiaid some years back into the Mining Document Library. I have not done it before so I hope it has uploaded ok.
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