Hello, I have joined the forum a while back, but was rather silent. I'm interested in mines in south wales, especially those flooded. I will soon add a couple of pictures from recent surface trips but hopefully by the end of the year I will have added few more underground and underwater ones too.

Underwater pics always welcome! :thumbup:

---

Welsome to the site.

I had a little poke around Draethen when I was working down there last year.

I didn't have any kit so it was just a surface poke and I didn't put the photos on as I knew nothing much about what I was looking at.

Regarding your missing shaft at ST211871
[photo]106060[/photo]
The author of this page never found it either.

http://ukcaving.com/wiki/index.php/Draethen_lead_mines 

But do mention.
Cwm Leyshon Adit
Location: ST212870

Description: Approximately 70m of adit is accessible ending in a deep sump pool.

ST211871 is roughly point G from this map ?


Around there I did find what appeared to be a drafting adit, right next to the path.

[photo]106067[/photo]

But I didn't have any kit to explore as I said, potentially the shaft is underground. No idea if its still open or reachable though the report below suggest it is. Its from 1965 suggesting it may be the source of the Sump Index entry too.

http://bec-cave.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=555:caving-report-15-roman-mine-draethen-glamorganshire&catid=58&Itemid=509&lang=en 

G. Cwm Leyshon.

An adit leading north-west and draining water connects with a vertical shaft leading from the surface and about 130 feet deep to water level. Another vertical shaft also connects with the adit, calcite gangue 5-6 feet across can be seen. The adit can be followed across the water in the shaft and continues north-west but cannot be followed further owing to the exceedingly dangerous conditions of the roof. When the water level is low, lower galleries can be seen leading off below the adit, and probably others exist, but the level of the water precludes exploration. Great care should be taken by anyone risking entering this adit - both the floor and the roof are on the point of collapse at points not far from the entrance.

Just a note about the photo.
Download it and use Windows Photo Viewer to turn correct way up. Looks good on modern wide screen monitor

---

A further note though, the adit I think I saw clearly doesnt have any water coming out of it.

It would be good if anyone with some post-60s experience of the place could chip in.

Its totally out of my local area and the above was purely 5 minutes of research on a mobile phone in the pub last July.

Thanks for the comments. I have looked at a number of web pages and yes, the point G on that map is roughly where the Deep Shaft should be. I will be back there to have a better look especially that we want to explore the addit and another tiny hole in the ground close to it.

The access to the addit is through a vertical slot which is mostly collapsed but it might be just possible to slide in.

I don't want to be a wet rag but as a director of Cave Access Ltd I have to draw attention to the following extract from the CAL website:

Most sites now have access documentation and guides in place, a notable exception being Draethen Lead Mines where we have had problems with access due to a stand-off regarding bats. Agreement has been reached with NRW (Dec 2015) to allow access for the purpose of surveying and monitoring of the bat population and we are hopefully that formal access will be granted in 2016.

ENDS

The official attitude of the landowners in that area is such that anyone caught going underground could face prosecution as well upsetting the work that has been done so far in securing access to mines on NRW land.

In a nutshell, please put any underground trips on the back burner until the access issues are sorted.

---

Thanks for the update Roy, I had no idea as there seems to be very little on the net about it short of the 60s trip report and the photos posted yesterday.

Perhaps that was intentional.

My interest was purely sparked by it being geographically close to Llanwern steel works where I was working that day.

No worries.
;D

---

http://www.industrialgwent.co.uk/machen/index.htm . There's loads of small surface pits and It's very difficult to reconcile what can be seen with what has been written anywhere else.
Actually I've just noticed that all the stuff on the Draethen is still under 'latest photos' including some photos underground from a local caving group that were up there when I was.