Looks like there are two hanging supports there, not just the one...

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🔗Cwmorthin-Slate-Mine-09-07-2006-Image-011[linkphoto]Cwmorthin-Slate-Mine-09-07-2006-Image-011[/linkphoto][/link] 

Similar bridge but standard supports. Is this a manway connecting to a bridge?

This is one of the C floor 'floating' bridges. Quite fascinating; and in good condition. So good the one in the photo has a bit of roof fall on it that it is holding up.

That was the only one with a connecting side bridge though.

GrahamI, if you're reading this, the wooden plank is still there 🙂

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Looking down the main part of the same bridge:

🔗Cwmorthin-Slate-Mine-09-07-2006-Image-006[linkphoto]Cwmorthin-Slate-Mine-09-07-2006-Image-006[/linkphoto][/link]

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Found this illustration of a bridge like this - havn't seen the original, but this was reproduced on a very small scale inside the front cover of "The Slate Quarries of North Wales in 1873" edited by M.J.T.Lewis. The original illustration dates from the Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1875-76.
🔗Personal-Album-54-Image-011[linkphoto]Personal-Album-54-Image-011[/linkphoto][/link]


It shows side bridges with track on them rather than side ledges which were also used in both Cwmorthin and in Welsh Slate (became Oakeley Lower Quarry). The bottom illustration just about shows the supports coming out from the walls.

Graham

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That's pretty much the exact same thing Graham :)

If you were guessing, where would it be?

The dip of the vein looks about right for Ffestiniog, but I don't recognise the way the floors tip directly out at the side (although that could be illustrative?).

The floor numbering seems to be the other way round to the more usual system, ie number increasing going down from floor 1 rather than using letters, although certainly Rhosydd uses this method. - and the alignment of the vein N-S seems to be about right for that part of the world.

The tips seem to be in an excavated pit, which slightly confuses me - why would you dig out a pit, only to fill it with waste? Again, it could, I suppose be illustrative.

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I think it's primarily illustrative, but with features taken from real mines. It's difficult to draw a real mine that has all the necessary features close together! I had the same problem with an illustration for Candles to Caplamps:

🔗Personal-Album-54-Image-012[linkphoto]Personal-Album-54-Image-012[/linkphoto][/link]

Cwmorthin certainly had tramways from floors coming out into the open and then onto tips, so did Holland's Quarry (Oakeley Upper) without reading the original article (And seeing who wrote it, (I'll guess at a Spooner)) it's probably an amalgam.

Regarding floor numbering there were a lot of variations. Diffwys made extensive use of 1/2 floor designations, but no lettering. Votty & Bowydd's early numbering/lettering was confusing, to say the least, before they settled down to a consistent set of letters downwards. Holland (Oakeley Upper) used numbers upwards, but their floors overlapped with Rhiwbryfdir. Rhiwbryfdir (Oakeley Middle) used numbers only upwards but referred to them internally as "First, Second, Third" etc.! Welsh Slate (Oakeley Lower) used letters only, but with omissions! Rhosydd of course numbers downwards. Llechwedd used both numbers and letters in the conventional way as did Maenofferen eventually.

Graham

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I bet that was complicated to draw! I can't help but wonder about an 'imaginary' mine also having a DE floor though 😉

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OK OK So I got in the habit of labelling floors in an Oakeley fashion. If you think drawing it was difficult, give a thought to the fact I made a 3D model of it in plaster about 1ft square which was used in the Gloddfa Ganol Museum display by the old boy there to explain mining to the visitors! Carving the plaster was quite fun, as it enabled me to have chambers in each vein (only on the outside, of course).

Graham

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I think that comes under the heading of dedication!

It probably made the old boy's life a lot easier though - it's very difficult to explain how a slate mine works to 'novices' in simple terms and especially when you accidentally mention the drop fault and the possibility that you can have two chambers in the same vein on the same level...

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Can have several chambers in the same vein on the same level - don't need a drop fault, just a number of whinstone dykes at suitable angles. A great number of Oakeley chambers were worked in this fashion - sometimes the **** was removed or worked through, sometimes not. The two most noticeable hards at the eastern end were the "North Spar" and the "South Spar" - the North Spar in particular split the Old vein, so that the part north of the spar was referred to by the Welsh Slate Co as the "Back Vein", since the two quarries above them, Holland's and Rhiwbryfdir (Mathews'), worked the true "Back Vein" above the Old Vein. Under these circumstances, trouble and misunderstanding were inevitable.

Graham

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OK OK So I got in the habit of labelling floors in an Oakeley fashion. If you think drawing it was difficult, give a thought to the fact I made a 3D model of it in plaster about 1ft square which was used in the Gloddfa Ganol Museum display by the old boy there to explain mining to the visitors! Carving the plaster was quite fun, as it enabled me to have chambers in each vein (only on the outside, of course).

Graham

I wonder what happened to the model on the demise of Gloddfa Ganol? I hope it didn't end up in a skip like so much stuff from there did!