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10 years ago
"Willy Eckerslyke" wrote:

I'm not convinced.
The house in the photographs is definitely this one:

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.10514&lon=-3.796253&z=17.3&r=0&src=msa 

And the arched railway bridge is just opposite.
This is quite a way upstream from Trefriw. But it's right in the firing line for anything that comes down Aberllyn gorge.



Well I guess this explains why a short bit of road (B5106) just outside the house got straightened, widened and improved 'for no apparent reason'. I am still puzzled as to why I cannot remember the flood, but I do remember driving along there one day and being surprised at the sudden appearance of a road improvement.
~~~ The future is not what it used to be ~~~
Graigfawr
10 years ago
"royfellows" wrote:

"Alasdair Neill" wrote:

Bennett & Vernons books makes it clear that closure was due to depletion of immediate ore reserves. Any collapses therefore would have no bearing on closure.



I agree, but the book also makes it clear that after 1958 the mine was on care and maintenance, not exactly closed or indeed abandoned.

The collapse on the Gorlan Lode would as I said, have sealed its fate for good. I wish I had an exact date for this as it would clarify matters.



Bennett & Vernon vol.3, p.92 state that the collapse on No.3 Level where the driveage westwards on the Principal Lode traversed the 'jog' caused by the Gorlan Lode occurred "after the mine was abandoned". I have seen 1970s accounts of trips past this point which made clear that the fall did not at that time completely block the level, though it did dam up very deep water beyond. The last account of a successful trip beyond it that I recall was from around 1982 - but this is from memory as I cannot readily find the reports. I seem to recall discussion around 1982-83 about access becoming sumped off due the fall increasing in height and hence damming up water to roof level - but again this is from memory. I didn't visit Parc until a few years later and when I surveyed No.3 Level at that time, there were falls before the Gorlan Lode 'jog' that resulted in deep water so I curtailed the survey at that point as we were all in dry kit. So my best guess is that the growing fall sumped No.3 Level in the very early 1980s and that sometime subsequently it completely blocked the level.

On pp.125-6 they state that "in 1964, a flash flood broke through into the workings on the Reservoir lode and carried great volumes of water and mine waste through the mine and discharged them out of the adit on the main haulage level. This, in turn, carried very substantial waste from the tip below the mine down to the main road in the valley and the fields beyond." The dark sand size dump material that lies knee deep in some areas of the No.3 Level driveage north west on the Hafna Lode (see plan opp. p.88), especially around the decline half way between the main adit level and the Reservoir Lode, was deposited in this event. However this doesn't seem to be the event that the 1965 photos pertain to as both the date and the location do not accord.
royfellows
10 years ago
Thanks for this. So the fall was much later than I thought, apologies to those I mislead.

I seem to remember a tale I heard years ago of someone going in on a routine inspection while the mine was on C and M and finding the level blocked!

Another pub story
Grrr

It was 1988 ish when I was first venturing in there but the western Cwffty trip was much later.

Another story I was told at about that time was of people doing a through trip from Cwffty Western Shaft.
This was theoretically possible but when I gained the Cwffty deep adit from below there was no sign of any visitors for years, and I would have rather though that anyone abseiling the shaft would have explored the adit instead of just going straight down to the 10.

Now ponder on this.

Cwffty adit inby is a tortuous route. I had to fit traverse lines over understopes but managed to get some distance, past a wheelbarrow full or ore or whatever with a rusty shovel on top. You would not get to it now!
Interesting, the final traverse was on a wooden launder with a tidy drop underneath, the other side a solitary set of footprints had got this far from the other side and turned back.
I wonder who that was?

Off thread but interesting stuff, yes?
My avatar is a poor likeness.
Willy Eckerslyke
10 years ago
"Graigfawr" wrote:

The dark sand size dump material that lies knee deep in some areas of the No.3 Level driveage north west on the Hafna Lode (see plan opp. p.88), especially around the decline half way between the main adit level and the Reservoir Lode, was deposited in this event.


Incidentally that decline is the one with the wagon lurking underwater.
🔗94513[linkphoto]94513[/linkphoto][/link]
"The true crimefighter always carries everything he needs in his utility belt, Robin"
John Griffiths
10 years ago
The photos show the cottage opposite the entrance to Cwmllannerch farm. The water came from Llyn Parc and washed waste from the Aberllyn tips.
At the same time, material from Parc mine was washed down into the valley from the Parc mine tips and blocked the road near Gwydir Castle. So there were two separate incidents caused by the same event.
A couple of the photos show the big building by the bridge in Llanrwst - the one that is being currently held together by scaffolding.

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