This morning i drove over the bridge at Nantgaredig, there is a mine in this area, but ive failed to find it over the years. The land owner has cleared the tree's on the slope above the house and there it is. Anyone interested in helping explore it? Im hoping to break the ice with the land owner with the backing of South wales caving club.

Thanks,

P.knight

Did the Mine actually find any lead,or was it just a trial?

Seems out of the normal lead mining area`s.

On closer inspection i have noticed that the land owner has also cleared down by the river and there it is, clear as day, the portal that has eluded me for such a long time. It is well built and goes under the road. It seems to have been hidden by such a mass of tree's and undergrowth that unless you knew it was there you could be within a meter and miss it. Access is no longer going to be the hassle i thought it was going to be.

Presumably Pontrhwnnws NGR 494 / 202, which Hall described as: "A few yards from the bridge at Llandilo yr Ynys, on the south bank of the Towy, an adit enters under the road, and can be followed for about 120 paces to its intersection with a lode, which strikes roughly 10 degrees west of north, and dips east. Here a winze has been sunk below the level, and some stoping done above. The adit continues beyond, but the partially collapsed state of the workings prevents full examination. Just before the lode there is a short cross-cur north-west, the end o which is blocked by debris. This seems to be at the position of a shaft, indicated at surface by a small dump, now enclosed in a hen-run. Further south, above the main road, are traces of another adit level, about on the line of strike of the lode."

Foster-Smith's description is much shorter; the only information he gives that Hall does not is that "the mine seems to have worked for a short time only at about the middle of the 19th. century."

W.J.Lewis mentioned it as one of a number of trials inspired by the 1850 success at Llangunnor.

I'm fairly local - please pm me.

http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Pontrhwnnws-Lead-Mine/ 
mine is added with photos and survey to follow.

Did the Mine actually find any lead,or was it just a trial?

Seems out of the normal lead mining area`s.

No recorded production but, as with so many enthusiastically pursued trials, presumably there was sufficient mineralisation to encourage optimism. Many trials of this scale must have managed to scrape together a few cwt of ore to lead to the view that the trial merited continued investment. Labour was cheap in the early and mid nineteenth century but as investors in these trials were usually modest landowners, finding sufficient hard cash for wages and gunpowder must have stretched their resources. But mining trials have usually been triumphs of optimism over reality - after all, a few trials in this period did lead to worthwhile mines. Most major mines of this period were, however, ongoing developments of pre-existing and known older mines rather than unexpected discoveries of wholly unknown orebodies, but so many people dreamed of discovering a major and previously unknown orebody.

What did this one cost? Upwards of 120 paces of level, a shallow winze and a shallow shaft from surface. Say 3 men for a year plus powder and sundries (mainly smiths' work sharpening tools). Upwards of £50; possibly up to £100. A significant sum for a couple of Welsh farmer or small tradesmen, the most likely source of finance in this area. Still, it provided cash wages for some men in the locality (very possibly from Llangunnor or other Carmarthenshire lead mining parishes).

I can remember going down to this adit with my
Father which is under the road the,two houses
on the bridge were drawing water from there
and we were hurl away from there.

hi there,my name is paul and im a member of the forest of dean caving club and spend most of my spare time exploring the old mines of the forest of dean with my son.
having read your thread I would definitely be interested in an underground explre of this old lead mine if at all possible.
if you are looking to build up numbers for a trip my son and myself and possibly a few others would be interested.
if at any time this may be possible I shall give you my email.
kind regards.

paul.

[email protected]

It's only a 200ft crosscut (with no side passages or mineralisation visible) to a fall where there is an active dig at the moment: not a lot to see!

Access is a little bit sensitive - I'll pm you on aditnow this evening