Forgot to add, Steve and I found where Pant Mawr breaks through to the surface (I assume for ventilation) I crawled down about half way but it's a very loose steep floor leading to what may well be a vertial drop in to the chamber, I'd like a proper look but anchored to a rope just incase. It's about 15 meters at about 30 degrees before the drop, unlike the adits it's not fenced or protected in any way.

Is this the darkened patch you mentioned from google earth when we visited Fron Boeth?
....Lister;~)

Yes it is, we walked straight to it. Directly above and in line with 9 adit you can see a dimple on the aerial pics.

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Went up Saturday afternoon, thanks for the offer of help Steve, would have taken it up but it all a bit last miniute. Dropped number 9 about another 4", not going to get much shallower but it's an easy welly boot depth now. Water was trickling out of the bog at 10 at a fare rate, was able to dig a decent trench through where it seems to be draining the adit but only time will tell. Realised the blockage is caused by a collapsed roof at the entrence, removed some big slabs and there are round timbers underneath.

We seem to have had some effect of 12 but not much for a lot of work, think we'll have to extend the trench a bit further.

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going up in the week to have another go at work already done..

went up yesterday ,no 9 is now passable with wellys , no 10 still needs a lot of digging .. anybody wants to have a look in 9 le 🙂 t me know i will come up didnt want to go in alone ..

Excellent, much appreciated!

It looks like 9 & 10 should connect, don't know whether there's likely to be anything more - but we already know that the plan omits a few other bits of the mine, so there's no reason to assume that there aren't some parts that aren't on the survey.

The curious ones are 11 & 12 - these seem to be trials and not much else?



I might be able to manage next Sunday, but won't know until Friday - I'm also away until Thursday evening, almost certainly without internet access, for the first time in a couple of years! :blink:

I may have a couple of people up who are looking to do a trip underground, so we could have a look in the higher adits, then possibly drop down through Fron Boeth to make a trip out of it.

If you're doing anything else, don't put it off, as I won't know until Friday at the soonest!

[tweak]Thread title modified to reflect ongoing exploration[/tweak]

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ok vanoord may be going back up weekend anyway ,hopefully its not as hot as yesterday..

It's looking like I'll be free on Sunday if any of you chaps are planning a visit?

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I might be up for a trip round 9/10 Sunday but probably not Fron Boeth again (question of time rather than not wanting to). Simon, will you bring the drill and anchor bolts? I'll try and get there Saturday to try and dig a bit more / siphon out 10 but don't have a lot of time. If any of those helicopter pilots are on aditnow can I scrounge a lift please :flowers:

Mr Turbo says 11 is just a trial, I expect 12 is too but there are two branches shown on the chart with out ends marked, I expect these have been abandoned early on and spoil from deeper in chucked in them blocking them up.

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Yup, I'm definitely free on Sunday and will get the drill charged up. I'll see if I can buy / blag some bolts of Vanoord. I think he's AWOL at the moment but said he'd be back on Friday.

Hope to see you and maybe Steve and anybody else on Sunday.

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I would come along, but there is a classic car show at the Faenol on Sunday.

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Looks like Vanoord, me and a couple of others will be out tomorrow. Steve and Owain - will you be around?

Not sure yert what time we'll be getting to Croesor - I'm waiting for my orders from Vanoord :lol:

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Does Sunday (27th) at 10.30am in the car park in Croesor village sound okay?

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I'll probably meet you at Pant Mawr, I haven't got up there today so I'll try and get there early and drain 10 a bit with the siphon. I've left all my climbing gear behind 😞 so I think I'll be walking in.

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Good trip yesterday :thumbsup:

Many thanks to Owain and Steve for the digging, this has made a huge difference.

We went in through the Floor 9 adit and managed to scramble up to Floor 8, which consists of a long tunnel leading from the adit to the top of Chamber 5 (this is not shown on Hymac's plan).

There is also a connection to one of the Chamber 1s on Floor 9, down which water is draining (the adit is about mid-thigh on Owain at the blockage at the entrance).

It appears that Floor 8 has been unvisited since it was blocked / the mine closed as there was evidence of hobnail boot prints along the tunnel, with no modern bootprints.


We then rigged a pitch in Chamber 3 (on Floor 9) and descended down to Floor 10 for a look around - the water at the adit was about knee-deep, so most took the opportunity to ascend back up rather than wade out!

SimonRL splashed about on Floor 11 and Floor 12 and these are - I believe - pretty much as per the plan.

We then took a small diversion into Floor 14, which was doing a very good impression of Floor 15, but with deeper water. I blame the foxgloves growing outside the adit, they all look the same to me...

Onwards via the Floor 15 adit, an abseil down to 16, then 17 and again to 18, thence out.


A good day out, with some new ground being discovered on Floor 8 that will enable the survey to be updated.

As is becoming evident from these floors, Pant Mawr seems to have been worked in two veins - does anyone have any more information on this?

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We then rigged a pitch in Chamber 3 (on Floor 9) and descended down to Floor 10 for a look around - the water at the adit was about knee-deep, so most took the opportunity to ascend back up rather than wade out!

Knee hight maybe if you're 10 foot tall! it was close to b****** depth on me and would have been if I hadn't dropped the water by a couple of inches that morning. (a rough calculation close to 2000 gallons)

Another excellent trip 😉 have to see what 1 and 2 have to reveal next.

Yes I watched you try each enterance and wondered if this was a navigation error.

Were the two branch ends in 12 blind ends or filled with rubble?

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sorry for not coming up ,this was going to be the trip i was looking forward to thats why i was doing the draining with owain.when i went up on the 19th i seems i got dehydration and heatstroke,so for the last week have had a bad migraine ,but will want to go back up to have a look soon if anybody will come up with me 😉

Sorry you couldn't make it Steve. But the results of the digging you and Owain have done was much appreciated :)

Just to add to Vanoord's report with a few photos.

This is the area on floor 8 accessed via scrambling up from floor 9.

Collapse / mill waste at outbye end of level (water level nearly waist deep):

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52834[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52834[/linkphoto][/link]

Looking inbye along level 8:

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52835[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52835[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52836[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52836[/linkphoto][/link]

Various artifacts:

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52838[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52838[/linkphoto][/link]

Hobnail prints under a few inches of water:

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52842[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52842[/linkphoto][/link]

Floor 10 is obviously relatively well trodden, but there is quite a bit to look at:

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52855[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52855[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52852[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52852[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52848[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52848[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52847[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52847[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52845[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52845[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52846[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52846[/linkphoto][/link]

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We then did the 15 to 18 through trip we all did a few weeks back. On the way down we took detours into:

11 - as per the plan, water level around knee depth

12 - quite an interesting level, the track work looked much more modern, and some incredible formations of those 'sea shells' on the track. A fair few artifacts. Water level over waist depth.

14 - as per the plan, water level just over welly depth

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Sorry you couldn't make it Steve. But the results of the digging you and Owain have done was much appreciated :)

Just to add to Vanoord's report with a few photos.

This is the area on floor 8 accessed via scrambling up from floor 9.

Collapse / mill waste at outbye end of level (water level nearly waist deep):

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52834[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52834[/linkphoto][/link]

Looking inbye along level 8:

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52835[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52835[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52836[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52836[/linkphoto][/link]

Various artifacts:

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52838[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52838[/linkphoto][/link]

Hobnail prints under a few inches of water:

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52842[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52842[/linkphoto][/link]

Floor 10 is obviously relatively well trodden, but there is quite a bit to look at:

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52855[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52855[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52852[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52852[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52848[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52848[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52847[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52847[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52845[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52845[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52846[linkphoto]Pant-mawr-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-52846[/linkphoto][/link]

--

We then did the 15 to 18 through trip we all did a few weeks back. On the way down we took detours into:

11 - as per the plan, water level around knee depth

12 - quite an interesting level, the track work looked much more modern, and some incredible formations of those 'sea shells' on the track. A fair few artifacts. Water level over waist depth.

14 - as per the plan, water level just over welly depth

--

Looking forward to getting back there and looking at 1 and 2 next!

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