THE WELSH MINES PRESERVATION TRUST

YR YMDDIRIEDOLAETH CADWRAETH MWYNFEYDD CYMRU

NEWS SHEET 1
March 2016

Welcome to the WMPT March News Sheet.

Our Newsletter will be published in the spring: this News Sheet is to give you advance
notice of the dates of our Working Weekends for 2016. At present we are planning to spend
most weekends at Cwmbyr, continuing our work there; extracts from a report on last
seasons discoveries follow on the next page. We also hope to spend another weekend at
Melyn Llyn Y Pair, and a weekend in Cwm Rheidol restoring the gunpowder magazine
described on the next page. Latest information on working weekends and locations can be
found on our website: www.welshminestrust.org

WMPT Dates 2016

April 1617
May 78
May 2829
June 2526
July 1617
September 1718
October 89

Cwmbyr
Cwmbyr
Heritage Weekend
TBA
TBA
Cwm Rheidol
TBA

Heritage Weekend
The 2016 Heritage Weekend led by Ioan Lord and Peter Claughton will be held over the
Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend, 2829 May; it will include visits to mine sites around
Ystum Tuen, and an evening of talks at a local venue. When details are confirmed they will
be posted on our website. In the meantime, further details can be obtained from Peter
Claughton at p.f.claughton@exeter.ac.uk

Subscriptions
It is the time of year again when membership subscriptions are due: an application form is
enclosed. Please return it to Nigel Chapman at the address on the form.
Thank you for your continuing support of the Trust.

Graham Levins

Activities at Cwmbyr, 1920 September 2015

On a lovely sunny day, we decided to investigate further the jigger that had been partly
exposed on our last visit. One area of interest was the relationship between the front of the
jigger and a wood-lined drain passing alongside this wall. A couple of bolts were found in
the base of the front wall and suggested an access to the drain. Later it was discovered that
several more of these bolts projected through the wooden floor and into the vertical front
wall. Holes had been drilled into the woodwork of the front wall, so these bolts could only
be part of a method to keep the front wall in place.
Internally, the sloped wooden floor of the jigger was cleared and the superb carpentry
studied and commented on. Much of the internal woodwork was designed to allow the
falling heavy particles of lead, with some waste, to gravitate down slopes into collecting
boxes and then out to large wooden boxes built on to the jigger. Small vertically-working
iron doors kept the lead in the collecting boxes until the operator was ready to lift the
handles and permit the slimes to pour into the built-on boxes. When these were full, cutouts in their rims permitted the slimes to flow into the drain system which conveyed the
lead to a square wooden settling tank: here, as the slimes settled, the waste would float on
the surface. The slimes were then taken by wooden troughs to be fed on to the powered
buddles for final dressing .....
On the research side, Emyr Williams has found a couple of reports on the workings
and plant at Cwmbyr in the nineteenth century, together with information about the output
and sales of the lead concentrates and blende from the mine.
Nigel Chapman

A powder magazine in Cwm Rheidol

The powder magazine situated in
Cwm Rheidol is a rectangular
masonry structure located in a
farmers field. Built c.1868, the
building measures approximately 7'
x 10'. It is unique in Mid Wales, not
only in retaining its original slate
roof, but in containing almost
perfectly preserved wooden
panelling around the inside of the
building. Similar panelling was
installed across the country as a
health-and-safety measure, in order
to reduce the risk of sparks being
struck from the bare masonry walls. The external fabric is in poor condition, and several
roof slates are in need of replacement. With permission from the local farmer, the Trust
intends to carry out conservation work on this remarkable feature in 2016.
Ioan Lord

THE WELSH MINES PRESERVATION TRUST

YR YMDDIRIEDOLAETH CADWRAETH MWYNFEYDD CYMRU
www.welshminestrust.org
Secretary: Graham Levins, 1 Stonecrop Close, Broadfield, Crawley, West Sussex, RH11 9EP
01293 510567: mobile 07880 817370: email graham.levins@ btinternet.com

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP 2016

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I wish to renew my membership / become a member [delete as applicable] of the Welsh Mines
Preservation Trust for 20156, at a subscription, including surface-only insurance, of 12.
K Please note that the insurance is for surface activities only, and does not provide cover
for any activities underground. Underground insurance is available through the Welsh
Mines Society: see their website (www.welshmines.org)
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and Newsletter, please tick here
If you are interested in attending our working weekends in Mid Wales,
please tick here

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Your support of the Trust is greatly appreciated.

Your signature

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Please send this form and your cheque to

Nigel Chapman (Treasurer, WMPT), 14 Dorset Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B17 8EN
0121 429 3930 : guibal40@ hotmail.com