Doomwatch

I feel the need to include something on the subject of the threat that disused mine workings pose to land and property owners. Its seems that recently, our chickens are coming home to roost. The situation is particularly bad in Cornwall. A few years ago, at Gunnislake, a major part of a housing estate was evacuated after someone's garden disappeared down an old shaft. Recently someone's drive on St Ives hill collapsed into an old shaft, you could look down and see all the services exposed, what you couldn't see was the bottom. In 2003 a collapse started on the Tesco supermarket car park at St Ives. This was excavated into old mine workings.

There are many workings in Wales that extend under buildings and roads, in fact its virtually impossible to drive to Aberystwyth without passing over disused mine workings. The main Machynleth to Aberystwyth road passes over many levels, the most notable being the Talybont deep adit. The workings of the Talybont Mine consist of the upper workings which cover the Alltycrib hill, and lower workings of which there is no sign today. The deep adit portal was buried in 1948, the level itself passes under a house, the main road, and a sizeable proportion of the village.

Analysis of the problem

The threat to land and property emanates from the existence of shafts and levels. Old shafts may at some time been in filled, or simply covered over, sometimes with timber. Often the exact location will become lost. When shafts are in filled, often the fill material does not extend all the way to the bottom, but rests on old timberwork in the shaft. Sometimes it will form a plug so far down the shaft, or there could be a pre-existing plug, say from the dumping of old cars. In time the timber will rot or the plug collapse so that the shaft will then re-open, sometimes with disastrous results. The have actually been occasions when shafts have been in filled and then built over!

The danger from levels is of a different nature. A level can either be a drive along the mineral vein, or a crosscut. A crosscut is a level driven through solid rock to intersect a vein at an angle. Crosscuts seldom present a threat to property, except where they may have been driven along a fault or maybe a clay vein. In this situation there can sometimes be a collapse in the form of a 'slide' of ground. A drive is a different matter. If there was ore in the roof of the level, it would be stoped out by the miners, sometimes all the way to surface. Generally, the deeper from surface, the less affect on surface from a collapse or run of ground. There is an additional danger where a level may be driven into the side of a hill or slope. It may be that the level initially passes through topsoil or soft ground before entering the bedrock. Here it could well be all in timber, or maybe stone lining. In time the timber will rot, or the stone lining be displaced by ground movement. If there are buildings or a road above, this will have severe consequences.

New Threat to Mine Exploration and General Access in Snowdonia

The anti car crowd are at it again, this time in Snowdonia. About two years ago a blatantly anti car approach known as the "Snowdonia Green Key Strategy" was proposed for the Snowdonia National Park area. The opposition to this was so strong that the thing was buried. Now its been resurrected. Basically, a lot of the casual parking areas we all use would be blocked off, new larger car parks be created in what the strategy calls "gateway towns" with the object of bussing us to wherever we want to go go. In other words the same strategy that killed the Millennium Dome! Nineteen parking spaces at Pen-y-Pass have already been removed in order to implement a bus turning circle.

The focus for opposition to all this is the Snowdonia Freedom to Choose at

http://www.snowdonia-freedomtochoose.org.uk/

If you use the area regularly as I do, you will do well to visit this site.

David Bick

It is with a large amount of sadness that I have to remark the passing of a good old friend David Bick who died on the 19th January aged 76.

David was a pioneer, and originally man before his time when his interest in old metal mines started in the 1950s. In those days there was little or no interest, nowadays with people having more leisure time the interest has become widespread. He was possibly best known for his "Old Metal Mines of Mid Wales" first published in the late 1970s, however he wrote many other books including two publications of his "Frongoch", a mine with which I have become closely associated. In the late 1970s he did some impromptu brickwork at the 60 inch engine house which was to postpone its eventual inevitable collapse.

Later, he became the founder of the Welsh Mines Society and was also instrumental in the formation of the Welsh Mines Preservation Trust. I am confident that I not only speak for myself but for many others when I say how deeply David will be missed.

My Mazda Car

The other Sunday I cleaned it. Although I had taken the precaution of locking the gates, it still tried to make its escape. In the end, some of my neighbours and myself managed to get it up a corner.

I do have to say that it now looks better, but has lost a lot of its authenticity.

Pointlessness

Can anyone out there explain what is the point of the gate shown in the picture below.

Its in the Poldice Valley, nr Twlveheads, Cornwall.

Is someone taking the pee?

Elsewhere in Cornwall.

The Botalack arsenic flues have been consolidated along with other work in the St Just area. I love the way that they do this kind of thing down here. They consolidate the remains in a tasteful fashion, but no grassing of spoil heaps, silly little artificial paths, handrails, pointless fences, or grilling arches and passages that go for 5 feet. I believe that I have commented on this before.

New Website

There is a new website that I am very enthusiastic about as it is the best I have seen yet for the exchange of information and I have uploaded a lot of my digitalised records.

The information is right across the board from casual explorers photos and trip reports to documents that are invaluable to historical researchers. The presentation of this website is extremely attractive, and the quality of photographs being submitted is very high, and there is also every indication that the popularity of this site is increasing.

Here it is: www.aditnow.co.uk

And another, this a strange one!

The is another new website, basically attacking Morwellham Quay as described on my NAMHO page. Its at www.morwellhamquay.co.uk the official site is at www.morwellham-quay.co.uk

The new site is obviously out to attack the running of Morwellham Quay. About the time of the NAMHO meet there were 2 rather nasty incidents. The official NAMHO 2007 website was  sabotaged so that the URL pointed to a porn site, and two people who I know were falsely reported as "killed in a car crash" on the mining history lists. In view of the 'history'  I emailed the new site with certain questions.

I very prompt received a reply from the person behind the site, which I have to take it at its face value. I feel it wrong to jump to any conclusions with regard to associating these people with the past 'incidents'. Notwithstanding this my opinion is that the site is not actually saying much and the "mouse" story at least is rather daft. No doubt all will be revealed in due course.

Reply:

#1 Who exactly are you?

The identities of those involved in the project must necessarily remain vague at least until Easter to ensure they are not prevented from fulfilling their individual roles within the project (the mining history community is after all a small world in relative terms).

#2 What, if any, interested parties do you represent?

We represent and answer to only ourselves, however we are sure that the information we are to provide will be of great interest to a much wider audience. For obvious reasons there will be large sections of the mining history community who will wish to suppress this information (particularly those who work within the industry).

#3 Why is your website anonymous?

For the reasons stated in #1, however the ownership of the site itself publicly available information.

#4 Exactly what grievances do you or your partners have against Morwellham Quay or the people associated with it?

Our main grievances relate to the way public money is managed, how the public are misinformed, and how some important sites are being destroyed in the name of mining heritage - this goes well beyond Morwellham Quay.

Several members of our group also have specific grievances with The Morwellham and Tamar Valley Trust, Morwellham Quay and a number of associated individuals (this was the motivation for them getting involved in the wider project).

As for me well, no noble cause I'm afraid. I earn my living (metaphorically) kneecapping corporate bad boys. I got involved because I'm related to one of the project members and was asked to assist (without payment I should say).

Lucy Oliver

UPDATE APRIL 2008

The site has now been changed to display pirated pages taken from the real site, I hope that the Morwellham people are talking to their lawyers! However, the copied pages are seeded with adverse comment. Obviously, someone visiting this site could easily mistake it for the real one, except for the rather obvious fact that website design is not the strong point of whoever set up the 'spoof' site.

Double Standards?

As reported in the Cambrian caving Council newsletter:

CCW Installation at Clogwyn

Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) have installed 3 pairs of eye bolts, some steps and a small gather platform outside Ogof Clogwyn to aid access to this cave.

Yes, and they have also installed pointless fencing, grills over the upper adits, and a pointless gate over the bottom adit at the Temple Mine in mid Wales.

I know, lets start calling it "Temple Cave", maybe if it catches on they will lay a gravel path for us.