Talybont Project

The Talybont Project
I previously posted a warning about what is likely to be earthquake damage in the Talybont deep adit. I am pleased to say now that the damage has been made good, however the area will have to be monitored. In July 2005 a group of friends from Welsh Mines Society and myself were successful in reaching the Talybont Deep Adit after finishing a vertical dig of about 75 feet deep in the bottom of a shaft. The current descent is by means of concrete/made up steps and fixed ladders, following 60 and 25 foot abseils. The entrance to the deep adit was buried in 1948 and now lies beneath a private garden. It was originally driven from the centre of the village in 1839 by the Flintshire Smelting Company of Eyton and Williamson, and cuts both of the two main mineral lodes crossing the Altycrib Hill. At the end of the drive a winze was sunk by a later company that was pumped by a power train running through the adit. The angle bob and adjacent horse whim chamber, complete with remains of the whim, are there to be seen today. This whim is of the standard timber construction unlike the Vieille Montagne whim in the Scaleburn Mine at Nenthead, it does however have some ironwork in the form of a sort of collar for the horse. A second dig is currently in progress in an attempt to reach other workings. The history of this mine is of considerable interest, having the involvement of many notable characters including the ubiquitous Francis brothers, Sir Hugh Myddelton, Thomas Bushell, the notorious swindler Joseph Fell, and many others. My researches to date have discovered many previously unknown twists and turns. I am currently writing a book about the history of the mine set against the project to gain access to the lost workings. It will take a completely new approach telling the whole story of the mine from Bronze Age up to and including the modern explorers. It will also include full computer simulations of mining scenes in the mid nineteenth century which will appear as if a colour photograph taken on a modern camera. The area of the mine against the foreground of the Black Lion Inn, as it was in 1872, and a later scene in 1888. The current project is the driving of a timbered roadway through falls to gain more new ground to the west. At the time of writing this we have gone 120 feet. It is difficult to say at this time what the likelihood of success is. The going is very difficult due to the distance that rubble has to be moved. I am very fortunate in having the help of Paul Smyth who helps me in the winter months. Its a thankless task that is all the more thankless due to the fact that is may well turn out to be all for nothing, while at the same time the working conditions are terrible.
	Starting the dig. Here we have cleared away some of the fall material and have built a packwall on the left to hold all the material removed.
The area has been cleared and the roadway is now going forward.	Further in, the timbering starts.

Here is the eastern engine shaft in the deep adit, complete with remains of the pumping angle bob, rising main, and other artefacts. Behind the camera position is a horse whim chamber complete with the remains of the gin.

Unfortunately, its over on its side. Bryan Grimstone admires it.

On the surface there is nothing to see, the adit portal is buried. It was on the far side of the white building on the left which was the end of a terrace of buildings incorporating the managers house, assay house, and mine office. The small building between the two white houses was the mine smithy. The large white house "Wern" was built after the site was levelled.

What a change from the mine in its heyday. The above drawing was done in 1872 for an "Investors Guide" written by the notorious share swindler Joseph Fell. The far end of the terrace of mine buildings on the left correspond with the modern white building "Glenydd" shown above left.