Mwyna Di—Haiarn Sîr Fflint the Non-Ferrous Mines of Flintshire
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MWYNA DI—HAIARN SÎR FFLINT THE NON-FERROUS MINES OF FLINTSHIRE J.R. FOSTER-SMITH N.C.M.R.S Occasional Publication No. 7 ISSN 0309-2199 THE NON-FERROUS MINES OF WALES Part 1. Flintshire J.R. Foster-Smith CONTENTS The Non-Ferrous Mines of Wales, Preface Introductory Notes Introduction page 1 General Notes page 8 Details of the Mines page 9 Bibliography page 83 Alphabetical Index page 85 Copyright Notice All rights reserved. Copyright under the Universal Copyright Convention and the Berne Convention. No part of this publication may be utilised in any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher Publisher Northern Cavern and Mine Research Society, at 37 Broomhall Place, Sheffield, S10 2DG, England. Printed by the Northern Cavern and Mine Research Society. Covers and binding by the Craven Herald Ltd, High Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire. 1974 NB This publication was originally issued in the 10 by 8 inch format then used by the society. It has now been digitised and reformatted at A5. This has changed the original pagination, which is given in square brackets. Publishers Note The manuscript of this book was prepared for publication by the NCMRS in 1967 under the editorship of D.T. Richardson. Due to unforeseen circumstances publication was delayed and volume two of the ‘Non-Ferrous Mines of Wales’ series, relating to Denbighshire, was published first during 1972. We now present volume one and should emphasize that as the manuscript was compiled prior to 1967 some minor changes have taken place with regard to the current mining position. We would like to thank G.W. Madoc-Jones of Denbigh for the Welsh translation of the title to this volume. Peter Jackson for NCMRS November 1974 THE NON-FERROUS METAL MINES OF WALES PREFACE The purpose of this work is to put on record the locations of and some brief notes upon as many of the non-ferrous metal mines of Wales as it has been possible to trace during a long period of research into the history of the industry. Monmouth has been included with Wales for the purposes of the survey. It is hoped that the information given in these volumes may be found useful not only to students of industrial history, but also to the technical man who has occasion to investigate the mines of Wales. Many of the smaller mines and trials have now been almost if not entirely obliterated and their location during the preparation of this work has been no simple task. An exhaustive study of old records and reports and of large-scale maps has been necessary, and even when this has been combined with physical examination of the areas in question it has not always been possible to trace all the mines named in old reports. In a work of this nature it is impossible to claim that all the information given is original, since it is necessary to draw upon all the published sources of information, backed up where possible by a physical check of the sites. The published sources so used are listed in the Bibliographies and those seeking further details of individual mines are referred to such works. Unfortunately the published information is very scarce or even non-existent in regard to some of the mines and areas. In cases where little or no previously published information was found, or where such information is no longer readily available, the notes on the mines given in this work have been made as comprehensive as possible, considering only the limitations of space reasonably available. In this connection it my be mentioned that the issues of the Mining Journal from 1836 (when it was first published) until about 1880, contain a great mass of detailed reports on Welsh mines. At the same time a warning is given that a search for information from this source is likely to be extended and laborious. An attempt has been made to render the work as complete as possible, but despite this it is inevitable that some of the smaller or more remote mines have been missed. Where groups of individual mines have later been worked together as one group, such as occurred in the Halkyn area, they have been separated again into the original mines as far as possible. As a further point of interest it may be worthy of mention that considerable difficulty was sometimes encountered in the interpretation of old reports by the commonly used names for mines in Wales during the 19th century. Many of those names were a dreadful mutilation of the Welsh language and to locate the mines to which some of the names refer has entailed much detective work and the liberal use of a Welsh dictionary, combined with a minute study of large scale maps. This task requires patience and it is hoped that the result is worth the effort. It is not claimed that the information given in this work is complete or that no mistakes occur, in spite of close examination of the available material, and corrections or additions are always welcomed by the author. Middleton-in-Teesdale February 1968 INTRODUCTORY NOTES Included in this survey are all the identifiable mines and trials that have been worked for any of the following minerals or ores: Lead ores Zinc ores Copper ores Cobalt ores Gold Barytes Witherite Fluorspar Pyrite (where it is found in association with any of the above named ores or minerals. In the descriptions of the mines the terms barite and fluorite have been used to describe the minerals in situ in the veins and barytes and fluorspar are used only to describe the dressed products as shipped to market. Mines and trials worked for iron or manganese ores, except when they occur in the same deposits as minerals named above, have been excluded from this survey. In order to make the list of mines as useful as possible the National Grid reference for each site taken to a point as near to the centre of operations as possible, is given, together with the name of the parish or parishes in which the mines occur. In order to permit a quick reference to the mines by name, a list of all mine s included within the County, arranged alphabetically, is given at the end of the volume. INTRODUCTION Geography Although Flintshire is not a large county it contains considerable mineral resources and so far as the non-ferrous metal mining industry is concerned, it has been the largest producing county in Wales. The metal mining industry of the county is also probably one of the oldest industries of the area and its history almost certainly goes back as far as Roman times, and probably pre- dates that era. Flintshire is not one of the more mountainous counties of Wales and since on one side it borders the relatively sheltered waters of the estuary of the river Dee and on another the lowlands of the Cheshire plain, it has always been one of the more accessible areas in Wales. This fact and that of the establishment of the Roman Legionary fortress at Chester probably greatly aided the early industrial development of the county. This county contains the major portion of the most important lead-zinc orefield in Wales and most of the mines in the area occur in situations which are reasonably accessible for transportation and where the climate is not unduly severe in winter, as is the case with many of the mines in the more mountainous area. In general the mines are situated in upland areas, but not at elevations of more than one thousand feet above Ordnance Datum, most in fact being situated at comparatively low elevations; a fact which has partially determined the methods of working in this orefield. The highest point in Flintshire is at the summit of Moel Fammau, on the border with Denbighshire, which is situated at 1,820 feet A.O.D. There are no large cities in the county, but Chester and Wrexham lie just to the east and the mining area is well served with roads, while the main railway line from Chester to Holyhead passes along the north coast. The internal railway system of the county is now largely abandoned. History As mentioned above, the mining industry in Flintshire almost certainly dates from at least the Roman times, various archaeological finds having confirmed this fact, though no mine workings can be conclusively proved to have been carried out by the Romans. Since that era, however, mining is known to have been more or less active almost down to the present day, though at the time of writing (1967) practically no lead or zinc ores are known to be produced in [1] Flintshire. The earliest records speak of lead mining near Holywell, Halkyn and Bodelwyddan, between about 1300 and 1320, but on the whole mining during mediaeval times was on a small scale and sporadic in operation. The workings were confined to shallow excavations at and near the more easily accessible outcrops of veins and probably little or nothing was done below water level. Underground working undoubtedly received a strong impetus upon the introduction of the use of gunpowder for blasting, but even with this aid to working mining was a laborious business in those days, for the rock in which the ores occur is mostly limestone, which must be considered a hard rock when all the drilling is done by hand. The metal mining industry rapidly grew in importance after the introduction of gunpowder however, until by the middle of the 18th century it was already operated upon a fairly considerable scale.