Report - Nant y Gadwen Manganese Mine - Rhiw, Lllyn Peninsula, Wales - July 2021

[MK83]

History - This is the southernmost of a small group of manganese mines near the village of Rhiw. The group, which included the Bennalt and Rhiw mines was the largest producer of manganese ore in the UK in the early 20th century. Nant Mine raised 45,644 tons of manganese ore prior to its closure in 1927. The manganese mines at Rhiw was a major project in its day, with over 195.000 tons mined between 1840 and 1945, with a peak in production in 1906 of over 17.000 tons. There were six mines in all but only three of them were a viable operation. And production stopped completely several times during this period. When mining first started donkeys were used to carry the ore to Porth Cadlan where it was loaded onto small sailing vessels for export to Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. When production increased two jetties were constructed, one at Porth Ysgo and the other at Hells Mouth, the Porth Ysgo jetty was fed by a railway system from the Quarry while the Hells Mouth jetty used a cable car arrangement that ran over the village and down the steep hill to the beach.

Explore - This was a spur of the moment explore as we were at a loose end due to the weather. Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures, this is the first time we've done anything underground and where woefully unprepared to light it properly. Being in the middle of a holiday we had limited gear with us. The explore was really interesting, As well as the main underground section which is pretty big there are a number of dead end test tunnels dotted around the hillside. All in all in spite of the rain and lack of equipment it was a fun explore.

Thanks for looking.

 

[tigger]

If you search the bulletin board you'll find a short post I put up about Benallt, Rhiw and Nant which will give a bit more context. @monk has also posted about Nant but due to the hanging adit chose to keep it NP.

At Nant only the five adits on the East side of the Cwm (where the surface features are) were Manganese workings. The ones on the West side of the Cwm are probably iron trials (all the Manganese mines also won useable iron ore)

 

[MK83]

I

If you search the bulletin board you'll find a short post I put up about Benallt, Rhiw and Nant which will give a bit more context. @monk has also posted about Nant but due to the hanging adit chose to keep it NP.

At Nant only the five adits on the East side of the Cwm (where the surface features are) were Manganese workings. The ones on the West side of the Cwm are probably iron trials (all the Manganese mines also won useable iron ore)

I found your report and had a read. Your photos are much better than mine and show the big chamber much more clearly. What do you mean by the hanging adit?

 

[Calamity Jane]

And Wales keeps on giving. Lovely views. Nice explore :

 

[cunningcorgi]

Hope whoever is involved is okay.

Porth Ysgo rescue: Two people rescued from disused mine shaft - BBC News

 

[MK83]

Hope whoever is involved is okay.

Porth Ysgo rescue: Two people rescued from disused mine shaft - BBC News

Bloody hell. Wonder who they were? You've got to be so careful in these places.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Sounds serious. Says they fell in? how easy is it to fall into? the photos show a lot of ground level openings?

 

[MK83]

Sounds serious. Says they fell in? how easy is it to fall into? the photos show a lot of ground level openings?

I wouldn't say it was that easy to fall into, there are some big drops through some of the tunnels but nothing that would take you by surprise unless you had no torch. Unless they tried to climb down and misjudged the drop. As @tigger mentioned above there is a hanging adit which could be dangerous if you weren't paying attention.

 

[MK83]

more info on the group that got injured/trapped.

Log in to Facebook

Log in to Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family and people you know.

www.facebook.com

 

[pirate]

I wouldn't say it was that easy to fall into, there are some big drops through some of the tunnels but nothing that would take you by surprise unless you had no torch. Unless they tried to climb down and misjudged the drop. As @tigger mentioned above there is a hanging adit which could be dangerous if you weren't paying attention.

from the photo I presume they had fallen down the shaft,lucky to be alive as it’s a long drop

 

[Calamity Jane]

from the photo I presume they had fallen down the shaft,lucky to be alive as it’s a long drop

In the photo it does look like a shaft drop. How lucky to be alive, these rescue teams dont get enough credit. Praying their injuries will heal

 

[MK83]

In the photo it does look like a shaft drop. How lucky to be alive, these rescue teams dont get enough credit. Praying their injuries will heal

The girl who fell in managed to only break her arm and suffered bruising. I'd say she has been very very lucky.

 

[Calamity Jane]

The girl who fell in managed to only break her arm and suffered bruising. I'd say she has been very very lucky.

Wow, that is lucky. So glad it was worse. Cheers MK

 

[monk]

Lucky to escape with a broken arm, there's a couple of really nasty drops, she was lucky she didn't fall down one of the others.