Was heading back from Wrexham to Betws yesterday and thought I'd take the old Worlds-End road towards Llangollen as I've not been that way for more than 10 years. I used to do some exploration around Minera a long time ago, I remember following an old, low and wet drainage level from the river down in the village, going under the Esclusham mountain past a few shafts on the way. Not been in there for a very long time, maybe you can't even get in there these days, I don't know. I think it was the drainage for the Park Mine but I don't remember exactly.
Anyway, yesterday my daughter and I had a look about on the tops. She collects sheep bones (don't ask) and is always looking for some.
Came across a few old shafts up there, not unsurprisingly, most of which appear heavily capped beyond all hope of entry.
One of them, not far from the road, did have a locked gate on the top. It looked a bit like an old GCC lid, but with an Abloy 330 padlock on it. If memory serves, the water board is very fond of these locks so maybe the shaft drops to an old drainage level for inspection purposes or something. The holes in the lid frame for the padlock to go through were quite worn, clearly at some point this lid has seen a lot of traffic. Maybe not for a long time though. Hard to say.
I was just wondering what it was. I know there used to be winch trips up on the mountain at one point, no idea if they still happen, or which shaft is used for them. Maybe it's this one.
Not done a huge amount in this area, and not for quite a while, but I'm interested and would like to learn more about it.
The shaft location is here:
http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=325315&Y=351186&A=Y&Z=115
Thanks everyone.
It is a GCC controlled shaft (nice guess).
It drops down a couple of hundred feet with some passageways between levels. I found the lid unlocked on a wander some years ago and did have a peep down there but didn't reach either the terminus or an entry to anything else. But, I suspect it may connect to Pool Parc which is relatively close.
I might be able to find something somewhere .... I'll post again if I do.
:)
Ian
Thanks Ian, not surprised you had a look down there yourself. Did you drop right to the bottom? I suppose it must go somewhere if they have bothered to put a proper lid on it? But doesn't look like anyone has for a long time. I've no idea if GCC are still about these days, or what their willingness is like to lend keys to explorers who want to have a look down holes in the ground.
Years ago when I followed that drainage adit at valley-floor level, leading under the mountain towards Park Mine (and this shaft) I do remember the level eventually reaching a big shaft leading up, but it was quite choked, it wasn't possible to actually get in the shaft but its presence was obvious from the sound of the roaring water coming down it. So it was certainly a very wet shaft, this one yesterday looked quite dry and no water could be heard from the top, so probably not the same one. I remember in the drainage level where it met the shaft, there was some kind of old dig project there, I guess to try to clear the landing but it wasn't broken through at that time. Maybe someone picked up the dig since, but I don't know anything about it, this was years ago.
I'd be interested to learn anything about it or any of the others in the area. It looks to me like a lot was going on in the mountain at some point.
Thanks Ian
I have had a look through the club knowledge bank and can't find anything on it.
However, I did find a video that I made 15 years ago which is just slightly better than utterly useless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlZpCXZeEkA
Skip the first minute and kill the sound to shut the annoying music off.
It's not very helpful I am afraid. The lad with me would only go down so far, so when I reached what appeared to be the bottom I was faced with a crawl passage which I was reluctant to take on my own.
:o
Ian
Brilliant video Ian, nice work. Is that a phone line running through it?
I think that's a different shaft. Same GCC cap design and no doubt in the same general area but it doesn't seem to match. I made a very short and basic video looking down the shaft on my phone, which is in no way suitable for that kind of work but it's all I had. It wouldn't even focus properly but it does look like the sides of the shaft, at least around the collar, are smooth concrete.
Unlisted Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGeoLjvSMr4
Also, I dropped a few small stones down just for a listen to try to gauge a rough depth. If you listen carefully for the third stone fall, with your computer sound turned right up, you can hear a very distant and faint boom after a fairly alarming amount of air time. It's clearly quite a deep shaft, got to be at least 300 feet but I'd probably put it more like 400+, using my very unscientific method.
I have your arrow marked down as Park Western Shaft, which is NWCC. This would explain the lock, as it links into Ogof Llyn Ddu (ish) via a 100m or so shaft.
At the moment, there are no access permissions, but I believe that is in the process of being sorted.
Tom
Right OK - thanks Tom that's very helpful. I've done some googling on the name you've given me, it does fit the description. The principle interest in the mine seems to simply be that it connects to a major cave system, which is cool but as a mine person this benefit is wasted on me. I wonder how much of the mine itself can be accessed.
I did see the shaft was given as around 100m, feels about right, but I'd be surprised if there were not levels connecting at a shallower horizon. Hopefully NWCC can sort their access and then they might be willing to loan a key for it so I could have a better look.
Hi Miles,
Yes, I know what you mean. I don't think that there is a great deal of mine passage accessible as such, but then again i'm not sure as to how much effort has gone into pushing that side of things since I think the cave links have been the focus over the years.
I think it's Park Western that had a huge concrete tube put in to stablise the shaft top, therefore any workings and passage accessible will only be lower down.
There are a few other shafts accessible on the tops, and then of course the likes of Ogof Dydd Byraf which was entered via mining. I think the whole Minera Lead Mines system needs a good amount of work too, as I think there's still a lot to be found down Cabin and the likes.
My understanding is that the Pool Park and Western shaft drop into connected workings, but the route through has collapsed - probably in multiple places. The workings associated with Western shaft can now be accessed from ODB vi the marathon dig started years ago. NWCC did organise winch trips a log time ago, but sadly the winch is unsafe and Grosvenor estates forbade access.
There a a lot of interesting holes on Eclusium mountain and the areas to the east of cabin shaft. All deserve an investigate, survey and documentation. The whole area has been thoroughly investigated and surved by NWCC in the past 40 years, but the chances of any of the paperwork being released is negligible - it's all locked in Peter Appletons filing cabinet and will probably die with him :-(
I have dropped a couple of shafts east of cabin shaft and really should go back with DistroX and document them. They are about 50m pitches, so not too knackering on the way back, There is also the route to the diesel stopes to document - another interesting area which might repay a bit of digging to connect to Grand Turk via white vein.
I did have a look in Gas Pot about 10 years ago at the request of the late Cris Ebbs. The bottom passage (gas lane) is very dangerous - Transit sized boulders suspended by magical means, but he said there was a draft halfway down the Gas pot shaft which might be work a poke. I couldn't locate it... A route in here would bypass Pool Park shaft.
Dave
Dave
Quote from: Tom Howard on Jun 10, 2025, 01:50 PMHi Miles,
Yes, I know what you mean. I don't think that there is a great deal of mine passage accessible as such, but then again i'm not sure as to how much effort has gone into pushing that side of things since I think the cave links have been the focus over the years.
I think it's Park Western that had a huge concrete tube put in to stablise the shaft top, therefore any workings and passage accessible will only be lower down.
There are a few other shafts accessible on the tops, and then of course the likes of Ogof Dydd Byraf which was entered via mining. I think the whole Minera Lead Mines system needs a good amount of work too, as I think there's still a lot to be found down Cabin and the likes.
Thanks for that Tom. From what I could see (and it wasn't much!) the shaft just below the gate looked smooth and circular, most likely a concrete pipe lowered onto steel braces where the good rock starts. I presume below that the shaft is just as-is. From your description, I guess it must be Park Western Shaft then?
Cabin Shaft. Yeah back in the days when I used to actually do things, I did a number of day-explores down there, as I was hoping to find ways down into the much deeper victorian workings below. There was so much to go at. I remember coming across a fairly meaty engine shaft dropping down a long way but never went down it.
I gave up after a little while because somebody in a nearby house called the police and said I was casing the area for crime or something like that! Whoever it was clearly didn't like explorers in Cabin Shaft so I moved onto other things.
I figured the whole place must have been explored to oblivion by now with so many caving clubs in the area, but never came across any maps or surveys, so it always remained a bit of a mystery to me.
Quote from: Dave Tyson on Jun 11, 2025, 05:06 PMMy understanding is that the Pool Park and Western shaft drop into connected workings, but the route through has collapsed - probably in multiple places. The workings associated with Western shaft can now be accessed from ODB vi the marathon dig started years ago. NWCC did organise winch trips a log time ago, but sadly the winch is unsafe and Grosvenor estates forbade access.
There a a lot of interesting holes on Eclusium mountain and the areas to the east of cabin shaft. All deserve an investigate, survey and documentation. The whole area has been thoroughly investigated and surved by NWCC in the past 40 years, but the chances of any of the paperwork being released is negligible - it's all locked in Peter Appletons filing cabinet and will probably die with him :-(
I have dropped a couple of shafts east of cabin shaft and really should go back with DistroX and document them. They are about 50m pitches, so not too knackering on the way back, There is also the route to the diesel stopes to document - another interesting area which might repay a bit of digging to connect to Grand Turk via white vein.
I did have a look in Gas Pot about 10 years ago at the request of the late Cris Ebbs. The bottom passage (gas lane) is very dangerous - Transit sized boulders suspended by magical means, but he said there was a draft halfway down the Gas pot shaft which might be work a poke. I couldn't locate it... A route in here would bypass Pool Park shaft.
Dave
Dave
Thanks for that Dave, I'm learning a lot about the area from all these posts!
Pool Parc shaft... ahhh that might be the one I remember there being winch trips down years ago. I guess quite a deep shaft then? I don't know a lot about it. I remember some black and white photos of cavers getting lowered down, but I don't know much else. I only ever did one actual winch trip and that was to Bage Mine, very cool big diesel winch with a seat. Was something like 350 feet if memory serves, would have been a pig to SRT so very glad of the ride.
Vaguely related, I've got a battery powered rope-climber now, so I can float up shafts in a very angelic and graceful manner fitting of my persona. No need to waste precious calories.