Location
SJ 108 423
Directions
Off the A5 between Corwen and Llangollen (by Carrog and Llidiart y Parc)
There is a layby on the road just past Llidiart y Parc (heading towards Corwen). Park Here. Walk back along the road towards Llidiart y Parc and you will see a house and a track on the right leading to an abandoned farm (all within a couple hundred yards). This track and the path through the farm is a public footpath â€" follow this up the hill and keep right heading for the very large spoil heaps above and to your right.
The entrance to the mine is in a quarry in the dead centre of the spoil heaps at the top of an obvious incline. (The entrance being at 10 o’clock as you stand at the entrance to the quarry).
Access
Ungated and Unknown
Suggested Equipment
None.
Length
Unknown but substantial
Flood Risk
Not Known. There are several areas where water is backed up due to blockages but on my visit I did not encounter any water deeper than 1 foot.
There was, however, a chamber receiving water which appeared to be flowing into an adit which was deep with water and apparently impassable.
Mine Attributes
Slate
Description
An interesting and easy to navigate slate mine.
The main mine is essentially a giant circle with a rail track almost running completely around in a circle. On the outside of the rail track are numerous slate chambers and on the inside is a lower mine level.
Additionally. There is a single raised incline leading to a single chamber with an interesting functional wheel.
The mine benefits from calcite intrusions as well as areas of calcite tear drops.
So far as slate mines go, it is not huge but it is interesting and unique in it’s own right with around 2-3 hours of exploration available.
Unexplored Passages
Plenty
Digs
There are potential (on-going) digs by independents but no details are known
Links[
http://www.wirralcavinggroup.org.uk/trips/penarth.html
http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Penarth-Slate-Mine/
http://www.mine-explorer.co.uk/show_member_mine.asp?member_id=21&mine_id=479
http://www.urbexforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4793
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12470438@N07/sets/72157621811900640/
(https://test.anduin.org.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi60.servimg.com%2Fu%2Ff60%2F13%2F40%2F19%2F59%2F100_0114.jpg&hash=9a8e04038ea444ad947b3f5ff56f6b2b9fa31f2a) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=1506&u=13401959)
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Sunday 24 July 2011
My Personal Favourite
Thanks to Ian for driving, supplying most of the light, for being patient and not getting lost in the undergrowth!
Awesome & funny B)
I went for a wander up here midweek. the n00b that was supposed to be going jibbed out the day before, and is reminded of it, hourly ;)
Today's Photos
and a few more
And one for John
Awesomeness :)
Fantastic pictures John O. And a wonderful day out for everyone!
I went here, christ, in June actually, so I thought I'd share my pictures :)
Our trip was quite nice, walking along the foot path up the side of the hill. The last part was a killer, some parts steeper than 1 in 3! :eek:
The view from the top was well worth it though...
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Time to do what we came for. Mines! The first views weren't that impressive, we headed left, into an unknown tunnel.
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We came across an immense gallery
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Whilst taking photos, we heard voices and saw lights. I'll let Degenatron describe what happened:
:D
We headed up the incline
(https://test.anduin.org.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7079%2F7184762068_3b147fc637_b.jpg&hash=81d7f9037da90e3416ad3654a313126391a66d29) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xanakuma/7184762068/)
to a nice little winch
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We headed back down the incline to continue our explore, not before I went on my arse. I had a lovely scrape down my arm from where it grated down the rusty rail. Noice
Looking back up the incline with the chained down cart
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We found a lovely passing point/sidings
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The mine itself is immense. A couple of photos for scale
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The incline from earlier for scale
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We headed into the sun and out of the mine; what a vista greeted us.
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We then looked around the surface remains, only taking a few snaps
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This place looks fantastic! I went there many years ago but only to the adit and just went inside as I had no torch or helmet to carry on. Got to go back sometime with more lights!
Popped here last night with my Dad, Brother, and his mate Rob. Here are some piccies.
Great photo's Tony. I want to go back there soon and do a decent video.
Wonderful photos Tony! You really capture the atmosphere of that place and the intense darkness.
Very clever play between the yellow and the white light.
Thanks. It really is a crackin little slate mine. Took my Dad as it's easy to mooch around, but the walk up was pretty tough for him, as I had to ditch the car after nearly ripping the fuel tank off which meant we had to walk up the rest of the way.
Still need to explore more of the place as we didn't explore too much as it was getting late.
Yes I like Penarth also, but think Moel Ferna is even better - albeit another slog up hill on foot to get there. I have driven Tonka Truck through the private forest to be level with the Penarth mine.
I wish I could understand the amazing roof structure in both mines. Obviously the corrugated iron pattern we see is a cast of the surface of the slate that was removed by quarrymen. However, what could have created such a uniform pattern as if formed by a giant milling machine? It looks too regular and too straight to be glacial scraping. I must have been formed by water, but where can one see any similar patterns formed naturally?
Yes indeed. Moel Fferna is certainly better. The same stunning ceilings in huge chambers, plus more workings remain in there too, so better for photography.
Doug suggested and we agreed that the roof formation is the result of faulting. where the overlying rock has slipped creating these grooves. Mind boggling to think just how much rock has moved!
That sort of horizontal movement is very rare - in fact I can't think of anything like it elsewhere. Natural force cannot grip one layer of rock and slide against another horizontally. The only situation where this could happen is in a major plat collision - such as have recently formed the Hymalayas, when India detached from S Africa and crashed into S Asia. If the folding was also created by friction then you would see the effects of localised metamorphasis.
Had a wander up here today, and seems some oxygen wasting scrote pinched the wheels of the yellow wagon, looks like a grinder was used. Was it rolling on the rails and chained to them when you were there Tony?
I'll chuck up what pictures I could get (Nerfed tripod head=bad pictures) when I can process them.
It was definetely there last time I went up there about a month ago.
it was there end of march.
What was the history Ali? Obviously is not old. I heard it was used by whoever removed (stole?) the old tub from Gas bag several years ago? Would love to know who thought that removing the original artifact and leaving a nasty piece of yellow litter in there thought that was a good idea. grrrr.
I am trying to narrow down when they were taken. Apparently, they were off 2 weeks ago, but I didn't see anything said about it. We'll see.
History - No Idea. A lot of people think it's a coal wagon. I haven't been exploring long enough to know about the removal of the tub from the gas chamber (which in and of itself, is just fine, it's just the manway top-right of the chamber that needs to be avoided). The survival of working winches in there is nice, and I would not want to see them disappear.
I can't see any other reason for them being nicked other than someone into railways, or on their behalf. There is a lot of cross-over with mine exploring and Railways with a lot of blokes being into both, so if someone goes around offering these, we may get to hear about it.
well if it makes it harder for it to be used to remove (steal) any other genuine artefacts then maybe its no bad thing.
Could they have been removed to hinder any other attempts to remove stuff from there?
I can think of easier ways to do that (Plenty of slate to put in the way of things, and would be far more effort to remove).
Tony - Were the wheels on when you were in a few days ago?
No weren't on when I was there on Tuesday.
What a tragic event!
However, if I recall correctly when I was there with engineer Richard he quickly pointed out that this trolley is a bit of a botch up. It has been cut down to fit this short section of track. It is not original to this location. It is also relatively new compared to the other remaining ferrous artefacts.
I suggest that the people who built it decided that they needed the wheels for another project and they came up and took them off the easiest way. I can't believe people came all the way up to the mine with a power grinder to pinch the wheels for scrap.
Who knows that it was not Marty?
doubt it - he's given up M.E.ing
Whats always amazed me is why no-one ever questioned the scum who cobbled it together and used it to remove (steal) the original tub from gasbag and then felt it was ok to leave their litter in there.
Thats someone i'd really like to know the name of - maybe they wanted there wheels back?
A couple of shots of the trip on the 8th June 2017 (General Election day - I fooked off underground instead)
:)
Ian
check out any caving club that are having trouble with there train it looks like they need wheels oops
they could point the finger at use ha,ha