Hi Guys
Im new to the forum and looking for some info on the infamous gwynfynydd mines. Ive only been the once and the weather was disgusting!!!!!! lol.. Im looking for some info on which openings to have a gander into as there are quite a few i believe. And from what we saw on the day.. Obviously the main shaft is gated and locked, but i believe there are other tunnels that will lead to the main shaft????
Also while I'm on this thread Does anyone have any more info on Mochdre/glanwydden limestone mine/quarry.... ?????
Hi Mossop,
The man you want for Mochdre is "Sweetie" ... maybe he will pick up on this thread :whistle:
Gwynfynydd is going through some changes at the moment. The entrance you need is on the hillside directly above the main (concreted) adit by around 200 feet. That allows access to all of the mine. However, I believe the mine was taken over not too long ago and I understand that new fencing was put across the entrance.
I was in the Coed y Brenin forest 2 weeks ago walking along the other side of the river bank and looking across at the old mine buildings, I could see that there was substantial work on-going. There is a hydro plant being built a little further down river from the adit but there also appeared to be work on-going at the buildings right next to the main adit at river level.
I would not be certain there is still access above the main adit nor would I be certain you won't run into people working there .....
:blink:
Ian
Thanks Ian
Would this entrance happen to split left and right?? if so Ive found the right one.. lol.. Yes the last time we visited there was a bit going on. The hydro electric seems or sounds to be a bit of an incentive to re open the mine to me.. Also there was some piping at the main site of the mine.. Ive been far too long gtting into this kind of thing and finally started looking around local adits and caves.. Im hooked..Cant wait to go back and have a proper look..... The Mochdre mine is literally up the road from my parents house and i never knew it was there growing up as a kid..
Yes it splits left and right.
Enter the left hand side one and head "down" - it's all in there :)
Mochdre is easy to get into too. You know there is an entrance higher up than the main entrance (and way off to the right) that allows access to a huge chamber?
;)
Ian
Hi MOSSOP,
Welcome to the forum. The limestone mine in Llangwstenin is well worth a visit. I was there around 3 weeks ago. If you park in the obvious layby on the road between Llangwstenin church and the Queens Head pub in Glanwyddan, walk along the road a few mtrs towards the church you will see a set of steps to the right. This is your way to the mine entrance. Someone has recently relocated the old winch cable off the incline and installed it as an aid to climb the steep bank. Thick gloves are a good idea as there are plenty of sharp rusty strands of wire to rip your hands open on (there is a small adit just to the left before going up the slope that is worth a look but goes dead not far in)
Once at the top of the slope you will step over an old sheep fence and you can follow the path to the left. There is a brick structure a little further on and an old metal air/water tank. keep these on your right and carry on until you reach the old incline. Take the overgrown path to your right and you will find the main level. Plenty to see on this level with more to be dug / discovered.
Once you've exhausted this level, as Ian says, there is another entrance higher up which you must see! You want to get pretty much on top on the entrance you've just been in then head right (below the rock outcrop at the top of the mountain)
You will pass a couple of small holes before you reach the adit. If you find yourself clinging to a cliff face for dear life, you need to be higher up. The adit has a brick doorway a couple of mtrs in that leads to a huge chamber.
Take a camera!
Any questions, just pipe up B)
Thanks Sweetie.. ill try get there over the christmas period. It sounds pretty awesome. can't believe its been there all this time and I've never known about it, especially living just down the lane in paso lane. lol.... Ill make sure i come back with some good pics. of both mochdre And Gwynfynydd hopefully..
Gwynfynydd has been bought by 'Clogau' the jewellery manufacturing company about 2 years ago and the Crown put up new fences as a warning to them - ie 'WE' own the inside and you own the outside.
'Clogau' applied to the Crown for an Option (which GMOW has on most of the Dolgellau goldbelt)and the Gwynfynydd area has been taken out of the GMOW one but has not yet been issued to 'Clogau'.
The hydro scheme is on Gwynfynydd land and is built by the same owners under another company.
There is a caretaker going up most days in a red pickup.
Evening all.. Just got back from the Mochdre limestone mine,, it was really cool inside there. We found a tunnel which has obviously been explored before but looked like it could lead it other upper levels??? We also couldn't find the third entrance which is further up from the main entrance.. It might be the fact that we went in the dark so couldn't quite see where we were supposed to be heading properly..
Our friend is a dab hand with a camera so hopefully he'll share them with me and ill get em up here..
Any other directions for us for trying to find "THE BIG ONE" Next visit????
Cheers to you guys for all your help so far
Hi Matey, It's Robin. Did you get my reply via Facebook?
Heres a Few Pics Our Friend took on out outing the other night.. Hope you all enjoy
and a few more
Thanks for the piccies :)
The point where you are climbing up a small internal shaft - you spotted another (easier) way up just a tad further on, right?
;)
Ian
Yes ian lol,, we came back down the easier one. We had fun climbing up the first one. Especially the super strong washing line that somebody had previously left behind.
Heading down towards dolgellau/trawsfynydd early next week.. Have you got any tips as to which adits at gwynfynydd and where are best to go exploring?? i know the main entrance is gated but i also found a fenced adit further up her the caravan which once i got down the hole the tunnel split left and right, i also found a open stope/hole right near the top of the track which looked like it went downwards???
cheers again
craig
ps i know about it being opened pretty soon and more activity going on, but Ive got to get down there soon otherwise i won't get chance again by the sounds of it..
Turn left and investigate (plenty to see) but turning right takes you to some fixed steel ladders and down into the main workings (you can work your way through, up and out another exit from there or back track the way you came).
:)
Ian
Make sure you take lots of photos / video, yours might be the last trip in there. Please can you let us all know how you get on with regards to access? Here's a slide show / some video of my trip there in Feb 2013:
[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]JV8kFez-joE[/video]
:blink:
:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
ALL I CAN SAY IS AWESOME........ Could spend weeks down there looking at everything.. its amazing.. we actually ended up going in further up directly behind the "main entrance" and coming out just by the caravan after wading balls deep in water ..
Anyways,,, I can tell you that access isn't that much of a problem. although there is a guy with a red L200 pick up truck, who is obviously the caretaker. He confronted us the once and we made up some story about going to investigate the river for paddling.. But we literally parked a tad further up from TY Mawr and walked straight in.. We did have the added bonus of an old survey map to help us navigate through , Im not even sure we covered half of it....?? I would have liked to have tried to get down to the main entrance and work back up. Maybe next time?? Ill try and get some pics up tomorrow for you guys to see.. i didn't take too many as i was too busy looking around for gold!!! lol...... What i can tell you from sweeties video is that a major clean up has gone underway. All the outbuildings are now completely empty and floors even brushed. Ready for the clogau re open.. Although it can't be any time soon as from my experience, that place is extremely un safe and really falling apart.. :( Im already wanting to get back out there again..
[quote="MOSSOP" post=27957]ALL I CAN SAY IS AWESOME........ Could spend weeks down there looking at everything.. its amazing.. we actually ended up going in further up directly behind the "main entrance" and coming out just by the caravan after wading balls deep in water ..[/quote]
Yes that is the through trip...
:blink:
:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
ALL I CAN SAY IS AWESOME........ Could spend weeks down there looking at everything.. its amazing.. we actually ended up going in further up directly behind the "main entrance" and coming out just by the caravan after wading balls deep in water ..
Anyways,,, I can tell you that access isn't that much of a problem. although there is a guy with a red L200 pick up truck, who is obviously the caretaker. He confronted us the once and we made up some story about going to investigate the river for paddling.. But we literally parked a tad further up from TY Mawr and walked straight in.. We did have the added bonus of an old survey map to help us navigate through , Im not even sure we covered half of it....?? I would have liked to have tried to get down to the main entrance and work back up. Maybe next time?? Ill try and get some pics up tomorrow for you guys to see.. i didn't take too many as i was too busy looking around for gold!!! lol...... What i can tell you from sweeties video is that a major clean up has gone underway. All the outbuildings are now completely empty and floors even brushed. Ready for the clogau re open.. Although it can't be any time soon as from my experience, that place is extremely un safe and really falling apart.. :( Im already wanting to get back out there again..
Nice one, Cheers for posting them up B)
Hi Ian,
Would you be able to point me in the right direction for the accessible adit to gwynfynydd please?
I was all over that hill this morning from the old processing sheds at the bottom all the way up to the road at the top and couldn't find any accessible adits, certainly nothing that was safe anyway.
I found 6 or 7 plotted on the OS app but these didn't give access
Many thanks
Dan
It's almost directly above the main building(s) which are at river level. You can't see much from low down, you have to scramble up (easier to go at it diagonally). There is a fenced area of rockface (it's not obvious) and the entrance is there. Probably 200 metres above.
HOWEVER, I think there have been fairly recent changes and I am pretty sure access is currently forbidden :blush:
Ah really, may be best to give this one a miss then! Shame as it's fairly local to me.
Thanks very much for replying Ian
Just adding an update, I was back in the area at the end of last week and had a look for the adit, as previously mentioned it's directly above the main entrance where there are a number of adits in close proximity.
They have all been secured with metalwork now so the mine is no longer accessible.
(https://i.ibb.co/8DZC2xq/IMG-7566.jpg) (https://ibb.co/zhvMb2p)
Nothing a cordless grinder wouldn’t sort out
Is it good in there ?
Was an excellent trip,lots to see and so may different minerals! :)
When can we go
Actually just to left of the pic I posted is another adit, it's also been closed off with a gate, but someone has bent the bars just enough to squeeze through. It leads to quite a steep drop that would need rope work to descent. Has anybody been down this way? Does it give access to the main mine? I don't have any pics of it sorry
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