dylife and associated lead workings 09th MARCH 2014

[Andrew Farrow]

DYLIFE lead mines â€" a grand day out [ the official  â€œ true “ < cough  > report ]

Attending : andy-j , tony , Vikki , Richard T

Dylife is a long way from the real world â€" so an early start was required for the O9:30  

And despite part of the M6 being shut [ jn 27 ~ 26 was just shut â€" no  diversion signs - ` you are on your own ` - find Jn 25 by yourself ]

Despite Additional fuckwits and further road closures â€" I did manage to  arrive â€" eventually at “ the middle of nowhere “ â€" at 09:25 .

A text from tony told us they were running 5 minutes late [ take note tom howard ]

With glorious sunshine â€" no one wanted to run around all day in bulky gear â€" so we dressed minimally and abandoned SRT gear -

We stated with the neatest marked adits â€" one of which richard had already recced while he waited our arrival

The first : Esgairgaled Dylife Deep Adit
Was quite obvious above a tip â€" entering through knee deep water â€" we found A winze in the floor to the left , Using tony and richard as an anchor â€" I hand-lined 3m down a slope to a ledge from where I could see that the winze dropped another  10m - With a rock test â€" revealing that the bottom was dry

The level ended at a stope with a false floor above â€" which offered no way up

A short scramble over rubble led to a stope â€" with a very precariously stacked deads held back by a timbered platform â€" that was supported by a mere match-stick at its pivot

Underneath â€" a short section went to a collapse with an axle and sheave for a haulage way . Pics were taken and we exited

Constituting in the same valley â€" we quickly encountered

Esgairgaled Dylife adit 2
The anti sheep tangle of scrap fencing was pulled aside â€" and in we went

Here it gets fuzzy â€" as I cannot remember anything about this section â€" appologies

HELP  guys â€" fill in the blanks â€" was I drugged and raped â€" who knows â€" but I cannot remember a thing

The next thing I remember is putting the plug of wire fencing back in the hole

With that ` leg ` of the area complete , We went back across the road to start our explore of the nest valley â€" that held the main workings â€" dylife had been mined for lead for centuries with the most productive period being the 19th century â€" when industrialisation permitted economic pumping and blasting with high explosives â€" creating a mine and production complex that employed > 1000 men at its peak

But sadly â€" low ore values and cheap imports doomed dylife â€" and by the 20th century â€" only sporadic re-workings of the spoil heaps was left â€" all U/G activities abandoned

Starting with “ river adit “ â€" which , where I come from this is called a culvert - But it was dark and damp so we had a look â€" and found a large diameter cast iron water pipe â€" which we assume would have at one time fed the now cleared works on a flat area do

Heading back upstream ,  we found the remains of a car â€" allowing Vikki a “ Penelope pitstop moment ` - and pictures

Moving on - I had a look at the waterwheel pit â€" once it was reportedly the largest waterwheel in Europe â€" with a rubbish filled shaft beside it

Richard found the airshaft â€" on the other side of the streamway â€" which required a flat out crawl to gain a flooded shaft head

We all had a gander at the “ pump  shaft “ â€" a now flooded shaft what still has the pump rods and pipe in situ â€" all 105 fathoms of them â€" that’s 630 feet / 210m for the “ fathom challenged “

The incursion into the imaginatively named dylife large adit   [ it is very large ] was short and disappointing as a collapse / run in was encountered after a short distance

It may be diggable â€" but that’s a job for someone else or another day

Undeterred , we fired up the garmin â€" and headed for the next hole : Dylife open adit : yes it was open â€" but it was also full of neck deep water with little head room in places

After only 20m it opened to a small stope â€" with one obvious and I possible way on â€" but the floor vanished too â€" it was a “ swim it “ job â€" but as no one else would join me â€" I came back out [ wetsuits would be better ]

And that was the completion of that section so We climbed up the hill to a stope [ stope # 1 ] which is not on the map / surveys

But it was impressive , with a rock bridge separating the main drop from a small cutting with a ledge that looked down under a rock arch

It offered an SRT insertion into ”somewhere “ â€" but no anchors were evident â€" an omission that a return visit could easily fix

we then hiked over the hill via boundary shaft â€" a VERY impressive hole in a fenced enclosure

It was DEEP  - and dry â€" but rigging it would be a nightmare due to loose edges

Following the ridgeline â€" the next offering “ unnamed shaft “ which  was sadly filled with farm rubbish â€" so we took a bearing to the nearest adit of the workings in Clywedog Gorge . From surface remains on the old dressing floor â€" it was obvious where the adit was â€" so we picked our way down the gorge to :

Dyfngwm Adit 1

Ducking under some woodwork â€" it immediately entered chest deep water â€" nice , but there was plenty of headroom â€" and easy walking

-   fortunately the drive saw designed to be self draining â€" with a grip running alongside the tramway â€" so after 200m dry passage was reached â€" then a chamber with a shaft above and shafts stopes below

and false floors all round

as I was on my own â€" I went back to the entrance [ a perfectly straight passage â€" the light from the portal was visible all the way down ]

Richard and tony manned up â€" while Vikki sunbathed . So in we went with tonys camera in a drybag â€" from the terminal chamber , The branch to the left had an ore chute from above â€" and a winze in a small niche â€" which dropped aprox 15m [ guesstimate â€" by rock ] to a dry level below â€" and a stope which barred the way on horizontally  [ a handline could be rigged to allow progress to the obvious workings beyond

To the right â€" a drain channel carried excess water out the passage â€" which continued 150m to a series of collapses in a stope â€" the passage ended â€" with a floor level mouse hole evident â€" but too dangerous to access due to loose debris above it

After a quick look around the very sparse surface features

We made our way up the gorge to the :

Dyfngwm Roman adit â€"  a short drive perched up a loose scree slope

A mangled pump rod sat in the rubble at the entrance â€" with no indication how it was powered

Only 20m long â€" it ended in a chamber with 2 shafts at the bottom â€" one with pump gear still evident â€" but curiously they appeared to be flooded to differing depths which is weird

Setting off up the gorge on a defined track some 40m above the river level , we Came across a second feature that wasn’t on the surveys - A bloody big stope â€" bisecting the track â€" rocks were thrown â€" and notions of jumping across the hole abandoned quickly

A cutting some 15m below us that was promptly investigated , Ducking under a very small waterfall â€" Richard and I gained access to a small working with tight passages â€" all dry â€" with a small rubble filled shaft and terminating in a pocket after 100m

Though there was no access to the stope just meters away [ a job for another day with ropes ]

At this point Vikki abandoned us to back track to investigate a portal visible higher up the slope â€" that wasn’t apparent till we passed it

After another hike , The ` end of the line ` in    gorge was “Dyfngwm  blue lagoon adit “ a partially flooded adit next to a nice waterfall with a rock arch above it

Until I sploshed about â€" the water was crystal clear â€" and several tools could be seen on the floor â€" but only a small stope was found before the passage ended at virgin rock after only 75m or so

All done â€" we climbed out of the gorge to re-locate Vikki and discover what she had found

“Vikki`s  gaping hole “ â€" her descriptor not mine â€" despite its impressive appearance was not very extensive â€" but had a small dry chamber â€" and a back door of considerably reduced dimensions “ vikki`s tight hole “

All done we headed back to boundary shaft â€" and the track which led to our next targets

On the way , Richard and I chanced on a cutting â€" that was clearly “ un-natural “ and sure enough a salt-lick bucked hid a tiny entrance to a part flooded level

It would need excavation just to gain entry â€" so we jammed the bucket back in the gap and took a GPS fix

Before we caught up with tony and Vikki - a further unsurveyed shaft was discovered as we headed back to the farm track / bridleway that would return us to the cars via a few more features

but sadly â€" it was filled with rubbish â€" and the smell / cloud of flies caused Richard and I to wonder “ how many dead sheep can you fit in a 1 ton builders bag “

due to the garmins annoying habit of abbreviating place mark labels â€" the next point â€" a derelict crushing plant was not appreciated for what it was â€" we found a shaft in an enclosure â€" again filled with farmer debris â€" so moved on

the track took us all the way to the head of a small valley â€" from where we could see the pub [ the useless shut pub with no beer ]

so we cut Down to dylife adit # 1 â€" a squalid little hole â€" full of silt , frogspawn and vegetation - braving the flat-out slide into the murk , I Emerged into a very nice little coffin level â€" with just enough room for my head and arms  above  chest deep water

That continued further than I could see â€" but after 10m the deep silt on the floor was outgassing profusely with every step I took â€" the pungent aroma confirmed hydrogen sulphide â€" with the liberation of gas getting worse with every step â€" I retreated fast â€" while I could still smell the gas [ prolonged exposure at any concentration a anesthetises the   olfactory receptors â€" and 800 ppm is lethal â€" an easy concentration to develop with lots of crap and very little airspace ] â€" rudimentary digging at the entrance to dewater the adit would improve the situation

Heading down the valley â€" dylife # 2 â€" had either heard us coming and escaped â€" or been filled in â€" the next set of workings was a long hike â€" and it was getting on a bit So we slogged back to the cars to change and find a pub â€" as the star inn  @ dylife is useless and had no beer

Tony and Vikki had family commitments and stuff to organise â€" so left â€" Richard ad I went looking for a pub , even back in “ civilisation “ or what passes for it in Powys â€" Richards phone didn’t work â€" so I lent him mine to cancel his callout  - we  ended up in the red lion in  Llanidloes , where they were showing “ live and let die “ possibly the worst bond film ever â€" on a big screen - so we sat outside

Thus suitably lubricated â€" we went home â€" the end

There is definite potential for a return trip â€" with an entire section still to explore â€" and opportunities for vertical adventure too .  I will write up a more serious piece for the knowledge bank with map references and illustrations

[Richard Timms]

Another excellent report
It was a great day out in fantastic weather B)

[Ian A]

You may recognise some of this then ....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XFov-8JCpo

[Andrew Farrow]

@ ian - indeed I do - but you and Weston [ I have watched all your vids with any relevant titles / tags ] seem to spend a lot of time waddling around on the surface - and don't actually go in the entrances you find

[Ian A]

You haven't noticed that in the "picture" of the video he is actually in the mine entrance then ?   :whistle:

[Philip Scott]

The land lady in the Wynnstay Arms, Llanbrynmair seems to know a lot about the workings in this area, and has a pretty good (and recent-ish) book about them too - worth a squint. Can't remember the title: but the author has been in quite a few (and SRT'd as well)