Penarth Mine

[Tony Salusbury]

Popped here last night with my Dad, Brother, and his mate Rob. Here are some piccies.

[David R]

Great photo's Tony. I want to go back there soon and do a decent video.

[John Nicholson]

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.

[Tony Salusbury]

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.

[John Nicholson]

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?

[Tony Salusbury]

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.

[Anthony Britner]

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!

[John Nicholson]

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.

[Ali Wiseman]

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.

[Dylan Roberts]

It was definetely there last time I went up there about a month ago.

[Tim Watts]

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.

[Ali Wiseman]

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.

[Tim Watts]

well if it makes it harder for it to be used to remove (steal) any other genuine artefacts then maybe its no bad thing.

[Tony Salusbury]

Could they have been removed to hinder any other attempts to remove stuff from there?

[Ali Wiseman]

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?