Wrysgan Slate Mine, North Wales - April 2012

[-Walsh-]

Bit of a spur of the moment explore, alarm went off early so decided to head up to North Wales.

History


Perched high up the steep rocky eastern flanks of Moel-yr-hydd, and on the opposite side of the valley to the huge Cwmorthin quarry, Wrysgan is not a big mine - but it is a spectacular one. From the unusual main incline to the sheer steepness of the mountainside it is cut out of, this could never have been an easy site to work. Indeed Wrysgans history is litered with failed companies trying to extract slate here and yet it kept working, somewhat intermitently, from the early scratchings of the 1830's, up to final closure in the (early) 1950s.

1 One of the adits



2 remains of track



3 Cart



4 Spoil heap in chamber



5 Looking down into incline tunnel, This would have brought the slate down to the railway.




6 view from the top of the incline



7 Incline haulage gear



8 A lot of the upper chambers are tall enough that they broke through the mountain.




9 Collapse




10 Passageway between chambers





After just taking this photo I heard a rather unnerving rumbling noise so I decided to GTFO sharpish!

[the kwan]

Brilliant report Scott, this mine looks Amazing and excellent pics!

[-Walsh-]

ta very much, not in the same league as Cwmorthin but was worth a mooch anyway!