Gwaithcoch Mine Explored

Main Image: Sitting in the c.1750s Gwaithcoch Upper Adit for the first time in over a century, with vertical workings continuing down to the left. Inset: The deep, vertical shaft we descended immediately above the Vale of Rheidol Railway.

by Ioan Lord

Very little historical information is recorded on the Gwaithcoch lead mine, immediately adjacent to the Vale of Rheidol Railway trackbed between Rheidol Falls and Erwtomau.

As stated in Rich Mountains of Lead: the metal mining industry of Cwm Rheidol and Ystumtuen, it is believed that mining started here during the early nineteenth century, when three adit cross-cuts (levels) were driven south into the mountain to intersect a rich vein of lead-ore and zinc. The lowest of these was not far above river level, and the highest was on the same height as the railway which was built almost a century later. However, new exploration and access to the mine in the autumn of 2022 has

enabled a more thorough understanding of the workings to be compiled, as well as proving that the mine is a lot older than previously believed. On 25 August, myself and a friend abseiled a deep, vertical shaft situated immediately above the railway at the top of the large spoil heap, which descends almost to river level. This shaft soon began to follow the underlie of the lead vein, inclining north at about 70 degrees until we were directly below the trackbed. Here, we were able to access the uppermost Gwaithcoch adit, in which nobody had been since it was blocked prior to constructing the railway in 19012. The passage was barely 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide, being a classic example of mid-eighteenth-century mining in midWales. Very little gunpowder had been used, proven by the scarcity of shotholes, and those holes which we did find were very small and had been drilled by hand, using narrow chisels of no more than half an inch diameter. The entrance to this very primitive level was blocked with rubble excavated whilst cutting the trackbed immediately on top of it. The discovery of such a primitive level at Gwaithcoch has confirmed that mining began here at least 50 years earlier than was previously thought, possibly as an extension of the Erwtomau Mine workings which were mainly opened during the seventeenth- to eighteenth century. The vertical shaft beside the railway continued even further below the old Gwaithcoch Upper Adit, and into a large cavern (stope) where a rich bunch of ore had been extracted. Here there was an assortment of debris that had been thrown down the shaft from the top, including some old wooden fenceposts from the railway’s early days. The best artefact that was found during this exploration was a very early, primitive wooden wheelbarrow, still standing in the upper adit. The wheelbarrow probably dates from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, and contains a simple wooden wheel with a metal tyre. It was seen and photographed for the first time in over a century on 9 September. It is a rare survivor from a time when the mining industry of Cwm Rheidol was gradually expanding towards the zenith which would ultimately lead to the opening of the Vale of Rheidol Railway, over a hundred years later.

A primitive, wooden wheelbarrow from around 1800 survives underground at Gwaithcoch. It was found for the first time in modern times on 9 September, and sits in a level directly below the railway.

N.B. These mines are on Private property and entry is forbidden unless by prior arrangement. Mines in the Valley are very dangerous owing to the vertical shafts and the potential for them to be hidden within woodland. Exploration should only be undertaken by experienced persons!