Mines of the Rheidol Valley

The panoramic and lonely site of George Green’s New Cross-cut, on the slopes of Esgair Neint.

by Ioan Lord

The West Nantycreiau sett was formed in January 1869, and let by the Crown to Captain James Lester from Blithfield, Staffordshire. Lester was currently living with his family in the Gogerddan Arms, Ponterwyd, and was chief agent of several mines around Ponterwyd and Goginan. The new mine Location map of West Nantycreiau Mine, Ceredigion

at West Nantycreiau was first developed through an adit called the Long Cross-cut, extended due north from the Myherin river ¼ mile north-east of Nant Syddion house, with the intention of cutting the well-known Nantycreiau Lode (portal at SN77697922). This adit has been previously associated by historians with the neighbouring Nant Syddion Mine to the west, but contemporary Lawley’s at break of day. Photo: Hannes Paling reports indicate that this was in fact Captain

Lester’s original adit into West Nantycreiau. The Long Cross-cut had intersected the South Lode by December 1869, and a drift was extended east along its course. Although favourable lead-ore samples from the South Lode were sent to the offices of T. E. W. Thomas in London for assaying, the drift was abandoned in early March 1870. Long Crosscut was continued north-westwards towards the Nantycreiau Lode proper, but this was also rapidly abandoned. No more reports have been found of Captain Lester’s operations at West Nantycreiau, but it is possible that he was responsible for beginning a second abortive cross-cut towards the lode from near the valley floor further east (herein termed “Eastern Adit”, portal at SN78717977). The most interesting period of development at West Nantycreiau began in 1883, when the lease was taken, along with that of the main Nantycreiau Mine, by George Green of the Cambrian Foundry, Aberystwyth. Green was already involved with several other mines in the area, including Ystumtuen, Cwmbrwyno and Penrhiw. He developed West Nantycreiau by sinking a new engine shaft on the outcrop of the lode near the summit of Dihewyd. It was sunk from near the ridge to a depth of 28 fathoms, pumped by a c.25-foot-diameter waterwheel situated in a pit immediately to the west. The waterwheel was fed by an existing leat which brought water from Llynnoedd Ieuan to the nearby Castell Mine. The new engine shaft was situated high above the two cross-cuts in the valley below, and its dramatic position must have made the carriage of the pumping waterwheel to the site a considerable feat. Levels were driven from the shaft at depths of 7, 17 and 25 fathoms below surface. The 25 Fathom Level – the deepest – was driven along the lode to the west for 15 fathoms to where a stope was opened. Any ore raised from this stope was dressed and sold at the main Nantycreiau Mine to the east, which remained under the same ownership. George Green, however, had even bigger plans for West Nantycreiau. He commenced a great ‘Drainage and Mineral Tunnel’, later known as the New Cross-cut,

The “Middle Adit” at West Nantycreiau still retains a 1’6”-gauge tramway along much of its length.

from the mountainside in order to intersect and access the orebody found in the engine shaft. New Cross-cut was planned to serve as more than just a drainage and haulage adit: Green intended to divert the leat which currently fed the pumping waterwheel near the ridge, and direct the water down the engine shaft in pipes. At the New Crosscut level, an underground power plant to develop 200-300 HP was to be erected at the base of the shaft, fed by the high-pressure pipeline coming down from surface. The tail race and electrical cables were to run outbye along New Cross-cut, to supply a proposed dressing mill situated below the portal. The New Cross-cut scheme probably began in 1884-5. The large adit was extended in a straight line towards the lode. However, the death of George Green in 1895 brought all operations to a standstill. New Cross-cut was abandoned at a reported length of 115 fathoms, only a few fathoms short of the lode. The former leaseholder’s son, William A. Green, who took over the management of the mines, mysteriously never continued the New Crosscut the final few fathoms to the lode. Instead, he focused on the main Nantycreiau Mine, and West Nantycreiau was closed altogether. It seems, after the great expense of extending New Cross-cut to a point so very close to the lode, a wasted effort to have not continued it a few fathoms further to reach it. The sole of the 25 Fathom Level was described by one of the last miners to have worked there as yielding 2 tons of dressed blende per fathom. Work continued at the main Nantycreiau Mine for another fourteen years after George Green’s death, under the management of William Green and John Owen, but no more ore was returned and the mine was finally closed. The above history of George Green’s operations at West Nantycreiau is recorded in one anonymous report, dating from the early twentieth century, preserved in the BGS archive.

Several decades after the abandonment of the New Cross-cut scheme, West Nantycreiau was inspected by the Non-ferrous Metallic Ores Committee of the Ministry of Supply during the Second World War. A mining engineer called James Jackson and two assistants were appointed by the Committee to inspect mines across Britain for possible reserves of zinc-blende. Jackson listed West Nantycreiau as one of these potential sites in mid-Wales, and the engine shaft was inspected in 1941. However, the results were not promising enough for the mine to be reopened. Since 1941, West Nantycreiau has stood completely abandoned. The manway and sollars installed in the shaft during the War rotted away completely during the 1970s. The site of George Green’s ill-fated New Cross-cut at West Nantycreiau has been debated over the years. The single BGS report which documents its history does not specify from where the New Cross-cut was driven; only that it was abandoned a few fathoms short of cutting the lode and that it was aimed to intersect the engine shaft at a depth of 40 fathoms below surface. With these two facts, the identification of George Green’s New Cross-cut becomes even more confusing. Until 2021, historians believed New Crosscut to be a long adit which extends under Dihewyd hill from the Nantycreiau valley. This adit, herein termed “Middle Adit” (SN72417975), would have indeed reached the engine shaft at a depth of about 40 fathoms. However, the cross-cut intersects three lodes, and drifts one for a considerable distance west towards the shaft. The entire length of the cross-cut measures 74 fathoms. The BGS report expresses that the lode was never intersected in the New Cross-cut, which measured over 100 fathoms in length. Since “Middle Adit” does not match the historical description of the New Cross-cut, other adits have recently been searched for in the vicinity. The only one found was a collapsed cross-cut with a large finger-tip situated in a barren valley to the north, at the head of Esgair Neint (SN78007990). This adit has recently been reopened and inspected, to try and confirm whether this was in fact Green’s New Crosscut. The results are very intriguing. In March 2021, the adit on Esgair Neint was reopened and drained, to allow its first access in modern times. It had been inaccessible and totally flooded for longer than living

memory, and other historians had dismissed it as being of no importance and ‘cannot have been driven more than thirty or forty metres’. The adit was accessed on 4 April 2021, and fits the description provided by the BGS report of the New Cross-cut almost perfectly. The spacious cross-cut extends in a dead straight line for 625 feet (190 meters) towards the lode, before reaching a forehead. It contains several 2” compressed air hose brackets on the wall, and remains of a tramway on the floor. The writer is certain that this is George Green’s abortive New Cross-cut, driven between 1884 and 1895. One minor clay joint is intersected at 367 feet from the portal, but the rest of the cross-cut is through barren country rock. An interesting feature is that the 1885 OS map (drawn when the adit was in operation) shows four footpaths leading up the valley to it from Dyffryn Castell, passing by a small store or gunpowder magazine near the portal. This suggests that the miners lived or lodged in Dyffryn Castell and Ponterwyd to the north-west. New mapping of the New Cross-cut, as well as the c.65° northerly dip of the Nantycreiau Lode, has revealed that the forehead is situated within 30 feet of its goal. Had George Green lived for another two weeks, it is very probable that his adit would have intersected the lode. There is only one problem with this conclusion. The anonymous BGS report which mentions George Green’s New Cross-cut states that it would reach the engine shaft at a depth of 40 fathoms, and that the shaft would be sunk down below its present sump to meet it. The adit which has now been identified as the New Cross-cut would have only reached

Seen for the first time in over a century: George Green’s ill-fated New Cross-cut drained and accessed in April 2021.

New cross-section of West Nantycreiau Mine, showing the workings mentioned in the text. Note how near the abandoned forehead of New Cross-cut was to intersecting the lode. the shaft at a depth of 16 fathoms, and the shaft was already deeper than this. Therefore, the “Middle Adit” mentioned above, driven north-west to the lode from the Nantycreiau valley, must be reconsidered. It is the writer’s belief that this adit, which is situated almost 40 fathoms exactly downhill from the shaft, has been confused with the New Cross-cut by the BGS reporter who wrote about its history several years after George Green’s death. The meandering nature of the “Middle Adit” does not match the straight description of the New Cross-cut, which was specifically said to have never reached any lode when it was abandoned. A 250-foot difference in length between portal and lode disproves the possibility that the adit was reopened and continued to the lode at a later date. It is probable that the “Middle Adit” was also driven by Green as an attempt to provide deeper drainage for the engine shaft, so that New Cross-cut could be used exclusively for haulage and conveyance of electric cables and ore from the shaft to the mill. Having studied the available evidence, the following conclusion has been made. When George Green developed the West Nantycreiau engine shaft, the old Lester adits were positioned in the Myherin and Nantycreiau valleys to the south and neither was suitable to serve as a main haulage level to carry out the vast quantities of ore which were anticipated. Therefore, Green moved his attention to the other side of the Dihewyd ridge, to the remote flank of Esgair Neint, where a desolate valley feeds it way north and gradually down to Dyffryn Castell and the main turnpike road from Aberystwyth to Llangurig. Green decided to open his Drainage and Mineral Tunnel or the New Cross-cut from the head of Esgair Neint, to serve as the main haulage-way in and out of the engine shaft. This adit would cut the lode after about 650 feet of cross-cutting. It would then drift the lode east for 400 feet to intersect the engine shaft, where the underground power plant was to be constructed. Cables and pipes would direct both water and electricity from the power plant along New Crosscut to the portal. The dressing mill could be conveniently placed on the gentle hillside below the portal, from where concentrates could easily be carted down to the turnpike road at Dyffryn Castell. Meanwhile, an additional adit (”Middle Adit”) was driven north-westwards from the steep Nantycreiau valley and intersected the Nantycreiau Lode after 440 feet of cross-cutting. The drift was extended south-westwards towards the shaft to access the orebody seen in the sole of the 25 Fathom Level, but no communication was made.

As for the true value of the orebody aimed for by George Green’s extensive development of West Nantycreiau, I quote the remarks of the late Simon J. S. Hughes: ‘I have examined this area for several companies. Nowhere can workable zinc be seen but only a tiny part of the mines can be inspected. There has obviously been a phenomenally rich rib of zinc blende at Nantycreiau and the rejected material bears testimony to this fact. The Nantycreiau and Castell Lodes converge and appear to merge at depth, this supposition is supported by their similar isotopic profiles. The most realistic proposal is in fact to forget the old mines, they are only shallow scratchings, and concentrate on the structural geology to produce drill targets. I suspect that there could be considerably more ore at depth than was ever taken out of the old mines. If ever I ever won the Lottery, I would indulge myself on a diamond drill hole or two under West Nantycreiau.’ Today, all of West Nantycreiau except for the New Cross-cut lies in forestry. However, most of the mine’s features are still discernible. The Long Cross-cut of 1869 near Nant Syddion bothy remains open, extending due north from the bank of Afon Myherin for 310 feet until the South Lode is cut. This dips to the south at around 70 degrees. The drift east on this extends for only 40 feet, displaying some zinc and copper mineralisation. The main cross-cut curves to the north-west and continues for another 70 feet, passing a fluccan lode which has been drifted south-west for 30 feet. Four minor stringers are intersected in the crosscut between the portal and the South Lode, but the drivage would have had to have been continued several hundred feet further north for the Nantycreiau Lode proper to be intersected. George Green’s “Middle Adit” also remains open, intersecting the Nantycreiau Lode after 440 feet of crosscutting north-westwards. Two stringers are intersected between the portal and the Nantycreiau Lode: a fluccan lode at 240 feet inbye and a branch at 330 feet. The “Eastern Adit” is totally run-in and a very minor tip suggests a short and insignificant drivage. The engine shaft has been lost by the construction of a forestry road, but a series of open-cuts remain evident to the west as well as the hub, bosses and eccentric of the pumping waterwheel. New Cross-cut lies undisturbed by modern industry on the barren and lonely slopes of Esgair Neint to the north. The adit is once again flooded and inaccessible since its inspection in April 2021. West Nantycreiau Mine was never reported upon in detail during any part of its historical development, and it is therefore pleasing to know that the identity of the New Cross-cut has finally been confirmed through research and fieldwork. The cross-cut which was driven with such high hopes until the death of the proprietor may not have been successful, but still represents the grand plans which the world-renowned George Green had for developing an underground hydro power plant and dressing mill high in the Cambrian Mountains.

New surface plan of West Nantycreiau Mine, showing the workings mentioned in the text.