ÿþ<HTML LANG=en-GB> <HEAD> <HTML LANG=en-GB> <HEAD> <TITLE>The Derelict Miscellany :: Esgair-mwn Mine</TITLE> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="derelict, abandoned, mines, mining, lead, zinc, esgairmwn, esgair, banc, mwn, Mwyngloddiau, Plwm, Sinc, Esgair-Mwn, machinery, ffair-rhos, pontrhydfendigaid, ceredigion, wales"> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Short article and photographs on the desolate ruins of Ceredigion's last metal mine"> <META NAME="author" CONTENT="D. A. 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A period of re-working mines for previously underexploited minerals such as zinc was seen in the first decades of the 20th Century, but this was ended in the 1920s with a sharp decline in zinc prices <font size="1">[4] </font>so that by the end of the Second World War, Welsh heavy metal mining was as all but dead. <br> Those mines that struggled on into the second half of the twentieth century were usually only small concerns, and ultimately could not compete with imports from overseas. In the whole of Ceredigion only one mine, Esgair-Mwn, survived into the 1950s. <font size="1">[5]</font> It was this mine, or rather its remains, that I visited in mid-November 2006. The exact origin of the mine is unknown, but its most productive period began in the 18th century when it was worked for the Crown.<font size="1">[6]</font> Although working had ceased by 1833, <font size="1">[7]</font> the mine presumably re-opened later, as it is noted to have been working up until 1927 <font size="1">[8]</font>. The remains visible today are rather complex, and mostly date from the 1940s when a Canadian company bought the site to re-work the spoil tips of an earlier mine which was 're-discovered' in the 18th century <font size="1">[9]</font> and continued business there until the 1950s, making it Ceredigion's last metal mine. (Halkyn, probably Wales' last heavy metal mine, closed in 1962 <font size="1">[10]</font>) The 18th and 19th century workings have been largely obliterated by redistribution of worked spoil, but those still visible include several shafts and the remains of an incline. The 1940s features on the other hand, while they were only part of a small mining concern are more extensive, and comprise an office, a machine shed, a tailing lagoon and a small tramway. <center> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('mapesgairmwn.htm','', 'width=438,height=467,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;"><u><font size=3>Click here to open a sketch map of the site.</u></A> </center> <center> <br> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/00-0.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="View of the site from the track." src="industrial/th_00-0.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/01.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="A Fiat Uno by the main gate." src="industrial/th_01.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/02.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Land Rover remains." src="industrial/th_02.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/03.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The office building." src="industrial/th_03.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/04_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="A workshop." src="industrial/th_04_001.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/05.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Odds and ends on a workbench." src="industrial/th_05.jpg" border=0> </A> <br> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/06.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The middle room." src="industrial/th_06.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/07.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The end room." src="industrial/th_07.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/08.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="A Sink sans plumbing." src="industrial/th_08.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/09.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The way out." src="industrial/th_09.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/010.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Another land rover." src="industrial/th_010.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/011_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Trailer." src="industrial/th_011_001.jpg" border=0> </A> <br><br> </center> Oddly, rather than having been stripped of scrap, Esgair-mwn seems to have accumulated it  the site is now home, for reasons unknown, to three Land Rovers and a Fiat Uno, which litter the area around the only building left standing on site, a long sheet steel and asbestos shed which seems to have served as a combined site office and workshop. <br><br> <center> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/012.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="The mill from the workshed." src="industrial/th_012.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/013_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Dressing floor." src="industrial/th_013_001.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/014_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="A modified sink." src="industrial/th_014_001.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/015_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Discarded machinery." src="industrial/th_015.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/016_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Crushing floor." src="industrial/th_016_001.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/017.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Possible separator arrangement." src="industrial/th_017.jpg" border=0> </A><br> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/018_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Flywheels." src="industrial/th_018_001.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/019_001.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Large stationery diesel engine." src="industrial/th_019_001.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/020.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Cog." src="industrial/th_020.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/021.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Ore chute and conveyor." src="industrial/th_021.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/022.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="flywheels and puddle." src="industrial/th_022.jpg" border=0> </A> <a href="#" onClick="window.open('industrial/023.jpg','', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');return false;" > <img alt="Buried tramway." src="industrial/th_023.jpg" border=0> </A> </center> <br> After the closure of a mine, it was common for scrap merchants to strip the site of any metal that could be melted down or sold at a profit. As a late closure, Esgair-mwn seems to have largely escaped this indignity and the main looting here has been of portable artefacts; the modestly sized dressing mill, though now bereft of its roof retains almost all of its original machinery with the exception of the stationary engine and crushing plant. <br><br><center><a href="esgairmwn2.html">NEXT</a><br></center> <br> <center><b> <a indepth="true" href="index.html">Home..</a></b><br> <br> </td><td width=13></td></tr></table> </TD></TR><TR><TD bgcolor="#EEE9E9" ALIGN=CENTER> <font size=1>Derelict Miscellany. Website &amp; content Copyright D. A. Gregory 2005-Present unless stated to be otherwise.</font> </td></tr></table> </font> </body> </html>