The remains of the mine workings, dressing floors, and leats descend southwest from the limestone ridge near the ruined house at SJ 1998 6632, extending toward the River Alyn. Smith (1921) provides a cross-section of the Bryncelyn Lode, which runs east to west across the limestone hill, naming various shafts, including East Iron, Brick (or West Iron), Bryn’s, Whim Shaft, Wheel Shaft, Rundee, Davey’s, Dyer’s, Taylor’s, Bryncelyn, Old Engine Shaft, and Waterwheel Shaft. Within the rough pasture west of the ruined house, a shaft filled with rubble at SJ 1992 6631 shows signs of an adjacent platform. Nearby, at SJ 1992 6630, remains of a shaft, an engine platform, and a probable chimney base, along with clinker deposits, suggest this may be the Bryncelyn Shaft.
Further west, a circular stone-lined shaft at SJ 1982 6631, featuring a northern platform area, may have functioned as a whim site. In woodland at SJ 1984 6630 and SJ 1981 6626, two shafts are positioned just north of a large dressing floor. An adit level, with a collapsed entrance above, is located at SJ 1977 6626, while the remains of a waterwheel pit sit at SJ 1975 6625. Twentieth-century workings in the limestone woodland of Coed Bryncelyn, above the Alyn Valley, have left the area scattered with mounds and depressions. On the eastern end of the vein, the West Iron Shaft is in dense woodland at SJ 2085 6650, on land owned by the Brunner Mond Co. in 1900–1902. Spoil mounds at SJ 2035 6640, now used as a modern dumping ground, may mark the site of Davey’s and Dyer’s Shafts. A single shaft and mound in pasture at SJ 2015 6640 is likely Taylor’s, while two adjacent shafts at SJ 2025 6635 indicate further workings on the ridge’s eastern side. The mine was originally drained by a level driven from the River Alyn and later by the Halkyn Drainage Level.
External Links
Publications (2)
- (1921); BGS - Mineral Resources of GB (c1920s) Vol XIX - Lead and Zinc: in Carboniferous of North Wales; 169 pages
- BGS - Mine Plans (large, zoomable) - Halkyn Plan And Section Of Lode 576 (bryn-Celyn); 1 pages