Engine Shaft with pump rods still visible, and a tramway from Ritchie’s Shaft to an ore slide still present. Wheelpit discernable in trees and traces of flat rods.
| Year | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1705 | Worked by Waller’s Mine Adventurers by adit on minor lode with the intention of cutting the main lode. |
| 1708 | Despite now being 164fm in length, no ore sold. |
| 1840s | 15fm depth below adit and producing about 50 tons of ore per year with 40 ft water wheel for crushing. |
| 1847 | Mathew Francis, recently dismissed by the Taylors formed Bwlch Consolidated Mines with James Davey as mine captain. |
| 1848 | Negotiations with Taylors to use the Goginan Leat to drive a 50 foot waterwheel with long line of flat rods to the Engine Shaft. |
| 1849 | 55 fm reached. 635 tons of ore produced. |
| 1852 | Production fell to 205 tons, with cash flow problems. |
| 1853 | Francis offers to sell mine as going concern to the Taylors for £8,000, and offer they declined, forcing Francis to continue running the mine. |
| c 1854 | Upon addition of a new board of directors, and replacing Davey with Captain William Tregoning. They also decide to abandon the current workings and transfer activity to a shaft at another location on the set - previously worked by Waller - Bwlchrhenaid |
| 1858 | Following abandonment of Bwlchrhenaid, work recommenced on a south lode, worked from Ritchie’s Shaft to the east of the Engine Shaft. Lode was productive down to 60fm level, and kept the mine going for about 15 years. |
| 1874 | Mine closed with both shafts down to 90fm level. |
| c1877 | Bwlch United Company take over the sett with £20,000 in capital, managed by Captain Nicholas Bray. |
| 1878/79 | Ageing waterwheel replaced after winter damage. |
| 1883 | Only a few hundred tons of ore raised from what was by now a worn out old mine. Sinking the Engine Shaft to the 100fm level, and Ritchie’s to the 112 fm level brought no new ore. |
| 1884 | Final closure |
7750 tons of ore sold, 1100 tons from the Pwllrheniad phase of working.
External Links
Publications (5)
- (1922); BGS - Mineral Resources of GB (c1920s) Vol XX - Lead and Zinc: Cardiganshire & West Montogmeryshire; 242 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1987); British Mining Memoirs No. 34 - George Greem Engineer & Entrepreneur, 1824-1895; 14 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (2004); Brief History of the Ystumtuen Mines, A; 18 pages
- Liscombe & Co (1880); Mines of Cardiganshire, Montgomereyshire & Shropshire; 52 pages
- Murchison, J.H. (1869); Lead Mines as an Investment; 34 pages
