We had a miraculously sunny day for the Society’s visit to Cwmystwyth Mines under the ineffable leadership of Dr David James (CMS Member and Trustee of the Cambrian Mines Trust).  We were there for only 4 hours but it could have easily expanded to 8; and never a question from the inquisitive group but David had a complete and lengthy answer to it:

• what was extracted by whom and when (not much silver),
• which bits were profitable,
• the living conditions of the miners, managers and owners (some may even have had a pony and trap – and one fortunate young lady’s father built her a tennis court on top of an old spoil heap) and
• the naval-via-Cornwall origin of much mining terminology.

We even had an accurate pointer as to precisely where to hunt for the rare forked spleenwort on the site.

Memorable moments included Lorna falling in a stream (fortunately only dropping her camera when sprawled safely on the far bank) and Sophia and Wyn descending scree sedately in the sitting position – as well as Peter striding along the old mining track up Nant y Watcyn, one of the many cascading streams on the site.

Over lunch, we watched from on high as a rally of what looked like very modern beach buggies stopped at the mine car park and spent a few moments wondering what it all might have been.  We concluded with a peer into Lefel Fawr, the blocked entrance to one of the largest systems of shafts and levels from which huge quantities of galena (lead ore) were extracted for crushing and shipping in the days if the Victorian mine.  The Kingside shaft now collapsed contains a fair bit of rubble – but also the remains of what Jason assured us was an old Ford Orion.  Any car retrieval experts are invited to get in touch with the Trust – they’d love to get rid of it!