CPAT Regional Historic Environment Record
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Eisteddfod Mine

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 104270
Trust : Clwyd Powys
Community : Minera
Unitary authority : Wrexham
NGR : SJ25405250
Site Type (preferred type first) : MULTIPERIOD LEAD MINE / MULTIPERIOD SILVER MINE

Summary :
The Eisteddfod lead/silver mine worked the area to the north of the disused Eisteddfod Farm (SJ25445246) on the Red Vein. The returns detail Eisteddfod to 1861, with a Wm Harris as agent 1863-65. Remains include stonework remains of the mid-19th century engine house, there are numerous shafts, shaft mounds, spoil tips, evidence of horsewhims, trackways, boundaries, watercourses, dressings floors, ore bins, mine buildings and cottages.

Description :
Lead/Silver (Early mining-1861)

Geology
Carboniferous Limestone.

Workings
The Eisteddfod sett worked the area to the north of the disused Eisteddfod Farm (SJ25445246) on the Red Vein. The returns detail Eisteddfod to 1861, with a Wm Harris as agent 1863-65; Wm. Harris was also the chief agent for Lower Eisteddfod 1863-65 (no NGR given but likely to be Caepant (104271) sett), and for Minera Union 1862-64, a sett worked in close proximity at SJ253525.
The Steddfod Company were working in the same area to 1861 according to the returns (Burt 1993).

Engine Shaft is located at SJ25385261 along with the stonework remains of its engine house. To the west of the engine house one shaft is evident at SJ25335261 and a shaft fenced off with a possible whim at SJ25285264 (possibly Eddys shaft).

A shaft mound at SJ25245274 (possibly Weston shaft) lies on the northern side of the leat.

The highest part of the Eisteddfod workings seem to be a series of shaft mounds in the vicinity of the remains of a rectangular building at SJ25225264. A large shaft remains to the north of the buildings at SJ25125268. This building and the surrounding workings may be part of the Twelve Apostles Mine Sett (18210).

The workings of possibly Lower Eisteddfod or Caepant are represented by the shaft mounds that remain to the south of Ty Newydd at SJ25505242 and SJ25495245.

Transport
No evidence.

Power
The stonework remains of the mid-19th century engine house stand at SJ25385261. It survives to approx 3m in the section relating to machinery mounting; the likely two walls to suooort thr flywheel being intact. The north-eastern wall of the wheelpit has been used in full for the cattle shed conversion. The dressed stone has been re-used along with rough stone patching for the remaining two walls. The whole shed has a galvanised roof. The remaining stonework lies under an earth bank.

Horse whims are evident on the sett.

A watercourse runs the perimeters of several named setts. It can be traced coming in to the mining ares from south of Bryn Eithin (SJ24605250), continuing in a north-westerly direction, it enters Steddfod Pool (SJ24905265); it leaves by a brick sluice at SJ24945265, curves to the north to pass Twelve Apostles sett at SJ25105250, Minera Union at SJ25305250 and Eisteddfod at SJ25305260. It continues south towards the Limestone Quarry. The leat, stone-lined in parts, probably fed the dressing floor areas at Eisteddfod, which remain as earthworks in the vicinity of the shaft at SJ254225250.

Processing
The dressing floor area appears to be at SJ25405250. The stonework remains of a building associated with the dressing floor remains set in earth banks at SJ25435251.

Other features
Weston Shaft appears to have had an adjacent building and a track leading to it from the Ruthin Road.

The rectangular building at SJ25225264 appears to be divided into four rooms and may relate to the Twelve Apostles sett.
(CPAT Metal Mines Survey)

1. Location

1.1 Eisteddfod Mine worked the area to the north of the disused Eisteddfod farmhouse (PRN 18758). The site is bounded by the disused quarry road on the south-eastern perimeters and adjoins the Twelve Apostles Mine sett (PRN 18210) to the west.

2. Geology

2.1 Solid geology - Carboniferous Limestone, which outcrops west of the mine site. Mineralisation on the veins that appear to be north-west strings off the Minera Main Vein, named as Union, Crych, Sand, Llewellyn and an extension of the Ragman Vein, included galena with a small silver content and gangue calcite.

3. The Survey

3.1 Several mining companies worked this area during the second half of the 19th century. An 1858 plan of Bwlchgwyn Mine sett by William Turner identifies the southern boundary following leat PRN 18774 east from "Steddfod Pool" (Eisteddfod Reservoir PRN 18801), along the northern edge of Twelve Apostles (PRN 18210), and following boundary bank PRN 18766 and track PRN 18761 on the south side of cottages PRN 18745. The sett therefore included the cottages, the later Eisteddfod Mine site and the fields to the north of the lane that runs east to Gwynfryn, including the site of Edgeworth Shaft (PRN 18757). No workings are shown on the plan, but lead returns were made for 1850 to 1857 and lead and silver in 1861 for Bwlchgwyn, which appears to have operated from 1850-1861.

3.2 An 1863 plan by Isaac Shone shows the cottages and land bounded on the north-eastern side by leat PRN 18744 and roughly north of boundary bank PRN 18670 as Twelve Apostles Mine sett (PRN 18210); the area to the east is shown as Central Minera Mine (1850-61). The sett south of the cottage enclosure is surveyed as Minera Union (PRN 104265). Twelve Apostles and Central Minera setts appear unchanged in 1865, when surveyed by Brenton Symons, who recorded Cae Pant (PRN 104271) working Gibson's Shaft (PRN 18751) and a small area which included Eisteddfod Farmhouse (PRN 18758) which was worked by Minera Union in 1863; Minera Union have retained the sett to the south of Cae Pant.

3.3 Mining returns (Burt et al 1992) do not clarify the situation. Minera Union made more substantial returns lead and silver than any other conpany operating on Eisteddfod. Returns were made from 1858-1888, the most successful years being from 1864-72. Underground employment figures were recorded from 1880-88 ranging from ten in 1880 to two from 1885-88. Cae Pant made returns from 1867-68, but may have been operational from 1866-70. For the purpose of the survey, the area has been recorded as Eisteddfod Mine; returns were made for lead and silver for 1859 and the company may have worked the sett briefly after Bwlchgwyn. The only consistency which appears in the mining returns is William Harris, who was named as agent for Eisteddfod, Bwlchgwyn, Central Minera and Minera Union. Undated mine plans (D/WN/310-11) deposited as Minera Union record workings on the area surveyed as Twelve Apostles and Eisteddfod Mine and the shafts north of the survey limit.

3.4 Workings

3.4.1 Smith (1921) suggests that workings lie on north-west strings off the Main Vein, and the large 19th-century shafts seem to lie on the Crych Vein. The evidence is based on Brenton Symons's map of 1865. Eisteddfod Engine Shaft (PRN 18736) is located on the Crych Vein and is loosely fenced with a large surrounding "finger" spoil tip, which is now divided by a modern fence-line. It is recorded by Brenton Symons sunk to 70 fathoms. Ore was raised up by a winding engine (PRN 18735) to the north of the shaft. The remains of the engine house survive to a height of 1.65m, with the platform of the boiler house (PRN 12093) located on the west side (see Plate 5). The engine house (PRN 18735) is recorded by the OS in 1872 as a rectangular feature with a wheelpit on the east side aligned to the engine shaft (PRN 18736). The wheelpit would have contained the winding drum, while the flywheel slot can be located in the horizontal engine bed. By 1899 it appears to be disused, with a building (PRN 12096), now used as animal shelter, having been built on the east side of the winding wheelpit, using masonry from the engine house. The undated mine plan (DD/WN/311), depicts the "old shaft" with a horse whim north of it, presumably an earlier arrangement of which there is no surviving evidence.

3.4.2 A second shaft depicted on 1872 and 1899 OS maps is located south of the engine complex, within the stone-walled enclosure PRN 18737, which is built into spoil tips with the wall surviving to a maximum height of 1.6m. The two buildings (PRNs 18738 and 18739) adjoining the north-west and south side of the shaft enclosure have no obvious function. They may relate to the raising of ore, or may be shelters or stores. There is no surviving evidence of a shaft at this location and the centre of the enclosure is level and grassed-over. The shaft is also recorded on the undated mine plans (DD/WN/310-311). The south-west side of the enclosure has been roughly rebuilt, possibly as an animal pound.

3.4.3 Gibson's Shaft (PRN 18751) and surrounding large spoil tip is located to the west of the boundary wall that enclosed the Eisteddfod Mine sett. Ore was raised by a horse whim, the circle (PRN 18752) lying to the west of the shaft. The shaft is recorded on the undated mine plans (DD/WN/310-311) for Minera Union sett, and appears to lie on the Llewellyn Vein. Charles Gibbons managed and owned the Minera Union and Minera Boundary Mines between 1875 and 1889 and the 1861 Mining Journal refers to a Gibson's Mine in the area, possibly a mis-spelling relating to the same mining interests.

3.4.4 To the west of Gibson's Shaft, a large shaft (PRN 18753) and spoil tip is located south-east of the boundary bank (PRN 18766) that has separated Eisteddfod sett from Twelve Apostles sett (PRN 18210). The shaft appears to lie on Ragman Vein and ore was raised by a horse whim, the circle (PRN 18754), c.13m diameter, lies south of the shaft.

3.4.5 A third horse whim circle (PRN 18748), c.10m diameter, wound an earlier shaft on the Llewellyn Vein which is no longer visible. The shaft has been filled in and any evidence is lost in the undergrowth to the north of the cottages (PRN 18745), although its large spoil tip remains to the north of the whim. The shaft is not recorded on the 1872 OS 1st edition map.

3.4.6 An early shaft (PRN 18757) recorded by the OS in 1872, but apparently not in use in 1899, is located on the west side of leat PRN 12021, with some stonework still surviving. Ore was presumably raised by hand. The shaft is recorded for Eisteddfod on the undated mine plan (DD/WN/310).

3.4.7 Outside the survey area, a shaft on land at Ty-Newydd Farm east of the mine site at SJ25505245, was connected to the Eisteddfod dressing floors by a tramway running in to the south side of the shaft enclosure, terminating at the ore-bin PRN 18740. The shaft, which is depicted as a whim shaft with the tramway, appears on the undated mine plan for Minera Union sett (DD/WN/311), but is no longer visible. The shaft is recorded by Brenton Symons as Edgeworth's Shaft (PRN 18757) on the Crych Vein, presumably sunk to 55 fathoms. Part of the line of the tramway (PRN 18755) is identified running out from a large spoil tip.

3.4.8 To the north of the survey area, beyond the leat PRN 18744, two shafts worked the Crych Vein. Eddy's Shaft (PRN 18802) at SJ25285265 is recorded on the OS 1st and 2nd edition maps of 1872 and 1899 and by Brenton Symons, sunk to 40 fathoms in 1865. A building with a possible chimney on its east wall lies alongside the tramway and an entrance track leads in from west of the old Wrexham to Ruthin road. To the west of Eddy's, lay Western Shaft (PRN 18803) sunk to 45 fathoms in 1865, recorded with Eddy's on the undated mine plans (DD/WN/310-311), but not by the OS in 1872 or 1899.

3.5 Processing

3.5.1 A possible dressing floor (PRN 18789) may have been located west of the shaft enclosure (PRN 18737). The flat area in front of the ore-bin is now grassed-over and south of this the site has been greatly disturbed. Ore was presumably brought in by tracks and tramways. The main leat (PRN 18744) passes through the area but there is no evidence to suggest that water was sluiced from it for dressing. Although there are a range of building structures and platforms in this area there is no evidence of waste associated with the dressing of ore.

3.5.2 The stone foundations of an open-fronted two-roomed building (PRN 18741), c.5 x 4m, first recorded by the OS in 1899, is located east of the shaft enclosure complex and may be a line of dressing sheds.

3.5.3 The stonework survives of a small building (PRN 18742), c.4.5 x 4m, lying between the leat and track PRN 18743; two building platforms (PRNs 18764 and 18765) are located further north.

3.6 Water Sources

3.6.1 The leat PRN 18744 cannot be traced directly beyond the large spoil mound surrounding building PRN 18747. The leat that runs south, through Eisteddfod Mine appears to be a continuation of leat PRN 12101. It disappears under Gibson's Shaft spoil tip, where it may have been culverted. There is no evidence to suggest that this leat served the site. Evidence of the leat south of Gibson's Shaft has possibly been lost in the construction of the quarry road, which originally took a line to the west of the present road, according to the OS 1872 and 1899 maps.

3.6.2 A second leat PRN 18767 runs towards Gibson's Shaft from the Twelve Apostles Sett. There is no evidence to suggest that water from this leat was used at the Eisteddfod Mine. The leat appears to service the Ragman Sett.

3.7 Ancillary Buildings

3.7.1 A pair of dry stone-walled cottages (PRN 18745), c.15.75 x 5.5m, with out-houses, are located within an enclosure to the west of the dressing floors. The cottages are presumably miners' housing and garden, with an entrance track to the south leading onto track PRN 18761.

3.7.2 Two small buildings (PRNs 18746 and 18747) are located to the north of the cottages. They may have provided shelter or storage at the shafts PRN 18757 and the shaft associated with whim circle PRN 18748.

3.7.3 Platform PRN 18763 contains the foundations of a dry stone-walled building to the west of the cottages on track PRN 18761. The building is recorded on the 1899 OS map.

3.7.4 On the eastern perimeter of the site, bordering the quarry road, a dry stone-walled building (PRN 18749), c.6 x 4m, survives with a tin roof and brick floor. The old limekiln site, west of the farm building, survives only as a platform (PRN 18750). The limekiln was recorded by the OS in 1872 and the track that led out to the limekiln from the quarry road is represented by a slight bank.

3.8 Tracks and Tramways

3.8.1 Track PRN 18743 leads north through the site and continues west of the engine house complex towards the Twelve Apostles sett on the west. The track branches northwards, beyond the survey area, to the site of the smithy at Tan-y-bwlch at SJ25305290, on the old Ruthin road.

3.8.2 Track PRN 18761 runs along the northern side of Gibson's Shaft spoil tip and provides access to the cottages.

3.8.3 Track PRN 18760 leads to shaft PRN 18753, west of Gibson's Shaft.

3.8.4 Track PRN 18768 leads north from shaft PRN 18753 to the Twelve Apostles sett.

3.9 Boundaries

3.9.1 The boundary bank (PRN 18766) between the Twelve Apostles and the Eisteddfod setts survives to 0.7m high.

3.9.2 A short length of N-S boundary bank (PRN 12035) is located east of the shaft enclosure. It is recorded on the undated mine plan (DD/WN/311) and appears to have enclosed a parcel of land containing the building PRN 18749.

4. Recommendations

4.1 The mine includes the remains of one of the few surviving engine houses in North-east Wales, from which any technological information can be gained.

4.2 The sett is recommended for scheduling both as a mine site and as part of the Historic Mining Landscape of Eisteddfod.

(CPAT Metal Mines Survey - ground survey)

Sources :
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust , 1993 , Site visit record - PRN104270
Sophie Watson , 2013 , Eisteddfod Mine, Glastir HEF Report ( © CPAT)

Events :
128472 : Eisteddfod mine Glastir HEF Report (year : 2013)

Related records
CPAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 18044
102920

Compiled date : 31-07-1985


Images :



Archaeological data, from the Historic Environment Record, supplied by The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust in partnership with Local Authorities, Cadw and the partners of ENDEX © CPAT, 2025 (and in part © Crown, 2025). It is intended to be used for private research only and is not for use as part of commercial projects. If you wish to use this information for publication in printed or multimedia form or to compile resources for commercial use, prior permission must be obtained in writing. Use of this information is subject to the terms and conditions of access to HER data published on CPAT's website. Please contact the HER if you have any further questions regarding this information. Please quote the Primary Reference Numbers (PRNs) in any correspondence.

April 19, 2025, 4:58 pm - File produced for Archwilio from CPAT's Regional HER.
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, The Offices, Coed y Dinas, Welshpool, Powys, SY21 8RP
tel (01938) 553670, email her@cpat.org.uk, website www.cpat.org.uk

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