We will be digging at Tre Eden Owain day level again this week if anyone is interested, (yes I know we were supposed to break through last week but we must be close by now, surely).
I mean look at it.





I wish the pictures would go the right way up.

I will be there Doug, I have dug out my chest waders, it will be about the same time as last week, Dave is in Scotland and I dont know the exact location so a postcode would be good.

Paul

Postcode is CH8 9EN it may take you to the wrong end of the road depending which way you come from.

Doug wrote:
Turn your computer on it's side before you upload them

Or lie down when you take them!

Doug wrote: As long as I have the postcode for the road I will find it (famous last words )

I won't be digging this week. See you in the pub

Due to recent revelations (pre lockdown of course ) I have revisited the original Bernard Smith book and thought I'd post 4 relevant pages for easy future reference:

Pg 51:

WHITFORD TO HOLYWELL AND HALKYN. 51
got within ten yards of the shaft in which the miners are working in the rich vein, beneath the field called Coed Cae
Plwm, or the wood or field of lead. The height from the sole
of the level to the surface of this place is ninety-three yards and
a half."i
The shaft alluded to is the Old Whimsey Shaft, 200 yards
east of HoUoway House. In 1879 the level ended at a point in the vein 500 yards west of this shaft, or at a total distance of
1,667 yards from the month. The Ilolloway Vein bifurcates
at Bron-Holloway, the northern branch or Brammock's Vein
running due east, towards the mouth of the boat-level, while
the southern branch, or the Old Holloway Vein, ranges rather
south of east, towards the row of houses called Brocnallt. The
easternmost shaft on the Old Holloway Vein is the Garden Shaft,
which lies on the north side of the high-road 220 yards west of Brocnallt. The level was driven to intersect the Old Vein, and
reaches it a few yards west of the Garden Shaft, a branch being
driven northwards to Brammock's Shaft to drain Brammock's
Vein, From near the same point a branch-adit was driven
south-eastwards towards the Halfway House to unwater some
north-and-south cross-courses. From the Garden Shaft the
level runs in the vein to the point named above west of
Holloway House, sending off a branch to the north from the
Old Whimsey Shaft to Eyton's Shaft.
The western workings on the Old Holloway Vein are drained
bj'' the Gorsedd level, which, starting at Tre-Eden-Owen, at a height of about 400 feet above the sea, runs under the road at the Merllyn and Gorsedd Mine, near Waen, to the Coetia-eithin
shaft, 160 yards north-east of the Druid Inn. Thence it runs
in the Old Holloway Vein eastwards to near Pant, and westwards
for an unknown distance.
The Old Holloway Vein and Brammock's Vein in their course eastwards pass obliquely from the outcrop of the Chert
under that of the Lower Coal Measures, and the working in
them has been stopped only by the increasing depth to the
Chert and Limestone below in that direction. Brammock's
Vein is reported to have proved very rich ; it is a double vein,
the two parts being 17 yards apart, but getting closer together
downwards. Hoskell's Shaft, which was sunk with the expectation of catching the two as one vein at a depth of 150 yards,
penetrated bastard chert and shale to a depth of 80 yards, but was then abandoned in favour of the Partridge Shaft on the
newly discovered Partridge Vein.
Roskell's Shaft was sunk by the Great Holway Mining Co.
(circa 1877), and subsequently the mine was kept in work
under this title by Capt. Hotchkiss up to about 1887. During
this period the shaft was deepened to the 100-yard level, and
^ 'The History of the Parishes of Whiteford and Holywell,' 4to., •LomZ.,
1796, p. 249.

Pg 55:

WHITFORD TO HOLYWELL AND HALKYN. 55
disordered. West of the hollo^v, the vein is shifted about
150 yards to the south of the point where it was lost in the
Bo^-Celyn Mine, and runs under Penffordd-bedw and the Druid
Inn, and along the northern side of the high-road to Pant-Wacco.
The Coetia-eithin Shaft (150 yards north-east of the Druid Inn) was sunk to a depth of 80 yards, and was drained into the daylevel that terminates at Tre -Eden-Owen, at a branch vein about
37 yards north of the Old Holloway Vein, which is shifted here
about 7 yards northwards on the western side of a small cross- course. The Branch Vein was worked at the 42-yard level, and
for a distance of 103 yards at the 54:-yard level, east of Coetiaeithin Shaft, as late as i\Iay 1904. A sump from the 54-yard
level goes down to the 102-yard level, i.e., just above adit-level on the Holloway Vein.
Plantation Shaft, on the Holloway Vein south of Coetia-eithin,
sunk to the 100-yard level, a little above adit-level, passes
through the hanging wall of the vein at 70 yards. There are old workings eastward at the 40-yard level. The vein had been
worked at the 40-yard level for a distance of 103 yards west of
the shaft by May 1004. Working was also done on the 70-yard
and the 100-yard levels, and completed about the same date,
although the latest regular returns of output (13 tons galena
and 13 tons blende) are for 1900. One ton of blende was got
in 1906. A cross-cut at 100 yards was driven northward
beneath the Branch Vein, which, however, does not appear to have been found at this depth. Southward a cross-cut was
driven for about 80 feet to old workings on a south branch of
the Holloway Vein.
Practically all the mines in the Whitford-Holywell area described in the foregoing pages are now abandoned. The
True Blue ]\line produced a few tons of ore in 1900 and 1901,
and had been worked previous to 1891. The Sir Edward Mine
yielded its last output in 1889 ; whilst North, South, and Old
Pant-y-nef i\Iines had all closed down by, or before, 1890. New
Pant-y-nef yielded sparingly until 1903 or 1904. Speedwell
and Grange closed about 1887. The latest workings for ore on
the Holloway Vein were concluded in 1905-6, as above stated,
p. 52. There were numerous separate mines along its course, the majority of which were closed by the beginning of the
present century.
The Old Holloway vein has attracted less attention of late years in this part than one running nearly parallel to it, but
from 200-300 yards farther north, and known as the (lorsedd
or Merllyn A'ein. The Merllyn Vein (Fig. 4, p. 56) has been worked as far west as the Lloc Baptist Chapel, but the shaft was Hooded
about 1854. Eastwards it was followed across the Pant-Wacco
Fault and some other cross-courses under the buildings of
Merllyn to the Lady Fielding Shaft of the Lloc Mining Company,
100 j^ards east of that farm. The vein was worked to a depth

Pg 117 - 118:

117
CHAPTER V.
MINES RECENTLY SUSPENDED, AND
WORKING MINES.
Ill the following account of the mines still working or only
recently suspended, a geographical arrangement has been
adopted, commencing in the north.
Waen and Meiillyn Mine.
Waen Mines Ltd., Pendre, Holywell.
Shaft situated on the east side of the road about 100 yards
S. of Waen, three quarters of a mile S.S.E. of Whitford.
Maps. —One-inch Old Series Geological, 79 N.E. ; New
Series Onhiance, 96 : six-inch. Flintshire 5 N.E.
Lat. 53° 16' 58". Long. 3° 16' 10". Height above O.D.
about 550 feet.
History and Geological Occurrence.
The Merllyn Lode worked here was cut in the driving of
the Gorsedd day-level southward from Tre-Eden-Owen. The
level, " happening at that point to traverse a bed of shale 2 feet
" thick, showed the vein as well defined, but containing only a
" thin leader of spar. The level was re-oi^ened about 1878 ; at
** 300 yards from its nioutli at Tre-Eden-Owen the roof had
" fallen in, and a new adit was driven round the broken ground
" for a distance of 60 yards. In this part the level traversed
" shale with a tliin seam of coal, but southwards passed directly
" into Black Limestone, the Chert Beds having been cut out, as "it is supposed, by a fault. At Waen the IMerllyn Lode
" crossed the level in a bed of shale, as above mentioned, but
" when followed down below the shale into the limestone, " developed into a good vein . . ."^ Another east-and-west
vein has been cut on the latitude of Waen Farm.
The main shaft is 90 yards deep and 9 feet wide, and
intersects the ^lerllyn Vein at 70 yards. The section is as
follows (Fig. 4, p. 56}: —
Feet. Clay, gravel, and sand (Glacial deposits) ... ... 4') Black limestone (used for hydraulic cement) ... 57 Grey>sh- brown and hard grey limehtone ... ... 168 270
PP
^ ' The Geology of Flint, Mold, and Kuthin ' {Mem. Geol. Surv.), 1890,
H!T, 168.
118 LEAD AND ZINC ORES.
" The vein hades to the north, and a few yards west of the
*' shaft is crossed by a joint bearing north-north-west, by which
^' it is thrown down a few feet to the west (the apparent effect " being a shift of the vein 7 yards southwards on the western
*' side of the joint in each level). A second joint, 25 yards
^' further west, shifts the vein still further, so far as could be
*' seen in 1879."^ These joints and the cross-course run a few
yards west of the Gorsedd Black Limestone quarry and are known as the Quarry Vein. A trial-shaft was sunk on them
near the cross-roads at about 590 feet O.D.
The vein averages 2 to 3 feet in width, with clear and welldefined foot- and hanging-walls. Levels are laid out at 50, 70,
and 90 yards depth the first being connected with the Horsedd
day-adit, into which the water is pumped. Prospecting was
carried out and some ore raised between 1910 and 1913, and it was proved that in the levels, especially the 70- and 90-yard,
there are several productive points (Fig. 4, p. 56), with galena
and blende, where operations could be commenced immediately.
Westward, beyond the cross-course, there appears to be a considerable area of virgin ground. The cross-course carries
galena in bunches, but apparently no blende. In 1913 the
output was 37 tons of lead-ore, valued at £499, and 35 tons of blende, valued at £211. Assaj^s have given the following
figures : lead up to 82 per cent, in the galena ; zinc up to 52
per cent, in the blende ; silver uj^ to 12 or 13 ounces per ton of
galena.
Mining.
The mine is standing until labour-troubles have settled down, but the plant is ready to start Avorking at any date. Water could be cleared in about a month, and could then be
kept down in winter-time by 8 hours of pumping per day, with a 7-inch lift. In summer-time water is pumped to the surface
for use in the concentration-plant, which is ready to resume
operations.
The Milwr Tunnel and the Lodes Cut.
The Holywell-Halkyn Mining and Tunnel Co., Ltd., Pendre, HolywelL
The history of the Milwr Tunnel and the objects for which
it was undertaken, as well as its general course, have been
described in the Introduction, pp. 26-28. The following is a more detailed account of the operations, of the old veins cut, and
the new ones that were discovered.
Geology and Mining.
The tunnel mouth is situated at Dee Bank, BagiUt (Fig. 2, p. 24), between Bettisfield Colliery and a lead-smelting works,
' 0/9. cit., p. 168.

It's heartening that the diversion tunnel is only 60 yards long:

a new adit was driven round the broken ground
" for a distance of 60 yards.

sorry for all the spelling errors etc. above. I've used some dodgy OCR software as I couldn't be arsed typing it out

Well the best bit is the part mentioning that it ends up in black limestone - that should be pretty bombproof and so if we get that far it should be plain sailing or at least crawling... Sadly us English types are not allowed in Wales for another week or so.

Dave