lead mines in Maeshafn north wales

[tornado]

"Has anyone got any social history about the lead mines in Maeshafn from the 1850s?". An ancestor was a miner there in 1851. Thank you for your help.

[Viktoria]

I don’t know if they have written about the mines you mention ,but Ivor J.Brown and Fred Brook with Martin Allbutt have written about the Shropshire Lead Mines .
They are cavers and have researched those mines extensively ,particularly The Snailbeach one.
D,R, Adams wrote about the Llanymynech  Ogof ( number in 1970, new edition edited by A.J. Pearce in 1992,
No numbers for that one
A phone number only I am afraid but The National Association of Mining History Organisations might have info :- 01629583814.
Not sure if that includes Wales but they might help somehow .

Viktoria.

[tornado]

thanks Viktoria for the update , it is useful to me .  So let's see.

[fiddlerslass]

Not specific to your mine of interest, but you can read about general lead mine conditions by downloading the report for North Wales 1842 from here. It covers several lead mines and related industries as well as coal mines.

Royal commission report on Children in the mines:
http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/literature/royalcommissionreports/

[tornado]

thanks Fiddlerslass for the article on mining . Although my ancestor was a lead miner , not coal , it still was of interest . They both had hard lives . I'm sure the resilient genes pass on to descendents!.

[fiddlerslass]

As I said, Lead mining is covered in the report.
For example you can read about
Pant y Mwyn lead mine near Mold

Talwr Coch lead mine near Dyserth

Milwr Lead mine Holywell

Desilvering works

Lead smelting and shot works

Etc

[Raybistre]

Not sure if this book covers Maeshafn:

Lead Mines of the Alyn Valley Paperback – 1 Dec. 1987
by C. J. Williams (Author)

If I've got a copy I will have a look.
Ray

[SMJ]

No much social history, but you may find something useful from the ongoing links.

Feature article about lead mining in the Mold area by the Mold Civic Society at http://moldcivicsociety.org.uk/lead-a-backdrop-to-mold-by-diane-johnson/

Basic map showing relationship of mines in Flintshire at https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/metal/north-wales/

Info on Flintshire Lead mining (aimed at cavers etc.) at http://cambrianmines.co.uk/flintshireleadmining/index.html

There is material held by various archives but not online, a quick search revealed https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/?terms=Maeshafn&field=core including a plan of Maeshafn Mine linked here https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/d8a73b88-2682-3388-b6d3-735df54143bb?component=c908dd00-90da-3eda-88d0-c8274e71962d

An 1890 geological overview of the area is available to download free. Page 191 for Maeshafn (Maes-y-safn) Link https://web-cdn.org/s/46/file/Village-History/geology-of-gwernymynydd.pdf

Hope you may find something.

[tornado]

Well what a lot of valuable info here . Many thanks to you all for your time here . I will follow all this up and i'm sure I will learn a great deal . Can't wait! . best wishes .