Caecynon Powder Magazine (SN717783)

In 2014 it was found that the Caecynon Mine gunpowder magazine not only retained its slate roof, but also its interior wooden lining, which makes it the most complete and well-preserved example at a metal mine in mid-Wales. It was built in about 1870 at a safe distance from the mine by the Caegynon Lead Mining Company Limited, and was repaired after a period of dereliction by the Rheidol Mining Corporation under Alfred J. Hodgkinson-Carrington in the mid-1920s. The surviving slate roof and wooden lining both date from the 1920s operations, which continued until 1939.

By 2014, the slate roof had fallen into disrepair, and the front gable end above the rotten door lintel was on the point of collapse. Vegetation growing in the walls was also beginning to split the stonework. We removed all of the surviving slates from the roof in order to replace all of the rotten battens and four of the rafters. The slates were then rehung, using all of the surviving originals on the most obvious and visible side of the roof, and another local source provided slates for the other side. Care was taken to use pink Penrhyn Quarry slates on one side to differentiate between the original and the new. The rotten door lintel was removed, and a new, stronger one was put in its place. The crumbling gable wall above the lintel was rebuilt.

Work continues on the interior woodwork and door, to restore this unique building to its 1920s condition. We are grateful to landowner Gareth Daniel for allowing us access.