The Welsh Mines Preservation Trust’s first working weekend of 2018 at the Llywernog Mine Museum was a great success. The weekend’s operations focused on the area of the original Llywernog shaft of 1760, sunk under the management of Lewis Morris of Anglesey. The area had been cleared and the shaft grilled during the 1980s, but had since become extensively overgrown and almost invisible from the rest of the site. All the vegetation was cleared and the tramway to the tip was secured. The wagon which was put on the newly-constructed tramway in the 1980s was repositioned and a replica wooden tripod over the collar was found to be structurally sound. Much vegetation was also cleared from the Hanson’s Shaft area which was the main engine shaft at the mine; the balance-pit and collar are now free of overgrowth.
Work continued to transform the 1760 shaft into an exhibition of how simple haulage was carried out at several of mid-Wales’ smaller mines. A badly worn kibble was attached to a chain running over a pulley hanging from the top of the tripod, and the other end of the chain was wrapped around a winch placed on the edge of the shaft. The wagon was placed in a tipping position with a pile of rubble below it. This now forms an exhibition of how stuff was brought to surface at smaller, primitive mines in the area, in contrast with the higher developed methods displayed across the site at Hanson’s Shaft, which is the next area of focus. Interpretation boards will be applied soon at both shafts. The 14-foot jigger waterwheel was also given a coat of fresh paint on the buckets and backplate, and the existing paintwork was cleaned on the cast-iron sides.
