Belgrave Mine

Location
SJ 194 588

Directions
Take the Mold/Ruthin road (A494) and talke the first left after Llanferres (heading from Mold to Ruthin) and then turn left again after 200 yards (the left turn is almost concealed). Follow this narrow road past a couple of houses and then a few hundred yards further on there is a large property on the right and the road swings to the left. Keep going past a farm on the left and just before you reach the next house there is a public footpath on the right – take this up the hill and the entrances to the lower (middle) and upper Mine are up that path and to the left.


Access
No known permission required.

Suggested Equipment
None for a mooch. SRT for the round trip

Length
Up to 1 mile known so far over the 3 main adits.

Flood risk
None known, however, the bottom level is partly flooded up to waist height although this doesn’t seem to go any higher during wetter times.

Mine Attributes
Typical Lead Mine, Connecting shafts, rifts, high mineral content.

Description
A reasonably substantial lead mine. The upper entrance is easier to find with a “cut out” run into the adit entrance. The lower (middle) entrance is almost directly below this by around 100 feet and is not much more than a badger hole to look at from the outside although it quickly opens up into a splendid, stone lined passage.

The upper level is of greater interest with a number of climable shafts leading upwards to additional adits and potential areas where an exit may have been backfilled. Additionally, there are a number of climbable shafts leading downwards, one of which also leads to an apparently backfilled adit. Another non-climable shaft leads down to the bottom level and completely bypasses the lower (middle) level. This upper level can be explored at length without the use of equipment such as SRT etc.

The lower (middle) level quickly opens into a large, two tier, cavernous area with a shaft leading up at the rear (to where we don’t know) and two shafts leading down to the bottom level. To the rear, the adit continues with rifts and short passages leading hither and thither until it goes blind.

The bottom level is only accessible by abseiling down from either the upper level or the lower (middle) level. It appears to have been the main adit with evidence of a small gauge railway. This is always flooded in the middle to waist height.


Unexplored Passages
Too many to list.

Digs
None Known

Links
http://www.wirralcavinggroup.org.uk/trips/belgrave.html

http://www.cpat.org.uk/projects/longer/mines/18005.htm

http://www.ccpc.org.uk/projects/belgrave-mine/new-pitch-belgrave-mine

The entrance to the lower (middle) adit




The entrance to the upper adit




Just inside the upper entrance




Just inside the lower (middle) entrance




The squeeze in the small chmaber off to the right just inside the lower (middle) entrance

In the upper adit, heading towards the shaft which connects with the bottom adit




Looking down the rigged shaft from the upper adit




The remaining evidence of a railway on the bottom level




Looking back up the shaft you have to abseil down from the upper level to reach the bottom level

The bottom adit




The bottom adit




Typical mineral left in the mine (bottom level)




One of the marble slabs (this one on the upper level)




Water running into the mine (upper)

These pictures from 26th March 2009 ....