White Quarry Caves

Would anybody like to have a mooch/crawl around the caves near Pantasaph sometime in the near future?
A forest close by conceals an overgrown interesting Limekiln and quite a prominent approx 100' quarry wall.
Also for the Roman worshippers, there's the Tower, aka Pharos, I think they used it for BBQing Boos army.
Ian Mk2

Count me in ......

We'll need to sort a date out evening or weekend, tho I got nothing planned for tomorrow, but I think thats too short notice.

Tommorrow is too short notice for me I am afraid.

It would make a decent Thursday evening venture though .....



Ian (the other one)

If you and other members think the site is feesible then a Thursday would be good, I wonder what Hoss thinks, mebe make it a second trip for some.

I think it is an excellent idea and I am sure that "Hoss" will be delighted - I will PM him !

I'd also be keen to take another look. An early in the week mooch would be good for me. Arguably not enough to see for a Thursday trip unless everyone's up for the above ground walk. There's also a mine running somewhere underneath as far as I know, but not sure of any accessible entrance into it. Good area to study and poke in more detail though. It's common land as far as I know but don't hold me to that.

Last night I let Mike, Ian and Hoss know about a discovery I made whilst walking the dogs Sunday evening.
Ive discovered two as far as I'm aware unexplored shafts. I'm going again this evening to check them out.
One is approx 20 - 30' deep and the other is a crawl thru some huge capstones.
Theyve been logging by us and its been a thicket up there for over 30 yrs.
If they turn out to be of any subsatnce I'm letting Ev know before 18.45 tonight when he'll be posting the plan.
All the best,
Ian

Sounds promising

http://nwex.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5506&highlight=pantasaph

Whilst we are on the subject of Shafts in Pantasaph, i noticed this thread a while back and coudn't work out exactly where they shaft is? I'm guessing that it's in the vacinity of St Davids Church? Had a look on "wheres the path" but i cound not find the gaping hole in the ground as described in the thread. Any ideas

Ok, back from the mooch.
The Capped shaft is just that, capped. I couldnt squeeze the sharp angular corners to see enough.
The second shaft I lowered my lid with light on and video cam attached. The depth is 30'.
There is possibly a route out of the shaft but it looks either filled or collapsed.

Ideally it needs a proper pair of eyes either down there or viewing the piece of video.

Ive got a viewable copy of the file here, it may be slow as I dont know how your browser handles streaming video, but if you're intersted, here's the link. http://aaronsplace.co.uk/FileHosting/Video.m4v

Sub,,
Ive just google earthed around the church and beyond, couldnt see anything that resembled a shaft.
I nearly fell for a kids trampoline tho.

Joel, I very vaguely recall reading about a shaft near Gorsedd I think (so near Pantasaph) that a body was recovered from some years ago. There's certainly a sprinkling of old lead mines around there. Probably best to dig out the old maps to locate the old shafts.

I have asked my brother to print off some old maps for me hope to get them before thursday mooch

I had a look on Google maps too and couldn't see it either, Must be about there somewhere. Like Marc says, there are loads in the area that need checking out. I'm sure the old maps will help loads

Just been looking at google earth and have taken the co'ord's for what I think may be the shaft.
There is mention of another shaft on web page sub put up. If you go right from the coords Ive given, travel across road to next field and it could be there.
Here's the coord 53o 16'33.42 N 3o 16'31.34 W

That has to be it, certainly looks like a shaft to me. Can't believe i missed that one before Cheers Ian mk2

All i need to do now is attribute that shaft to a mine, Evans old maps should help with that

Ive just got back from work and on the way home I had a look for what I'd seen on Google earth.
Looking from the road, the field it is in is surrounded by Beech trees. From my observation, it does look like a substantial shaft. Theres one just up in the same field as well, 11 oclock postition from the one that I given coords.
Its on the drive to the caves.

Wacco (or Bryn-y-Gaseg) is a close match according to CPAT, but there are plenty of others scattered around that area...

http://www.cpat.org.uk/projects/longer/mines/18220.htm (see the description in relation to the A55 and grid reference)

Shaft at about: http://streetmap.co.uk/loc/SJ150761

For what it's worth, a bit more info on this area I've found:

The Milwr Vein then runs under the northern side of the Pantasa Monastery, passing the St. David's Mine, which is 80 yards deep. Three hundred yards west of the monastery it is crossed by the Pantasa Fault, and seems then to divide into two or more parallel veins, one of which keeps its course straight for Pant Wacco, and has proved rich in calamine, while another runs further south, forming the northern boundary of the Black Limestone of Bryn-y-gaseg, and a third branches off at that spot to the Wacco Mine. At Pant Wacco the Milwr Vein runs into the Pant Wacco Fault, nearly at the same point as the Old Holloway Vein, and ceases to be recognisable. (from Strahan/Smith)

BRYN-Y-GASEG
This small mine worked on the Lord Hill joint, which strikes north-north-west in chert and sandstone. The workings were apparently active in 1853-4, when 61 tons of lead ore concentrates were produced. No further details of the mine are known. (JR Foster Smith)

Good research Marc, saves me a lot of time. (I'm supposed to be revising for exams)

Whats the first extract that you quote? (Strahan/Smith) Is it from a book? Would be interested in taking a look at it.

Yes, they're books. Rather than go off subject, email me and I'll explain, or when we next meet.

Thanks for the web link Marc.