I am on the mailing list of the historical society of the valley, and from time to time they have interesting lectures (like this one). And there was one announced about mining in the Ogwen Valley. That sounded good! And on the day it was held, I had just finished a big pile of marking work, so I could afford to go. I got home, I had my shower and my dinner, and then sneaked out of the house. I was just on time!
The man who held the lecture had had a varied career, and now he was retired. And he was still interested in mines.
Spoiler alert: there hasn't been much mining in the valley if you count by how many tonnes of actual metal were retrieved, or how much money it made anyone. This valley belongs to slate. But if you count the sheer number of little scratches in the rock where people have tried, it is quite a lot!
There are traces of iron mining, and lead, and copper, and arsenic, and ochre, and manganese, and molybdenum in the valley. And that has resulted in little trials by the river, gashes in the big hills, barely recognisable remains in copses, hills with a multitude of little holes in them, the occasional passage that even seems to go somewhere, and some innocent looking scree slopes that turn out not to be natural. And more!
I recognise some of the locations, but quite often I barely know anything about them. (Posts about some mentioned locations are here and here and here and here.) I feel like I know a lot more now, even though I must admit I struggled a bit to understand the man’s Welsh. It didn't really help he was speaking into a microphone, but I was close enough to hear him directly as well, so I heard him twice with a tiny delay in between. Well worth it anyway!
No comments:
Post a Comment