Introduction to tour
Located on the southern coast of the Llŷn Peninsular, Gwynedd, Wales, just below the village of Llanfaelrhys (SH2109726525) are the remnants of the Nant, or Nant y Gadwen, mines and associated tram and jetty works of Porth Ysgo. This forms one of three mines around Rhiw – the other two being the Rhiw and Benallt mines. These mines all produce manganese ore which derives from disturbed Ordovician mudstones, and the complex geology of Wales is the reason why nearly all of the manganese ores extracted in Britain during the nineteenth and twentieth century comes from Wales.
Whilst nature has reclaimed much of the manganese workings around Rhiw, making it hard to imagine it as the early 1900’s industrial hub for North Wales’s Manganese ore production that it was, there remains a number of extant archaeological features hinting at its former use. The start of manganese extraction here dates to the early nineteenth century, when ore that would be confirmed as Manganese by the London Assay Office in 1828 was first lifted from the Nant y Gadwen stream gorge in 1827 (on the properties of Nant and Ty’n y Llan farms, both part of the Nanhoron estate). The ore that was lifted from this site during this period was used primarily in bleach and domestic flour. By October 1828, manganese mining was in full operation on these farms, with a Mine Agent arriving at this time (to instruct the local work force, which would number over 50 by 1830) on the proper way to extract and clean the manganese. This manganese was then carted to Abersoch, Porthdinllaen and Porth Cadlan for onwards shipping to Liverpool. This would see an explosion of interest in the area with multiple new leases being obtained by interested parties hoping to extract their own manganese, including an 1844 lease to search for minerals on the site where the Rhiw and Benallt mines would later open, further up on Mynydd Rhiw. The amount of ore extracted from these mines has not been properly recorded during this period: only 229 tons of ore are recorded as being in stock in 1829 for all the workings in the area; and by 1867, only 5 tons were produced in all of Caernarvonshire.
It is from the second period of extraction, dating from the first few years of the early twentieth century, that almost all the visible extant archaeological features that can be identified today at Nant (next to Porth Ysgo) date to. Besides the adits and semi-bricked up mineshafts of Nant, which should not be entered owing to their dangerous conditions inside, the remains at Porth Ysgo belong to the tramway and incline operations and its associated jetty which opened in 1903 for and 1904 respectively. These improvements came after the works were bought and taken over by the North Wales Iron & Manganese company from Fred Hall in 1903. During this second period of operation, from 1902–1927/8, the Porth Ysgo jetty and inclines would have handled all the iron and manganese ore extracted from the Nant and Benallt Mines, which was also operated by the North Wales Iron & Manganese company and connected via a narrow gauge railway. The Nant and Benallt mines produced a total of approximately 20,491–20,184 tons of ore respectively during this second phase of operation. The majority of manganese ore produced in this period was shipped to the Brymbo Steel Company near Wrexham for use in basic iron blast furnaces, owing to the overall poor quality of the ore. Eventually Nant and Benallt would both close around 1927 into 1928. A new lease of life was almost brought in 1941 when, under the operation of the Ministry of Supply, manganese mining was once more resumed at Benallt, some two miles up Mynydd Rhiw from Nant, by engineers from The Royal Canadian Engineers. A year later, in 1942, they also attempted to re-open the Nant mine but its flooding during its period of disuse after closure in 1928 meant that this was not possible.
Tour Opening
Beneath you are the remnants of the Nant, or Nant Y Gadwen, mines and associated tram and jetty works of Porth Ysgo. Whilst nature has reclaimed much of the site, making it hard to imagine it as the early 1900’s industrial hub for North Wales’s Manganese ore production, there remains a number of extant archaeological features hinting at its former use. This includes the tramway and incline and its associated jetty at Porth Ysgo, as well as adits and semi-bricked up mineshafts which dot the hillside at Nantall dating to the second phase of manganese extraction on this site that dates to the early twentieth century (the first phase of manganese mining belongs to the nineteenth century). The majority of manganese ore produced in this period was shipped from Porth Ysgo to the Brymbo Steel Company for use in basic iron blast furnaces, owing to the overall poor quality of the ore, and operations ceased in 1928.
Tour Position 1 – Site of 1827 Quarry
The Manganese Mines here at Nant represent the earliest manganese extraction in all of Wales. Ore was first lifted from this site, for use in bleach and domestic flour, in 1827 on the Nant and Ty’n y Llan farms. To your left you can see the remains of these early workings. The scarred rock you see is one of five old quarries identified from this first period of operation. In this case, this quarry location was reused nearly 80 years later, giving the miners access to the mine shafts created in the early 1900s. Whilst it is unknown precisely how much ore was lifted, we do know it was on a far smaller scale than what was produced in the twentieth century. The ore from the open cast quarry you see before you would have been transported by donkey to Porth Cadlan and onwards for processing in Liverpool. It is likely that this quarry face remained active until around the 1850’s when competition from Germany halted most Manganese extraction in the UK, and it was certainly closed by 1872. However as new uses were discovered for Manganese in the 1880’s, interest once again renewed in the manganese ore beds of the Llyn.
Tour Position 2 – Locomotive Shed & Mine Entrance
As renewed interest in extracting Manganese domestically increased in the 1880’s. New pits were opened at Benallt and Rhiw, around a mile or so inland from here up the slopes of Mynydd Rhiw, and by 1902 Nant mine was operational again. By 1903 it was under the operation of the North Wales Manganese & Iron Co, who also operated Benallt. In 1904 the two mines were linked by a 3’’ gauge tramway that ran along the road for the 1 ¾ miles that separate the sites. Before you are the remains of the Benallt Railway Locomotive Shed that housed the steam engine, RHIW, that operated this route. Behind you, and down the embankment, the tramway entered the new Nant mine itself. When inside the mines the wagons would have been pushed by the workers or pulled by horses.
Tour Position 3 – Upper Incline Winding House
In order to get the manganese laden wagons from the Benallt railway onto the Nant mines tramway and jetty, a cable incline was built. Ahead of you are the remains of the winding house for this upper incline. Wagons would be sent up and down the incline via a cable that would gently lower them, or pull them, along the steep rails. The winding gear you see in the remains would have operated this system. A similar, although shallower, incline remains at the Benallt end of the Railway a mile and half away up the Mynydd.
Tour Position 4 – Second Incline House and Weighbridge House
Before you are the remains of the Second Incline Winding House and Weighbridge House. This winding house raised and lowered wagons from both the Nant mines and Benallt Mine down the incline behind you and onto the Porth Ysgo jetty. This location also marks the heart of the mines in its second phase of use. After the mines closure in 1928, however, these buildings were left to crumble without further use. A third lease of life almost came when the Royal Canadian Engineers drained the mine in 1942 with the hopes to re-open it for the war effort, as they had with Benallt Mine, but this proved unsuccessful. Since then, the mines have been left abandoned and semi-bricked up. The date the rails were lifted is sadly not recorded, but it may well have even been long before the start of the War.
Tour Position 5 – Porth Ysgo Jetty
You are now at the bottom of the incline where, when the mines operated in the early 1900’s, the wagons would have been rolled onto a jetty to have the ore unloaded and transported via the sea. The jetty was wooden and constructed in 1903 at the same time as the lower incline. Over the course of its life, around 50,000 tons of Manganese – at this point used in blast furnaces – would have left the Llyn from this jetty. When operations concluded in 1928, the jetty was left to decay, with the railway wagons stored atop it, until it collapsed into the sea. Site visits in the 1980’s and 1990’s identified the remains of these wagons, via their wheels, in the rocks below. This is but one of the few reminders of this site’s former industrial landscape, now lost to tide and time.