Croesor Slate Mine - North Wales N.G.R. 664463

Follow the A4085 on the eastern side of Glaslyn Vale and turn off to Croesor under the pretty lodge of Plasbrondanw, close to the village of Garreg. Park the car at the end of the road, then take the middle track until the miners track is reached going up the right hand side of the valley until at N.G.R. 664463 one finds the entrance behind the ruined buildings. Don’t be put off by all the water flowing out. “Bloody hell, its flooded,” Peter M. Just paddle through it. The tunnel, 10ft. high & I5ft. wide (even fatties can get down
here) still has the hawser in place. Eventually after ¼ mile (approx for short legs) the passage divides at a trolley. Follow the left hand one first, notice the large tension wheel in the floor. Then to 1^st. Machinery Room containing odd bits of machinery to the non-technocrats. 2^nd. Machinery Room has a “Do not feed” sign (I couldn’t see any horses) behind which is a small passage down into another cavern. Retrace steps to 2^nd. Machinery Room & carry on to 3rd M.R. with a large double rope block in roof. Obvious huge collapse from surface with more workings to be explored. (I chickened out!)

Back at the trolley, turn right & an incline is reached. Walk over flooded pit in the floor & follow passage ahead to large boulders beyond is huge lake with visible tunnel leading off. Back at the flooded pit is a 70 degree incline with a massive cable in place (and miniature waterfall according to my dad ). The way on is up the incline with various “eye-holes branching off. At the end of the cable is an enormous two-ton iron weight. (I couldn’t pick it up, anyway.) This leads into caverns with a way on over suspended walkways which need great care. After a number of caverns one appears in the quarry higher up the hill, from which it is possible in dry weather to climb various cracks to the surface. In wet weather exit the way in.

S. Muckalt.

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