# Stradey Mine - Wales



## Gazmat (Sep 26, 2008)

On a Beautiful day, my mate Joe and I went on what is becoming our usual roadtrip to nowhere. We go to a few good sites, and either bottle it, rip our legs to shreds on nettles, get rumbled, or get lost.

One such day was this, and our our joyful trip took us to nowhere, until that is... we came here!

I always knew there were some workings in the area, and our search turned up trumps.

We were fortunate enough to bump into a father and son Geo Duo who were making maps, and subsequently learnt of the enterance point for this bute.

We've found conflicting stories of the history of the mine, this being Wales, there are of course mines at every corner, many unmarked on modern maps. Im guessing were looking at around the 1920's due to the infastructure and electrical "Signal" system, which this style and use was discontinued due to spark hazzards apparently in the late 20's.

Our enterance was a wet and muddy one, but within a short space of time, we were rewarded with a wonderous site of abandonment, and apart from the obvious decay, one could say, it was seen as left.







The rail head from the tunnel had long since collapsed, and we were left with a wet enterance, where the water was to the waist for a small fat bloke.... luckily, Joe and I are rather round, which aids to the bouancy in such situations!






The structure started as brickwork, then stone work, then mud work, and.... to be honest, wasnt as safe looking as I would have liked it to be, but, with the safe knowledge that my insurance would see mini me never having to work again, we progressed, inch by inch.






In the near distance loomed a metalic object, which at first looked like a motor, or generator box.






On closer inspection, it was a Dram, the cart used to scurry the products out of the mine, and often, carry the miners in. Such an awesome find within 1/4 of a mile of the mine excited the pair of us to doing the dance of the flaming arse hole.... until we remembered where we were.
















Just past the Dram, the mine opened a bit, and a recess could be seen, presumably for the working gears for the steep incline in front of us, here, out of water, the rail system and sleepers could be clearly seen, as well as the Steel Wire Rope pulley system in the centre track.






The Roof was "Shawed up" with wooden pillars, however, one should note, these are not to hold the weight of the roof.... a few bits of wood wouldnt be able to do so, therefore the poor condition of them isnt an indicator that the roof is about to cave in... they are in place to signal a shift in the roof... by bowing and splitting... which most of them had long since done. There is no way to assure safety in such a place.






The "Bell Wire" was littered everywhere, the wooden brackets long since decayed. The insulators were still in place, which dated the latest possible use of this mine.






Eventually we came up to a cave in, the roof had collapsed. It was possible to continue further into the mine, however, this we will leave for another day - Pretty much the complex opens up into the whole system, but the next visit will see us being better prepared for a several hour explore of this underground time warp!






We left our footprints in the mud, and took our memories away with us, and started to plan the next, more detailed visit to this place... so watch this space!
*
UPDATE*

Went back underground for a full explore, and have mapped the site out. Unfortunately, a major collapse has caused the mine to end prematurely. 

More minor equipment within, but slightly disapointed with the end result.


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## Urban-Warrior (Sep 26, 2008)

Was well woth getting soaked to the bones for this one... after what we thought was just a drainage outfall turned into the find of the day! to see the old dram and remains of the shovels propped up against the walls was amazing.. will be going back soon deffinatly.


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## Exploretime (Sep 29, 2008)

The Dram Cart is well cool. I bet u were well happy when u found it. Im lookin at checkin out a couple of mine works in my area soon, i'll be mega happy if i found stuff like that.


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