Llyn Eiddew Mawr

Alternative name

Llyn Eiddaw
Llyn Eiddew
Llynau Eiddew [GAS DAO Z/DAM/630]
Llyn Ciddew Mawr [Halse 1887: 111] (typographical error?)
Craig Ddrwg(?)

Location

SH645340 (Area map showing location.)

Parish

Talsarnau

Geology

The manganese bed outcrop runs south-west from the northern extremity of Llyn Eiddew Mawr for about 600 m. The bed is about .3 m thick and dips northward. [Dewey & Bromehead 1915: 53]

Owners

1889–1891		Welsh Manganese Co. Ltd
1918		Cambrian Manganese Co. agent C Roberts
1920–1922		Cambrian Manganese Co. agent T O Williams

Production and Employment

	(tons)	Manpower underground surface
1889	1,023	0	12
1890	769	2	10
1891	224	0	5
1890*	542	0	1
1891*	558	0	8
1892*	0	0	10
1893*	93	0	2
1894*	201	0	3
1895*	374	0	4
1896*	48	0	1
1897*	58
1918			14
1920			13
1921			10
Total	3,872

* appears in the Home Office list of mines as Llyn Du Bach [Dewey & Bromehead 1915: 53]

Transport

Internal tramways. Output by road to Talsarnau.

Remains

Mainly opencast workings close to north end of lake. Surface and underground pack walls well preserved. Where tramway formations from faces emerge from cuttings though backfill there are stone floors, one about 6 m x 1.5 m. There is a pair of substantial bridge abutments where a tramway to a tip crossed above the mine exit track. (June 2002)

Access

The north-west end of the mine is crossed by a public right of way to the lake.

graphic: plan Ore was described as existing here in 1887 [Halse 1887: 111].

In 1915 the mine was described as “abandoned” with ore recently extracted and waiting to be removed. [Dewey & Bromehead 1915: 53], however, in 1923 it was stated to have been worked during WW1 and was currently “active” [Dewey & Dines 1923: 64]

The name Craig Ddrwg is mentioned in Llais Ardudwy [September 1988] in a reference (undated) to a choir from Gwaith Mango Graig Ddrwg uwchlaw Talsarnau, Merion (Craig Ddrwg manganese work [i.e. mine] above Talsarnau, Merioneth) – Craig Ddrwg is the name of the ridge to the east of and overlooking Llyn Eiddew Mawr.

		Workings A general view of some of the opencast workings showing the situation of the mine by Llyn Eiddew Mawr.
		Workings Opencast workings with grassed-over tips and cuttings leading away from the working face.
		Opencast and underground working Here the opencast working has been extended into a small underground chamber. The worked face is on the left and waste has been walled up on the right of the working.
		Underground Working Looking out of the entrance visible in the previous picture. Note the massive pack wall. This walling continues around the camera position to close the chamber behind the viewpoint.
		Workings Opencast working along a face with parallel tramway cuttings from the face through the waste tips.
		Workings A view along the worked face seen in the previous photo.
		Stone floor One of the stone floors that may have been used for ore breaking or storage of ore awaiting transport (or possibly a foundation for a building). In the background can be seen the abutments of a bridge that carried a tramway across the mine track to a tip.
		Bridge abutments and tip The bridge carried a tramway from a working (shown in the next photo) over the exit track to the tip.
		Workings The large working associated with the bridge and tip in the previous photo.
		Bridge abutments and tip The bridge abutments and tip seen from above.