Minera Quarry Trust

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Designed & Hosted by Step IT Solutions Ltd.

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Project 3—Caves

AIMS

 

1.  To make accessible parts of the Minera Caves for the purposes of long-term conservation, for further detailed study and as an educational resource.

2.  To provide a visitor experience which will enrich the life of local communities and a wider public in North Wales.

3.  To provide a continuing source of revenue to fund running costs of projects at Minera.

 

BACKGROUND

 

The Minera Caves lie beneath Esclusham Mountain where over 8 kilometres have been mapped since the first discoveries in the mid 1960’s. Underground streams have, over hundreds of millennia, widened fissures in the limestone to create cave passages. Tributaries converge on a ‘trunk conduit’ of large dimensions, through which the main drainage from the mountain formerly collected in its journey northwards to springs in the Clywedog. The effects of rock types, faults, mineral veins and changing water table are clearly reflected in the complex distribution of passage and in the sculpture of the cave walls. Dry ‘fossil’ caverns are extensive, often of large size, contain thick sediment sequences and are decorated with calcite deposits of great variety. The caves, though not well known, are a unique and spectacular feature in the North Wales region, and well deserve to be seen by a wider public. The cave system has statutory protection from the Countryside Council for Wales through its status as a  ‘Site of Special Scientific Interest’ (SSSI)

 

THEMES TO DEVELOP

 

1.  Describe the way in which solution caves are formed in limestone from stream engulfment, chemistry of solution, rock structures, water table, springs, cave deposits, etc.

2.  Relate to landscape development especially during the ice ages and after.

3.  The story of mining inundations from the breaching of cave streams; the ‘Llyndu Cavern’ and other caves encountered during mining.

4.  The rise of cave exploration from Victorian archaeologists and adventure seekers to modern explorers with lightweight equipment. Cave mapping and stream tracing.

5.  The story of major cave discoveries at Minera post 1960; caves found and lost; cave descriptions and maps.

 

MEANS

 

1.  Actively pursue a conservation policy following guidelines laid out in the SSSI ‘Cave Management Plan’.

2.  Create an ‘underground experience’ by constructing a tunnel to sensitively access the more interesting and accessible parts of the cave system from within the quarry area.

3.  Assemble information and artefacts relating to cave exploration at Minera, which can be used to construct displays within an interpretation centre.

MQT/PR3/Draft1/20.2.06

1.  This ancient passage in Ogof Llyn Du, now long abandoned by its underground river, carried the drainage from Esclusham Mountain on a northward course previous to the last ice-age.

2. Stalactites and stalagmites profusely decorate areas in the rambling caverns of Ogof Dydd Byraf. Entered in 1964, it was the first major limestone  cave to be explored and mapped  in North Wales.

 

3.  The ‘Ragman Passage’ in Ogof Llyn Du carried the underground river to springs at Minera up until the nineteenth century when the flow was diverted by lead-mining operations.

4.  Sequences of alternating stalagmite and soft sediment layers in the large ancient passages of Ogof Dydd Byraf offer a datable record of climate changes occurring back through several cold/warm cycles of the ice age. Mineral colouring of calcite deposits is a feature of this fine cave.