 The former Meadow Shaft in 2022 | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Minera (Near Wrexham) |
| Country | Wales |
| Coordinates | 53°03′03″N3°04′56″W / 53.0507582°N 3.0823232°W |
| Production | |
| Products | Lead, Zinc |
| History | |
| Opened | 1845 |
| Active | 1845–1914 |
| Closed | 1914 |
| Owner | |
| Company | Minera Mining Company |
The Minera Lead Mines were a mining operation and are now a country park and tourist centre in the village of Minera near Wrexham, in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. [1]
The first written record of lead mining at Minera dates back to 1296, when Edward I of England hired miners from the site to work in his new mines in Devon. Not all of them vacated the area, however, as mining went on until the Black Death in 1349, when it ended.
In 1527, two men bought the rights to mine on the site, but deeper workings were unworkable due to the presence of underground rivers, and the inability to prevent flooding. The inability to pay for steam engines to pump out water closed the mines again until 1845, when John Taylor & Sons, mining agents from Flintshire, formed the Minera Mining Company. They were able to build a stationary steam engine on site, and also blast caves from down in the valley into the mines, for extra drainage. The steam engine was a Cornish engine (i.e. a Beam engine), typical for stationary engines at the time.
John Taylor & Sons had used a £30,000 investment at the time, yet the profits for 1864 alone were £60,000 (equivalent to over £4 Million in 2008. By 1900, the price of lead and zinc had fallen dramatically, while the price of coal used for the steam engine rose. The stationary steam engine stopped work in 1909. The owners sold off the mines and all assets by 1914.
For transport, the Mines had their own railway branch line, which connected with the end of the Wrexham and Minera Branch at Minera Limeworks. The mines also had their own steam locomotive, a Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST (Works No. 21) Henrietta. [2] The lead ore would be taken to Wrexham for transport nationally, and Coal brought back. The line was dismantled when the mines closed, as the line was privately owned, however were rebuilt to serve nearby clay pits. Plans to build a tourist narrow gauge railway on the line were made in the 1990s, but have not progressed.
The workings and local area underwent massive restoration and regeneration funded by Wrexham County Borough Council and the Welsh Development Agency beginning in 1988 to make sure the lead, Zinc and lime spoil tips didn't contaminate local water supplies, the Engine house was rebuilt and fitted with replica machinery, as the original steam engine was removed in 1914. A visitor Centre was opened for public use, and the engine house is part of a tour. It is a site of tourism for Wrexham County Borough Council.
In 2004, the site was attacked by vandals, but this was repaired by the council in 2005.
Coedpoeth is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The built-up area with Minera had a population of 5,723 in the 2011 census.
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Big Pit National Coal Museum is an industrial heritage museum in Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales. A working coal mine from 1880 to 1980, it was opened to the public in 1983 as a charitable trust called the Big Pit (Blaenavon) Trust. By 1 February 2001 Big Pit Coal Museum was incorporated into the National Museums and Galleries of Wales as the National Mining Museum of Wales. The site is dedicated to operational preservation of the Welsh heritage of coal mining, which took place during the Industrial Revolution.
The Minera Limeworks were extensive lime quarries and kilns at Minera in Wrexham, Wales. It was located at grid reference SJ253520, near the villages of Gwynfryn, Minera, and Coedpoeth and was locally referred to as The Calch.
The Wrexham and Minera Railway or Wrexham and Minera Branch was a railway line in North Wales between the city of Wrexham, the village of Brymbo where it served the Brymbo Steelworks, and the lead mines and limeworks at Minera. A further branch ran from Brymbo to Coed Talon, where it connected with lines to Mold. The system was constructed in several stages between 1844 and 1872, while the various lines making up the system closed in 1952, 1972 and 1982.
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Minera is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It adjoins the village of Coedpoeth.
Brymbo is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies in the hilly country to the west of Wrexham city, largely surrounded by farmland.
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The Richmond Vale Railway was a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in colliery railway line in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia, servicing coal mines at Minmi, Stockrington, Pelaw Main and Richmond Main. It was over 26 km (16 mi) long and passed through three tunnels, and was the last commercially operated railway in Australia to use steam locomotives.
Esclusham is a community and electoral ward in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
Esclusham Mountain is an area in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, United Kingdom, and is part of the Ruabon Moors. It rises to a height of 460 m, with the nearby spur of Cyrn-y-Brain, to the west, reaching 473 m. It lies mostly within the community of Esclusham. A smaller spur to the north, known as Minera Mountain, is within the neighbouring community of Minera.
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The Astley and Tyldesley Collieries Company formed in 1900 owned coal mines on the Lancashire Coalfield south of the railway in Astley and Tyldesley, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The company became part of Manchester Collieries in 1929 and some of its collieries were nationalised in 1947.
A mine railway, sometimes pit railway, is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mine. Materials transported typically include ore, coal and overburden. It is little remembered, but the mix of heavy and bulky materials which had to be hauled into and out of mines gave rise to the first several generations of railways, at first made of wooden rails, but eventually adding protective iron, steam locomotion by fixed engines and the earliest commercial steam locomotives, all in and around the works around mines.
Mount Morgan railway station is a heritage-listed railway station at Railway Parade, Mount Morgan, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the Mount Morgan–Wowan railway line. The station was constructed in 1898 to service the former goldrush and gold mining township of Mount Morgan and its mine. The station was designed by Henrik Hansen, who also designed the Archer Park, Shorncliffe and South Brisbane railway stations. The station operated as a functional railway station from 1898 until 1987, after which it was restored as a Railway Heritage Museum. The museum includes artefacts from the rail and mining history of Mount Morgan, including a restored Hunslett steam engine, "Silver Bullet" rail motor and timber rail carriages. The station was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.