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Report - - Minera limeworks, Wales, Aug 2013 | Mines and Quarries | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Minera limeworks, Wales, Aug 2013

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The Kwan

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Visited with Dave a non member
Well what can I say about this place, the space below the kiln has seen Lime seepage through the ages and has resulted in the most amazing formations being produced, I was really thrilled to see this place that was at times just like the lazy river deep water and beautifully tranquil.

History
The Minera Limeworks were once the largest lime workings in the north of Wales. Limeburning at Minera is recorded from as early as 1620[2] but the Minera Lime Company was established in 1852. The total output from the Minera area quarries was estimated, in 1859, to be around 300,000 tons, with 200,000 tons of this converted to lime.
The Minera Lime Company became a limited company in 1865, and this prompted some heavy cash injection into the works. Using this money, the company erected a "Hoffmann kiln". Originally destined for brickmaking, it was soon converted to limeburning. This kiln still exists and is one of three that were purpose-built for lime burning left in the UK: another is located at Langcliffe in Yorkshire, another is located at Llanymynech Limeworks.

The first thing that strikes you when you get inside this place is the fantastic shelf of lime deposits, over the years Lime has seeped down from the hoffman kiln above and has been deposited on the clay which has eventually been washed away leaving the magnificent shelf, seen on the right of the picture.
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another one of the shelf, notice the roof deposits
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More gorgeous shelf formations and the water getting deeper
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at some places it was pretty near wader breech, notice the calcite clouding the water
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At the end of one passage we come to the sump that was dived in years past only to discover that about 50 metres further on is another chamber but unfortunately out of our reach
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If you look closely you will see some fossillised worms in the rock
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Thanks for looking
 
Last edited:

barmybob

28DL Member
28DL Member
There is an interesting blue plastic tunnel covered with a steel door, just above the first lot of kilns you come to. Sadly, the wife didn't appreciate the idea of disappearing down a hole in the middle of nowhere, so all I got where a few phone pics.
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