HISTORY
Temple Mine is situated in the picturesque Rheidol Valley Gorge in Mid Wales.
There are three levels, the two upper ones cut the stope after a short distance but the false flooring has long since disappeared onto the floor of the No. 1 Adit. The remaining parts of the upper adits can be accessed from the shaft chamber of the No. 1 Adit by roping up.
Nos. 2 and 3 Adits - the higher two - were driven in 1877 as drifts along Pryce's Lode. No. 2 replaced No. 1 as the main adit of Temple, and a long cross-cut was driven in 1880 northwards from near the forebreast, to cut the Champion Lode. This was supposedly a continuation of the great Van Lode, which had also been drifted in the Nant-y-Moch Adit driven a short distance north of No. 3. Upon cutting the Champion Lode in No. 2 - 36 feet wide - a drift west was started. The 40 foot wheelpit at the portal of No. 1 Adit drove the compressed-air machinery, as well as an inclined tramway which took dressed ore up to the top of the gorge to meet a packhorse trail from Ystumtuen.
No. 2 Adit was continued west for a short distance until being abandoned, due to the poorness of the Champion Lode. There has been a dispute over the years whether this adit ever connected with the extensive Bwlchgwyn Mine workings over the hill.
Temple is famous for the remains of a massive underground angle bob. This was actuated by a wire rope running through No. 1 Adit from the 40' x 4' waterwheel in a pit immediately outside the adit portal and built into the gorge on the one side. An iron take off from the crank of wheel actuated a timber bob mounted in the roof of No. 1 Adit just inside the portal. From here the wire rope ran through the adit for some distance to another roof mounded bob, and then iron flat rods.
PHOTOS
1. Inbye
2. View back
3. Drive
4. Bob support
5. Adits 2 & 3 remains
6. Angle Bob
7. Rising Main
8. Bob outbye
9. End of the line
Thanks for looking !
Temple Mine is situated in the picturesque Rheidol Valley Gorge in Mid Wales.
There are three levels, the two upper ones cut the stope after a short distance but the false flooring has long since disappeared onto the floor of the No. 1 Adit. The remaining parts of the upper adits can be accessed from the shaft chamber of the No. 1 Adit by roping up.
Nos. 2 and 3 Adits - the higher two - were driven in 1877 as drifts along Pryce's Lode. No. 2 replaced No. 1 as the main adit of Temple, and a long cross-cut was driven in 1880 northwards from near the forebreast, to cut the Champion Lode. This was supposedly a continuation of the great Van Lode, which had also been drifted in the Nant-y-Moch Adit driven a short distance north of No. 3. Upon cutting the Champion Lode in No. 2 - 36 feet wide - a drift west was started. The 40 foot wheelpit at the portal of No. 1 Adit drove the compressed-air machinery, as well as an inclined tramway which took dressed ore up to the top of the gorge to meet a packhorse trail from Ystumtuen.
No. 2 Adit was continued west for a short distance until being abandoned, due to the poorness of the Champion Lode. There has been a dispute over the years whether this adit ever connected with the extensive Bwlchgwyn Mine workings over the hill.
Temple is famous for the remains of a massive underground angle bob. This was actuated by a wire rope running through No. 1 Adit from the 40' x 4' waterwheel in a pit immediately outside the adit portal and built into the gorge on the one side. An iron take off from the crank of wheel actuated a timber bob mounted in the roof of No. 1 Adit just inside the portal. From here the wire rope ran through the adit for some distance to another roof mounded bob, and then iron flat rods.
PHOTOS
1. Inbye
2. View back
3. Drive
4. Bob support
5. Adits 2 & 3 remains
6. Angle Bob
7. Rising Main
8. Bob outbye
9. End of the line
Thanks for looking !
