The Gunpowder Plot at Glyn Ceiriog

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jools

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Up a creek without wellies
,,,, years ago I saw a picture of a gunpowder and explosives mill in the Ceiriog Valley and I thought today's date might be the right date for a visit,,,, Sorry I haven't done much research as yet,,,,,I'll go to the library next week and get back on site when the shrubbery dies down :)

The mill is set on the side of the river and is slowly subsiding down the bank,,, along the river was a narrow guage tramway which transported granite and slate from the adjacent hill-side quarry and explosives down the valley to the main-line at Chirk some 8 or so miles away. When passing down the valley the tram would pick up more slate and passengers and whatever as required. Originally the train would free-wheel down the valley with horses carried on a flat-bed truck,,,,,, and then the horses would pull the train back up the valley. Later on a couple of basic steam engines were used ,,,,,,,,,,8MPH!!

The whole area is very overgrown with all the buildings falling down and no conservation work being carried out though there is a possibility of the tramway being up-rated by the Council from quiet rural trackway to a "multi-user leisure opportunity for all the family"

The mill made several types of explosive, this edited from an account,,,,,,
"A watermill for the Wood Blasting Co at Hendre - manufacturing gunpowder" from 1870 to 1879. As far as we are aware it was not licensed following the Explosives Act of 1875".

and from the; Board of Trade Wreck Report for the loss of the 'Great Queensland', 1877

,,the following is heavily edited but the full report is here and is well worth a look,,

http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/WreckReports/14247.asp

On the 5th of August last the "Great Queensland," a large three-masted iron sailing ship, of 1,793 tons gross and 1,697 tons net register, belonging to Messrs. Taylor, Bethell, and Roberts, of 110, Fenchurch Street, City, left the East India Docks on a voyage to Melbourne in Australia. She had on board a cargo of about 2,300 tons of general merchandise, 12 second and 21 steerage passengers, and was manned by a crew of 36 hands all told. Having dropped down to the powder buoys off Gravesend, she there took in between 33 and 34 tons of gunpowder, for which a space had been specially left, and at 9 a.m. of the following day, the 6th of August, she proceeded on her voyage under the charge of a channel pilot, and in tow of a steam tug called t e "Scotia." There were on board, besides the crew and passengers, the captain's wife and daughter, and three gentlemen, friends of the owners, who were going in her down the channel for a cruise

During the enquiry tests were made of nitro explosives that had been made at the Hendre mill and they found it was badly made,very unstable and could explode if dropped or suffered impact

The enquiry found;

The conclusion then to which we have come is, that the loss of this fine vessel with all on board was in all probability due to the spontaneous combustion of the two tons of wood powder which she had on board, and that the ignition of the powder was caused by the impure state in which it was when it was shipped, and for which the Patent Gunpowder Company (Hendre) are alone to blame. The fact that it was stowed in the same compartment or space with 30 tons of ordinary black gunpowder, in our opinion, made very little difference, for the wood powder being in tightly closed cases, and in so large a mass, would probably have exploded if the heat had risen to ignition point, and in that case would have been quite sufficient, even without the 30 tons of black gunpowder, to have blown the vessel all to pieces. At the same time we think that it was an act of great negligence on the part of the shipowners, Messrs. Taylor, Bethell, and Roberts, and a direct violation of byelaw 49 to stow these two descriptions of explosives, not only in the same ship, but in the same compartment.


It's a wonder that the buildings are still there,,,,,,I s'pose it's a posibility that the company ceased manufacturing because of the fuss



.The mill from up-stream,,, trackway on right and river behind the building. The waterwheel was on the left of the pic but the pit is too overgrown to show on a pic

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From down-stream side

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They have tried to slow the effects of subsidence with ties through the walls

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You can see how close the river is

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Me and Blue

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That wall won't be there for long,,,,,and then the roof goes

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I think!!!!! Part of one of the crushing plants for granite or????? It's above the tram-way down to the left side behind the wall so the crushings could descend by gravity to the trucks. In the pic are the foundation blocks which would have carried the bearings and crushers driven by one a long shaft

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Another large building purpose not known,, it had cast iron pillars about 6" dia supporting the roof centre

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A weigh house on the exit side of a crushing plant

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The are big buildings up on the sky-line,,,,,,,, I didn't get up there

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The leat running left to right and part of a sluice foundation,,,,,,,,,supply for the mill water-wheel

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A crushing plant,,,,,,,,,, honest :).,,,,,,, It was at the top of the slope with walled enclosures descending down to segregate the different sized gravel,, you can see two square holes in the lower wall where the gravel could be dispensed into rail-trucks

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Don't know but there are many levels of building here

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Heavy duty buildings here with lots of serious construction,, those beams are about 12" square

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Inside

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Lots or reconstruction,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or bodging as SWMBO calls it

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I'll do some research and come back :)
 
That's a great site. Love all the brickwork and the way it's being overgrown by the saplings. Especially love the interior. Cheers Jools, fab find. :)
 
Very nice Jools. Always difficult to get the scale of places like this across without seeing it in person but I think you've done a pretty good job. Thanks for posting :)
 

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