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Geological Society Excursion to Llanharry Iron Mine
1959

from Roger S. Williams

In 1959 when I was in the Sixth a few of us decided to start a Geological Society because of our passion for the subject and also the fact that we were living in a superb location from a geological point of view. Situated at the top edge of the coalfield and the bottom edge of the Carboniferous Limestone district, as well as being on the fringe of the Beacons, meant that a lot of what we were learning in class was right on our doorstep. Weekends were often spent ‘geologising’. Hence the idea of forming the Geological Society.

Our first excursion as a Society, which we arranged ourselves, was to the iron mine at Llanharry, and I enclose the rather rough notes which I included in my Geol Prac for A Level. I remember the staff at the iron mine being quite bemused by the enthusiasm of this party of boys (and staff) who wished to visit a hole in the ground at Llanharry. It really was very primitive and they stopped work for the day to allow our visit. With current Health and Safety legislation, plus insurance indemnities, there is absolutely no way that this type of visit could take place today, even if the mine was still running. We presumably descended to the level of the lode in a conventional cage, although this is not mentioned in my notes. We then climbed down various ladders from chamber to chamber.

Click on the thumbnail pictures below to read the notes.

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