Our next FoWT monthly meeting will take place on Monday 1st August 2022 – 7.00 pm (19.00 hrs) via Zoom.

“North Wales: Geology and Mining”, by Dr Rob Vernon.

The next FoWT monthly meeting will be held on 1st August 2022. Our guest speaker on the night will be Dr Rob Vernon, who will tell us about the “North Wales: Geology and Mining”.

The talk by Dr Rob Vernon, ‘North Wales: Geology and Mining’ is a brief account of mining in North Wales and examines the geology and mining history of this very diverse mining region. It will include a general overview of the geology, and mining activity, followed by examples of specific mining areas that include the Gwydyr Forest, and Flintshire.

Robert Vernon grew up in Liverpool and attended Toxteth Technical High School. After graduating in geology from London University in 1969, Rob Vernon worked as a geologist in the National Coal Board (Deep Mines). Firstly, as a mine geologist at Lea Hall Colliery, Staffordshire, and secondly as the Area Geologist for North Yorkshire that included the Selby Coalfield. With the demise of the coal industry in 1993 he re-trained in Archaeological Prospection at Bradford University, and was awarded a Doctorate in 2004.

He has always had a passion for mining history and has written widely on the subject. This includes a series of seven books about the Gwydyr Forest lead mines in the Conway Valley, and the lead mines in the Abersoch area, on the Lleyn Peninsula. Eventually, his interest turned to the activities of 19th century British mining companies in Spain and Portugal, and he has written various books and papers on their endeavours, particularly in the Linares area, Andalusia, where he is an honorary member of the local Spanish mining heritage group. He has also travelled widely pursuing his interest and he has given talks about archaeological geophysics and mining history in European countries, as well as India, Japan, Australia and Chile.

His latest book about a Leeds based engineering company (Hathorn, Davey), that specialised in the manufacture of heavy-duty mine pumping engines, was published in 2021.

As usual, the talk will be followed by an update on the latest Williamson Tunnels news and an illustrated presentation by one of the FoWT committee on another aspect of Williamson’s Tunnels, with lots of opportunities for questions and answers.

If you would like to take part in this, or any of FoWT’s future monthly meetings, you will need to register your interest. Once registered, we will e-mail you the details you will need to join the meeting on the night.

To register, Fill in the form on our FoWT Monthly Meeting page and we will do the rest. Once you are on our mailing list to take part in our monthly meetings, look out for our e-mail a few days before the meeting, which will give you all the details you will need to join the meeting.

You can see the complete list of the years talks on the 2022 Zoom Meetings page.