Wagbeach Adit Portal For Snailbeach Mine

• HER Number (PRN): 04963
• Site Name : Wagbeach Adit Portal For Snailbeach Mine
• Protected Status:

  Grade:
  Ref No.:	1018469
  Title:	Wagbeach adit portal
  Type:	Scheduled Monument

• Monument Type:
  • Adit (Post Medieval)
  • Portal (Post Medieval)
• Civil Parish:
  • Minsterley , Shrewsbury and Atcham, Shropshire
• Grid Reference: SJ 3644 0252
• Related Monuments:
  • Snailbeach Lead Mine, 00984
• Related Interventions:
  • 1992-2000 Summary Condition Survey of SAMs in the Shropshire Hills Environmentally Sensitive Area by English Heritage, esa4785
• Brief Description: Scheduled Monument: An outlying mine drainage portal for Snailbeach lead mine, one of the finest lead mining complexes in the country, the Wagbeach site ran a flatrod drainage system from the late 18th century until the mid 19th century, when steam pumping engines at Snailbeach made this unnecessary.
• Description: Scheduled in 1998. Scheduling description: ->
  
  -> The monument lies in the hamlet of The Waterwheel, around 1km west of Snailbeach. It includes the standing and buried remains of the Wagbeach drainage adit and associated remains including a waterwheel pit, iron water tank and water channels, within two areas of protection. ->
  
  -> The adit, or covered drainage channel, whose entrance is included in the western area of protection, was constructed in the 1790s to serve the nearby lead mine at Snailbeach. Its course towards Snailbeach can be traced by the mounds of spoil created when ventilation shafts were cut during its construction. These shaft mounds are not included in the scheduling. The adit housed a flatrod system, an arrangement of staggered rods which allowed the transmission of power, in this case provided by a waterwheel at the adit entrance, to drive a drainage mechanism in the mine itself, from which water then flowed down through the adit and into Minsterley Brook. The flatrod drainage system was replaced in 1858 by a steam engine located at the mine, and the Wagbeach water system was subsequently adapted to drive a barytes grinding mill which processed minerals mined at Snailbeach until its closure in 1926. The barytes mill has since been demolished. ->
  
  -> The entrance or portal of the adit is visible in the westernmost part of the site as a brick and stone arch around 1m wide and 1.5m high. Water still drains from it through a stone-lined channel into the brook. Those remains of the flatrod system which survive in the adit will provide valuable evidence of the technology employed at the site. ->
  
  -> The eastern part of the monument includes features associated with the waterwheel which initially drove the flatrods, and later the barytes mill. Remains in this area include a stone wall which survives to a height of 3m and carries a leat or water channel from which a penstock, in this case an iron water tank with sluice levers, is filled, by means of a thick connecting pipe. The penstock, a rectangular tank supported by two iron legs and the pipe tying it to the wall, acted as a small reservoir, allowing water to be released at will to assist the turning of the waterwheel to its north, or to feed other industrial processes within the mill. The water from the leat which is not caught in the penstock runs on into a curving channel, around 0.4m wide and 35m long, which carries it north and north west to discharge into the stream. Modern fences, gates and walls, sheds, a footbridge, track surfaces and concrete settings are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all these features is included <1>
  
  Approximately 1km to the north west of Snailbeach mine are the ruins and earthwork remains of the earlier flatrod drainage system, replaced by Engine Shaft, which are situated at the head of Wagbeach Adit. It operated between c.1795 and 1858 <2>
  
  Visited during a condition survey by the English Heritage Field Monument Warden, in 1997. Condition recorded as satisfactory.<4>
  
  Site assessment as part of MPP project; rare survival of an C18th water pumping system. Sough portal, wheelpit & iron penstock intact. <5>
• Record Type: Monument
• Sources:

  (01)	Scheduled Monument notification: English Heritage. 1998. Scheduling Papers (New Scheduling, 16/11/1998). 31761.
  (02)	Scheduled Monument notification: English Heritage. 1997. Scheduling Papers (New Scheduling, 20/03/1997). 21658.
  (03)	Deskbased survey report: Ove Arup and Partners Ltd et al. 1985. Snailbeach Lead Mine Study Stage I. Ove Arup and Partners Rep. Vol 1, p25, table 2.
  (04)	Field survey report: Leigh Judith. 2001. Scheduled Ancient Monuments in the Shropshire Hills ESA: Brief Condition Survey.
  (05)	Record form: Anon. late 1990s?. MPP Site Assessments. MPP Step 4 evaluation form?. MPP Site Assessments, Lead Industry: Site Number 7.

• Tags:
  • Adit
  • Portal
• Related Places:
  • Minsterley, Shrewsbury and Atcham, Shropshire (Civil Parish)
• For more information contact: Shropshire Council HER
• Date Last Edited: 04/09/2019 16:06:12