Many thanks, all. I'll forward this to the Walking for Health team. It's
exactly what they want - the idea is to intrigue people so they actually get
out of their armchairs and go and have a look - and the only way they can do
that is by walking. Broad-brush is what we need - this is for
interpretative boards - but to be broad-brush they need to be absolutely
sure they've looked at everything. A lot of words like 'may' and 'possibly'
may be needed!
The Roman possibility is very exciting - that's the sort of thing visitors
like. And I think we may still have to mention the Sidneys (and the great
Arms for Spain scandal of the early C17 if they can fit it in).
IIRC (this is from when I was working on the Bute estate archives in the old
old Central Library in Cardiff back in the 1970s) there was some
correspondence about reopening the slide pit mid C19. I assume that's when
the narrow cuttings into the bottom of the pit were made, as there's clear
evidence of blasting. I think (but I may just have assumed) that the path
down from the slide pit to the entrance to the castle drive was constructed
as a tramway, probably horse-drawn. But there wasn't enough ore for the
construction of a furnace. IIRC again there was talk of trucking the ore up
to Dowlais (and I don't know why they didn't take it across the river to
Pentyrch - different ownership possibly?) but it wasn't good enough quality
so they gave up.
But this is just a vague recollection and I don't even remember where in the
estate papers it was. I'm trying not to get too involved with the research,
as it's way off my own research field (I'm a medieval church historian) but
as both sites are on my usual daily walk with the dog I can't help being
interested.
Best wishes
Maddy
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