When miners sled slate down from the hills of Llangynog

Lead deposits were discovered near the village in 1692 and for the next 40 years the village flourished as the three yard thick lead mines were worked to the depth of 100 yards

At its peak the mine yielded 4,000 tonnes of lead a year, sold at seven pounds a ton and smelted on site and worth 20,000 pounds a year to the Earl of Powys.

The village later became home to a slate quarry and while prosperous had lacked a water carriage.

Llangynog hills which were once mined. Picture: Geograph.

While transporting the slate down the hillside had been so dangerous it had been remarked upon by the Cambrian Travellers Guide in 1813

'Opposite the lead mines, on the other side of the village, rises almost perpendicularly, the lofty rock of Llangynog, from which is obtained a considerable quantity of coarse slates.

‘They are brought down in a very singular manner. The vehicle of conveyance is a small sledge, containing three or four cuts of slate.

‘On the fore part of it is fastened a short rope by each end. When loaded and drawn to the edge of the declivity, a man places himself before it, with the rope round his shoulders, then sitting upon the sledge, and seizing hold of the front, he raises his feet from the ground, when the load and its conductor begin to descend, along a narrow winding path.

Llangynog hills which were once mined. Picture: Geograph.

‘The motion accelerates, and the manager of this strange conveyance has to govern its increasing velocity, and to keep it in its proper path by opposing his feet to the ground and projecting parts of the rocks.

‘The least want of dexterity would be certain destruction. Yet this man makes these journeys four or five times a day for the scanty sum of two pence a time.'