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Post by anglais on Dec 7, 2023 14:09:58 GMT
A couple of days ago I was watching Bargain Hunt and the Auction was in Wrexham. Two of the contestants had bought an embossed brass snuff box in an antique barn that was a commemorative of Coedpoeth Colliery. They paid about £20 for it and it fetched double that at auction. It wasn't you who bought it was it?  |
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Hey Mulv
Dec 7, 2023 21:26:00 GMT
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Post by mulv on Dec 7, 2023 21:26:00 GMT
Wasn't us, but I'd have loved that.
There were actually several collieries in Coedpoeth, and our house was built to house workers at one of them - the Talwrn Colliery.
Not sure when it closed but one of our neighbours (until about five years ago - he's in a home now) used to work as a collier. He was reputed to bring coal home in his lunch box and keep it in the bath. I can well believe it - he always used to walk up and down in the village with a wheelbarrow collecting wood because he was too mean to buy firewood.
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Hey Mulv
Dec 7, 2023 21:52:31 GMT
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Post by mulv on Dec 7, 2023 21:52:31 GMT
Just to clarify, he didn't work in any of the Coedpoeth Collieries, as the last one closed in 1945.
Bersham was still open until 1986 - just two years before I first came to Wrexham.
The spoil heap still looms above the main road to Wrexham, and for some time had a Hollywood sign on it 😁
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Post by anglais on Dec 8, 2023 1:44:34 GMT
The snuff box, being a snuff box was snuff box sized with COEDPOETH embossed on it as big as letters as a snuff box sized snuff box could accommodate. Underneath were engraved wheel houses and suchlike and would you believe it had "Talwrn" engraved on it. I called Chrissie to have a look at it. I commented that I thought it was right up your street which it literally was.
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Post by mulv on Dec 8, 2023 8:32:18 GMT
Within a hundred metres of our house there are several grassy hummocks that are old spoil heaps.
Our road leads on to Talwrn Road (just known as the Talwrn) - in fact our neighbours-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden live on the Talwrn.
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Hey Mulv
Dec 8, 2023 9:45:37 GMT
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Post by Su on Dec 8, 2023 9:45:37 GMT
A couple of days ago I was watching Bargain Hunt and the Auction was in Wrexham. Two of the contestants had bought an embossed brass snuff box in an antique barn that was a commemorative of Coedpoeth Colliery. They paid about £20 for it and it fetched double that at auction. It wasn't you who bought it was it? oo I watched that one. To be fair I watch them all seeing as I was one on the show. We were the blue team and we won by not losing as much as the red team. 2001 |
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Hey Mulv
Dec 8, 2023 14:00:20 GMT
via mobile
Post by mulv on Dec 8, 2023 14:00:20 GMT
Hope this linky works. Tap the green 7 to get to the actual mines. www.mindat.org/loc-388811.htmlCoedpoeth means hot wood, and it's where charcoal was created for the steelworks at nearby Brymbo (closed in the nineties). Coal came from the mines and lime from the quarry at Minera (closed in the eighties). Minera (Mwynglawdd) also had a lead mine which closed early in the 20th century, but lead has been mined there since Roman times. Smelt Rd and Old Smelt Rd in Coedpoeth are nothing to do with me, but from iron and lead smelting. Bersham, a couple of miles away, was where John 'Iron Mad' Wilkinson had his ironworks. Now he's REALLY someone worth googling  Got a licence to make Boulton & Watt steam engines but started making more than his licence allowed and sold them cheaply, undercutting B&W until they got wise to him and sued him. Sold cannons to both sides in the Napoleonic war. Built a boat made of iron (The Trial) and was delighted that it didn't sink. Had several wives and concubines and scores of children. Died and was buried in an iron coffin. Clearly as mad as a badger. My sort of bloke 😁 |
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Got a licence to make Boulton & Watt steam engines but started making more than his licence allowed and sold them cheaply, undercutting B&W until they got wise to him and sued him. Sold cannons to both sides in the Napoleonic war. Built a boat made of iron (The Trial) and was delighted that it didn't sink. Had several wives and concubines and scores of children. Died and was buried in an iron coffin. Clearly as mad as a badger. My sort of bloke 😁