A project to restore a unique part of the Great Orme’s industrial heritage could yet be realised after it attracted the interest of the Welsh Government’s Minister for Tourism and Heritage and a Member of the European Parliament when they visited the site in Llandudno.

Local Gogarth ward councillors Greg Robbins and Mark Jones invited the Welsh Minister for Heritage, Alun Ffred Jones AM, and Plaid Cymru’s MEP Jill Evans to take a look at the site in Llandudno with Cllr Phil Edwards.

The Great Orme Exploration Society has long felt that the last remaining traces of an unusual and bizarre machine known as a Tom and Jerry pumping engine, once vital to keeping the Victorian era copper mine-workings free of floodwater, should be highlighted and preserved for posterity.

The pump was powered by water from Ffynnon Gogarth and the device covered an area from the Gogarth slopes on the western side, to the Pyllau area just below the Summit. A series of pits were excavated at intervals of about twenty feet, lined with stone, and contained a horizontal shaft held between two bearings. Attached to the shaft were wooden frames extending upwards. These frames were connected to each other by means of wooden beams pivoted atop of the frames called brammock rods. Motive power was transmitted from the well along the line of brammock rods to the pump in the mine shaft.

Tom Parry of the Great Orme Exploration Society explained the project:

“After the completion of the Penmorfa adit in 1842, the Tom and Jerry engine ceased to have any relevance and over the years the structure gradually deteriorated. However most of the old pits are still visible, some still retain their original stone and one of the original bearings has survived. It’s felt that an effort should be made to preserve an example of these nineteenth-century artefacts, and that this could easily be achieved with a positive and pleasing effect on the surrounding landscape.

“It is proposed that the stonework of two of the pits be fully restored and a replica of the old wooden structures erected in them, together with a connecting brammock rod. The area could then be fenced off and an information board detailing the history of the device and the location of the various components, installed on the site.”

Jill Evans MEP said:

“I’m from the Rhondda which is very well-known all over the world as a coal mining area. Perhaps less well-known is the rich history of copper mining in Llandudno and on the Great Orme in particular. This was a centre of industry for thousands of years and I am sure we can do more to highlight that industrial heritage for the benefit of local residents and tourists alike.”

Alun Ffred Jones AM, Minister for Heritage in the Welsh Assembly Government, said:

“I would be very interested in a project to highlight the wider industrial heritage of the Great Orme and restoring some aspects of this unique Tom and Jerry Engine could certainly be a part of that. If Llandudno Town and Conwy County Councils can get together with the Great Orme Exploration Society and perhaps other local history societies, I would certainly want my officials to see what we in the Welsh Assembly Government can offer in terms of financial and other support.”

The location suggested is near Pyllau Farm, Great Orme Mines, and the Halfway Tram Station, and would be visible to people entering and leaving the mine, and driving or walking to the Summit Complex at Pen y Gwylfryn.

Cllr Greg Robbins, local town councillor for the Gogarth ward said:

“Restoring part of the Tom and Jerry Engine would undoubtedly be a remarkable and unusual monument to a unique aspect of the rich industrial heritage of the Great Orme.”

Responsibility for the construction is usually attributed to Thomas Jones, Plas Fron Deg, the Agent of the New Mine, who eventually became one of the Llandudno Improvement Commissioners. Many contemporary visitors to Llandudno commented on the device.

‘The water being a very great hindrance to the working of the mines, an engine was erected on the top for the pumping of the water, and in addition to this there was a kind of self-acting pump known as “Tom and Derry”(sic), which was worked right across the mountain by means of long joists fastened together, and working on pivots. On the Gogarth side there was a large tank attached to the end of it, and by means of strong iron pipes water was conveyed to it from a reservoir on the top, and when the tank was full it would pull up the pump in the mine, and on touching the ground the tank would empty itself again, the weight of the pump pulling it down again. ….’

From “A Short History of Old Llandudno", in the Llandudno Advertiser 22nd December 1899.

Diwedd/End.