Welsh Journals

also add little to the argument. The basic scholarship of this book is too good to be marred by the occasionally petty bitterness of its tone. But perhaps there is something about the subject which, even when the intention is to debunk, encourages a degree of imbalance and prejudice. PAUL LANGFORD Lincoln College, Oxford THE MINES OF CARDIGANSHIRE. By J. R. Foster-Smith. The Northern Mine Research Society, Sheffield, 1979. Pp. 99. £ 2.50. This monograph is one of a series published by the Northern Mine Research Society, and it reflects-as the editor, R. H. Bird, states- the recent upsurge of interest in the mines of Wales and elsewhere'. The parts previously issued on the northern counties of Wales are out of print; a final monograph dealing with 'The Non-ferrous Mines of the South Wales Area' is being prepared. Mr. Foster-Smith states that his aim is to give for industrial historians, geologists and mining engineers 'the locations of and some brief notes upon as many non-ferrous metal mines as it has been possible to trace during a long period of research'. The account had been drafted by 1969; it was partly revised in 1972, and it was published in 1979 with 'minor editorial additions'. Following short introductory remarks on the history, geology and future prospects of the Cardiganshire non-ferrous metal workings, notes (varying in length from one to six paragraphs) are provided on each of 219 mines whose position is shown on five detailed maps. The alternative names of some of these mines are carefully recorded, though occasionally one wishes that some of the names had been subdivided to indicate the pronunciation (e.g. Fron-goch, Craig-goch, T^-gwyn, Esgair-Hir). There are thirteen good photographs of various sites and a number of longitudinal sections of some of the workings. Most of the descriptions conclude with references to sources of information, the most prominent being The Mining Journal; W. H. Lewis, Lead Mining (1967); D. E. Bick, The Old Metal Mines of Mid- Wales; and O. T. Jones, Lead and Zinc (1922). The bibliography contains no reference to the contributions of the late D. M. Rees-e.g. his Metalliferous Mines of Wales, reprinted from Amgueddfa, XII (Winter 1972); the relevant pages of his Industrial Archaeology of Wales (1975); and his paper in Ceredigion, 1966. Rees's account of Esgair Hir and of the mid-nineteenth-century map of 'Esgair Hir or Welsh Potosi Mines' complements the discussion by Mr. Foster-Smith. Again, the evocative paper by Ieuan Pugh, 'The Cardiganshire Mines', Planet, X (February-March 1972), with its statements by some former miners, could have been included.