As the workings became deeper in the Great Orme Copper mines during the Victorian era water became a problem. Initially it was raised to the surface using an ingenious system in which water issuing from a spring some distance away filled a counter-balanced tank. When the tank was full it tipped. A series of wooden rods so-called 'brannock rods' were articulated to the mine shaft where there were connected to a simple bucket-lift system. Every-time the tank tipped it moved the rods and lifted water to the surface.
Photo: One of the pits where there was an articulated joint between the timber rods.