Mining in Wales - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mining in Wales provided a significant source of income to the economy of Wales

Economy of Wales

The Economy of Wales. In 2010, according to ONS provisional data, headline gross value added in Wales was £44,517m, making the Welsh economy the tenth largest of the UK's twelve regions ahead of only Northern Ireland and the North East of England...

throughout the nineteenth century and early twentieth century.

Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

was famous for its coal mining

Coal mining

The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

, in the Rhondda Valley

Rhondda

Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...

, the South Wales Valleys

South Wales Valleys

The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...

and throughout the South Wales coalfield

South Wales Coalfield

The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...

and by 1913 Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

had become the largest coal exporting port in the world, as coal was transported down by rail. North east Wales also had its own coalfield and Tower Colliery

Tower Colliery

Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...

near Hirwaun

Hirwaun

Hirwaun is the name of a village at the northwest end of the Cynon Valley in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. The village of Hirwaun is from the town of Aberdare, and comes under Aberdare for postal reasons...

is regarded by many as the oldest open coal mine and one of the largest in the world.

History

There had been small-scale mining in Wales in the pre-Roman British Iron Age

British Iron Age

The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...

, but it would be undertaken on an industrial scale under the Romans

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, who completed their conquest of Wales in AD 78. Substantial quantities of gold, copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

, and lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

were extracted, along with lesser amounts of zinc

Zinc

Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...

and silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

. Mining would continue until the process was no longer practical or profitable, at which time the mine would be abandoned. The extensive excavations of the Roman operations at Dolaucothi provide a picture of the high level of Roman technology

Roman technology

Roman technology is the engineering practice which supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years....

and the expertise of Roman engineering

Roman engineering

Romans are famous for their advanced engineering accomplishments, although some of their own inventions were improvements on older ideas, concepts and inventions. Technology for bringing running water into cities was developed in the east, but transformed by the Romans into a technology...

in the ancient era.

Coal mining

There is evidence of mining in the Blaenavon

Blaenavon

Blaenavon is a town and World Heritage Site in south eastern Wales, lying at the source of the Afon Lwyd north of Pontypool, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. The town lies high on a hillside and has a population of 6,349 people...

area going back to the 14th century, and there is evidence of mine workings at Mostyn

Mostyn Colliery

Mostyn Colliery was a pioneering coal mine in Flintshire, North Wales, which was owned in the later part of its operating life by the influential Mostyn family. The mine was located on the banks of the River Dee.-Early history:...

as far back as 1261, but it is believed to have been practised even as early as Roman

Mining in Roman Britain

Mining was one of the most prosperous activities in Roman Britain. Britain was rich in resources such as copper, gold, iron, lead, salt, silver, and tin, materials in high demand in the Roman Empire. The abundance of mineral resources in the British Isles was probably one of the reasons for the...

times. The coal mining industry burgeoned throughout the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

and into the 19th century, when shafts were sunk to complement the open-cast mining and drift mining

Drift mining

Drift mining is either the mining of a placer deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. Drift is a more general mining term, meaning a near-horizontal passageway in a mine, following the bed or vein of ore. A...

already exploiting the ample and obvious coal resources.

During the first half of the nineteenth century mining was often at the centre of working-class discontent in Wales, and a number of uprisings such as the Merthyr Rising in 1831 against employers were a characteristic of the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

in Wales, Dic Penderyn

Dic Penderyn

Richard Lewis, better known as Dic Penderyn , was a Welsh labourer and coal miner who was involved with the Merthyr Rising of June 3, 1831. In the course of the riot he was arrested alongside Lewis Lewis, one of the primary figures in the uprising, and charged with stabbing a soldier with a bayonet...

became a martyr to industrial workers. The Chartist movement and the 1839 Newport Rising

Newport Rising

The Newport Rising was the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain, when on 4 November 1839, somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 Chartist sympathisers, including many coal-miners, most with home-made arms, led by John Frost, marched on the town of Newport,...

showed the growing concerns and awareness of the work force of their value to the nation. Although the Factory Acts

Factory Acts

The Factory Acts were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to limit the number of hours worked by women and children first in the textile industry, then later in all industries....

of the 1830s and resultant Mines Act of 1842 was meant to prevent women and boys under 10 years of age from working underground, it is believed to have been widely ignored. To replace female and child labour the pit pony

Pit pony

A pit pony was a type of pony commonly used underground in coal mines from the mid 18th up until the mid 20th century.-History:Ponies began to be used underground, often replacing child or female labour, as distances from pit head to coal face became greater...

was more widely introduced. Much later, in the middle of the 20th century, mining was still a hazardous enterprise, resulting in many accidents and long term ill-health with many of Blaenavon's older citizens still suffering from silicosis

Silicosis

Silicosis, also known as Potter's rot, is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs...

and other mining related diseases.

Incorporating the existing Coity colliery and Kearsley's pit (sunk in 1860), the Big Pit opened in 1880, so called because it was the first shaft in Wales large enough to allow two tramways. At the height of coal production, there were over 160 drift mines and over 30 shafts working the nine seams in the Blaenavon

Blaenavon

locality. Big Pit

Big Pit

Big Pit: National Coal Museum is a museum in Blaenavon, Torfaen, South Wales. A working coal mine from 1860 to 1980, it was opened to visitors from 1980 under the auspices of the National Museum Wales...

alone employed some 1,300 men digging a quarter of a million tons of coal a year. Large amounts of coal were needed to supply the local ironworks

Ironworks

An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e...

, as it took 3 tons of coal to produce a ton of iron. Blaenavon 'steam' coal was of high quality and it was exported globally. Burning hotly while leaving minimum ash, it was ideal to power the steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s that drove steamships, Dreadnought

Dreadnought

The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...

s of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

and steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

railways across the world.

However both economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

and politics

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

after World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

with its resultant general strike

1926 United Kingdom general strike

The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...

, the 1930s Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

and later Nationalisation and the miners' strike of 1984-1985 took their toll and all the smaller pits were either abandoned or swallowed into Big Pit's encroaching search for new seams. Finally in February 1980 the coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

ran out and even Big Pit, then the oldest mine in Wales, had to close.

There are still nine headstocks remaining in Wales, including Big Pit (the metal frame erected in 1921 during the Miners' Strike of that year, to replace a wooden structure).

Big Pit National Coal Museum & other mining museums in Wales

The Big Pit National Coal Museum is located at Blaenavon

Blaenavon

, and in 2005 it won the prestigious Gulbenkian Prize

Gulbenkian Prize

The Art Fund Prize, formerly known as the Gulbenkian Prize, is an annual prize awarded to a museum or gallery in the United Kingdom for a "track record of imagination, innovation and excellence"...

for museum of the year. It is one of only two remaining mines where it is possible for visitors to journey to the underground workings some 300 ft (90 m) below using the same cages that transported the miners.

Other museums preserving the memories and heritage of the coal mining industry in Wales are at :

South Wales Miners' Museum
South Wales Miners' Museum
The South Wales Miners' Museum is a museum of the coal mining industry and its workforce in the South Wales coalfield. It is located at Cynonville within the Afan Forest Park Visitor Centre in the Afan Forest Park, near the small village of Cymmer in Port Talbot.- History :The museum, the first of...

near Cymmer
Cefn Coed Colliery Museum
Cefn Coed Colliery Museum
Cefn Coed Colliery Museum is a former coal mine, now operating as a museum. It is located at Crynant near Neath in the South Wales Valleys.-Background:Coal mining in the Neath area began with the development of the port of Neath in the 16th century...

near Crynant
Crynant
Crynant is a village in the Dulais Valley, lying between the mountains of Mynydd Marchywel to the west, Hirfynydd to the east and Mynydd y Drum to the north. It lies 7¾ miles north-east from the town of Neath in Neath Port Talbot, Wales....
Rhondda Heritage Park
Rhondda Heritage Park
Rhondda Heritage Park, Trehafod, Rhondda, South Wales is a tourist attraction which offers an insight into the life of the coal mining community that existed in the area until the 1980s....

near Trehafod
Trehafod
Trehafod is a village in the Rhondda Valley between Porth and Pontypridd in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, although in administrative terms is split between the electoral division of Cymmer to the West and Rhondda to the East...

Slate mining

North Wales also had a significant slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

mining industry.

Working mines

Following the miners' strike, the only two deep mines remained working in Wales. Tower Colliery

Tower Colliery

Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...

, Hirwaun

Hirwaun

, had been run by a miner's co-operative since 1994. Due to dwindling coal seams, the colliery was last worked on January 18, 2008 and the official closure of the colliery occurred on January 25.
Mining continues at Aberpergwm Colliery, a smaller mine closed by the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

in 1985 but reopened in 1996. Several other small mines still exist, including the Blaentillery drift mine near to the Big Pit National Coal Museum.

Coal

Aberpergwm
Aberpergwm
Aberpergwm is the site of a colliery in the Vale of Neath near Glynneath in south Wales.The drift mine was reopened in 1996 after being closed by British Coal in 1985. It is owned and worked by Energybuild, a private company now wholly owned by Walter Energy of the USA...

(anthracite coal, drift mine, active in 2011 ; operated by Walter Energy
Walter Energy
Walter Energy, Inc. , with its U.S. headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama and its Canadian & U.K. headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, is the world’s leading, publicly traded “pure play” metallurgical coal producer for the global steel industry. The Company also produces steam coal and...

; about 230 employees; reserves about 6.8 Mtons, production about 150ktons/yr)
Bedwas Navigation Colliery
Bedwas Navigation Colliery
Bedwas Navigation Colliery was a coal mine that was located in the small Welsh village of Bedwas. Situated 2 miles north of Caerphilly, the colliery opened in 1913 and in 1939 produced 675,000 tonnes of coal in single year....
Bersham
Bersham
Bersham is a small Welsh village in the suburbs of the county borough of Wrexham that lies next to the River Clywedog. Wrexham owes a large amount of its original industrial heritage to Bersham, but despite this the village still retains a rural feeling....

(closed 1986)
Big Pit National Coal Museum
Blaenant Colliery (closed 1990)
Cefn Coed Colliery Museum
Cefn Coed Colliery Museum
Cefn Coed Colliery Museum is a former coal mine, now operating as a museum. It is located at Crynant near Neath in the South Wales Valleys.-Background:Coal mining in the Neath area began with the development of the port of Neath in the 16th century...
Deep Navigation Colliery
Deep Navigation Colliery
Deep Navigation Colliery was a coal mine in South Wales, that operated from 1872 until 1991.Located next to the co-developed village of Treharris in the borough of Merthyr Tydfil, on development it was the deepest coalmine in South Wales Coalfield by some...

, Treharris
Treharris
Treharris is a small town and community in the Taff Bargoed Valley in the south of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. It is located around 1 km west of Trelewis, from which it is separated by the Taff Bargoed river, and 1.5 km from Nelson in Caerphilly county borough and...
Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Scheme
Gresford Colliery
Gresford Colliery
Gresford Colliery was a coal mine located a mile from the North Wales village of Gresford, near Wrexham, Wales.-Sinking:The Gresford coalfield runs from Point of Ayr, on the Flintshire coast, down to the Shropshire border. Although coal mining records date back to the 15th Century, it was not...

(closed 1973)
Lady Windsor Colliery
Lady Windsor Colliery
Lady Windsor Colliery was a coal mine located in the village of Ynysybwl in South Wales. Opened in 1884, it closed in 1988, 104 years later.-Development:...

in Ynysybwl
Ynysybwl
Ynysybwl is a village in Cwm Clydach in Wales. It is situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, roughly north-north-east of Cardiff, north of Pontypridd and south of Merthyr Tydfil, and forms part of the community of Ynysybwl and Coed-y-cwm....

(closed 1988); linked underground to Abercynon Colliery
Abercynon Colliery
Abercynon Colliery was a coal mine located in Abercynon, South Wales. Opened in 1889, it closed in 1988.-Development:The colliery was developed at a cost of £270,000 from 1889, by the Dowlais Iron Company, to feed a new steel works in Cardiff...
Mardy Colliery
Mardy Colliery
Mardy Colliery was a coal mine located in the South Wales village of Maerdy , in the Rhondda Valley, located in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales...

in Maerdy
Maerdy
Maerdy is a village and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying at the head of the Rhondda Fach Valley.- History :...

(closed 1990, site cleared and now occupied by Avon Rubber
Avon Rubber
Avon Rubber p.l.c. is a manufacturer of high technology rubber-based products for a number of manufacturing sectors. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index...

); linked underground to Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...
Mostyn Colliery
Mostyn Colliery
Mostyn Colliery was a pioneering coal mine in Flintshire, North Wales, which was owned in the later part of its operating life by the influential Mostyn family. The mine was located on the banks of the River Dee.-Early history:...

(closed 1887 after flooding)
Nantgarw Colliery
Nantgarw Colliery
Nantgarw Colliery was a coal mine located in the village on Nantgarw, Mid Glamorgan located just north of Cardiff.Opened in 1910, it closed in 1986. The site is now redeveloped as the industrial estate Parc Nantgarw.-Development:...

(amalgamated with Windsor Colliery in 1974, closed 1986); deepest pit in the South Wales Coalfield
South Wales Coalfield
The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...

when sunk in 1915
Nine Mile Point Colliery
Nine Mile Point Colliery
Nine Mile Point colliery was a coal mine at Cwmfelinfach in the South Wales Valleys, originally known as "Coronation Colliery", and constructed between 1902 and 1905. The deepest shaft was 1,176 feet deep...

at Cwmfelinfach
Cwmfelinfach
Cwmfelinfach is a small village located in the Sirhowy valley of south-east Wales. It is part of the district of Caerphilly within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. Located north of Wattsville and about 5 miles north of the nearest town Risca and south of Blackwood.Cwmfelinfach was home to...

(closed 1964)
Oakdale Colliery
Oakdale Colliery
Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley, one of the valleys of South Wales.In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking for new opportunities to fill the demand...

at Ty Mellyn in the Sirhowy Valley
Sirhowy Valley
The Sirhowy Valley is an industrialised valley in the eastern part of the Valleys region of South Wales. It is named from the Sirhowy River which runs through it. Its upper reaches are occupied by the town of Tredegar within the unitary area of Blaenau Gwent...

(closed 1989; linked to Markham and Celynen North)
Point of Ayr
Point of Ayr
Point of Ayr is the northernmost point of mainland Wales. It is situated immediately to the north of Talacre in Flintshire, at the mouth of the Dee estuary. It is to the southwest of the Liverpool Bay area of the Irish Sea...

(closed 1996)
Universal Colliery
Universal Colliery
Universal Colliery was a coal mine located in the town of Senghenydd in the Aber Valley, roughly four miles north-west of the town of Caerphilly...

at Senghenydd
Senghenydd
Senghenydd is a town in the Aber Valley, roughly four miles north-west of the town of Caerphilly and is within the county borough of Caerphilly, Wales. It is traditionally within the county of Glamorgan...

, site of the Senghenydd Colliery Disaster
Senghenydd Colliery Disaster
The Senghenydd Colliery Disaster, also known as the Senghenydd Explosion, occurred in Senghenydd , near Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales on 14 October 1913, killing 439 miners...

; converted to a ventilation facility for Windsor Colliery
Windsor Colliery
Windsor Colliery was a coal mine in the village of Abertridwr, Caerphilly.Opened in 1895, it amalgamated with the Nantgarw Colliery in 1974, and closed in 1986. Ty'n y Parc housing estate now occupies the site.-Development:...

and then closed in 1988
Seven Sisters anthracite; closed 1963
Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...

(closed 1994 and re-opened after an employees' buy-out by Goitre Tower Anthracite in 1995; closed 2008 after exhaustion of the seam, but with plans to build an open-cast mine in its place)
Windsor Colliery
Windsor Colliery
Windsor Colliery was a coal mine in the village of Abertridwr, Caerphilly.Opened in 1895, it amalgamated with the Nantgarw Colliery in 1974, and closed in 1986. Ty'n y Parc housing estate now occupies the site.-Development:...

in Abertridwr, Caerphilly; closed 1986
Wyllie Colliery
Wyllie Colliery
Wyllie Colliery was located in the Sirhowy Valley, South Wales.- 20th Century Pit :The coal mine was sunk by the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company and opened in 1926. The colliery was named after a director of the company, Alexander Wyllie...

in the Sirhowy Valley
Sirhowy Valley
The Sirhowy Valley is an industrialised valley in the eastern part of the Valleys region of South Wales. It is named from the Sirhowy River which runs through it. Its upper reaches are occupied by the town of Tredegar within the unitary area of Blaenau Gwent...

; closed 1968

Metal ores

Sygun Copper Mine
Sygun Copper Mine
Sygun Copper Mine is a Victorian copper mine that was closed in 1903 and was renovated and reopened by the Amies family as a tourist attraction in 1986, focusing on audio-visual tours of the underground workings.- Location :...
Clogau Gold Mine
Dolaucothi Gold Mines
Dolaucothi Gold Mines
The Dolaucothi Gold Mines , also known as the Ogofau Gold Mine, are Roman surface and deep mines located in the valley of the River Cothi, near Pumsaint, Carmarthenshire, Wales...
Gwynfynydd
Gwynfynydd
Gwynfynydd Gold Mine near Ganllwyd, Dolgellau, Gwynedd, Wales, was discovered in 1860. It was active until 1998 and has produced 45,000+ troy ounces of Welsh gold since 1884. The Queen was presented with a kilogram of Welsh gold on her 60th birthday from this mine...

gold mine
Great Orme
Great Orme
The Great Orme is a prominent limestone headland on the north coast of Wales situated in Llandudno. It is referred to as Cyngreawdr Fynydd in a poem by the 12th century poet Gwalchmai ap Meilyr...

copper
Parys Mountain
Parys Mountain
Parys Mountain – in the Welsh language Mynydd Parys – is located south of the town of Amlwch in north east Anglesey, Wales. It is the site of a large copper mine that was extensively exploited in the late 18th century.-History:...

copper mine
Llywernog Silver Lead Mine
Minera Leadmines
Minera Leadmines
The Minera Lead Mines were a mining operation and now a country park and tourist centre in the village of Minera near Wrexham, in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.-History:...
Van Leadmine Llanidloes
Bryntail lead mine
Cilcain
Cilcain
Cilcain is a small community, near Mold in Flintshire, north-east Wales. The village has an industrial history and includes the Millennium Woods, a post office, a public house, a parish church and a village hall....

lead mine
Cwmystwyth Mines
Cwmystwyth Mines
Cwmystwyth mines are located in Cwmystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales.-Mining heritage:Cwm Ystwyth is considered the most important non-ferrous metal mining site in Wales providing a premier example of mining heritage in Ceredigion...

External links

Welsh Coal Mines - all the Welsh pits and their brief histories
BBC Wales Coal House website
42 pages of mining photos compiled by John Cornwell and held on Gathering the Jewels
Coal Mining in Blaenavon

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

History

Coal mining

Big Pit National Coal Museum & other mining museums in Wales

Slate mining

Working mines

Coal

Metal ores

See also

External links