In 1999 Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust opened a heritage
trail around the features on the mountain.
A leaflet explaining the historical features of the trail around the mountain
can be obtained from the car park on the Amlwch to Rhosybol road. (SH438907). A
small charge is made for the leaflet but visitors are free to follow the trail
whenever they like.
The trail described below has been
developed by the AIHT. It comprises 7 features of interest which can be seen
within a 1-2 hour visit, and involves walking along rough tracks that require
strong footwear. The views are excellent, but there is little shelter in wet
weather. For those who would prefer a shorter visit (20 minutes), a panoramic
view of the Great Opencast can be obtained from the viewing platform (Site 1)
from which the windmill (6) and Mona Mineyard (2) can also be seen in the
distance.
All mine sites are potentially hazardous and require sensible care in keeping to
the indicated path and in avoiding steep slopes and loose spoil. The mountain
also contains features of particular scientific and archaeological value which
are the subject of current research. Several sites have now been designated by
the Countryside Council for Wales as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
because of their geological or biological content, and some of the features are
Scheduled Ancient Monuments in the care of Cadw. Please take care to avoid
damage, even to what may appear to be just loose rock or ruins.
The industrial history of Parys Mountain is complemented by that of Amlwch Port,
4km to the north. This compact but important inlet developed with the mines in
the late 1 8th century to become a major north Wales port, ship-building,
smelting and chemical industry centre. From here the ore from the mines was
shipped out to Swansea or Lancashire, and coal and scrap iron imported. At this
time Amlwch itself was the second largest population centre in Wales after
Carmarthen. The port's fortunes declined with those of the mines and it is now
a fascinating relic of bygone industry, well worth visiting.
AIHT - AMLWCH
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE TRUST
The Trust (Patron, the Marquess of Anglesey) was established In 1997,
and has charitable status. Its aims are: to conserve the natural and industrial
landscape of Parys Mountain and Amlwch Port; to promote scientific and
historical research and a fuller understanding of these two sites; to present
them for the appreciation of the public.
1: The GREAT OPENCAST
This impressive chasm was opened up at an early stage of mining after
the collapse of workings reached by numerous shallow shafts. It was a feature
much marvelled at by visitors and has been recorded in several early paintings.
These show projecting platforms with windlasses, and miners working the ore from
the sides, suspended on ropes.
Most of this opencast was worked by the Parys Mine, the smaller "Hillside
Opencast" to the east being worked by the Mona Mine. The opencasts represent
only a small proportion of the mine as later extraction occurred through shafts
that reached depths of 300m, some 130m below sealevel and now therefore
flooded. Since the rocks dip steeply to the north, most of these deeper
underground workings are located between the Opencast and the main road over the
mountain.
The small lake at the bottom results from the damming of a deep level draining
to the north. The water is very acidic (sulphuric acid - pH 2) and meant that
pumps had to be made from oak, not iron. Its orange-brown colour is due to the
very high concentrations of iron (ferric - in solution) leached from oxidising
sulphide minerals, as indeed do the range of yellows, reds and purples in the
spoil. This dramatic scene has been used in numerous films from "Dr Who" to,
most recently, "Mortal Kombat 2".
2: The MINE YARDS
The buildings on the south side of the Opencast are the remains of the
Mona Mineyard. This group of offices, smithy and stores, surrounding a
courtyard,was the focus of the mine's surface activities. Here miners bought
their tools, candles and explosives from the Mona Mine company, and bid in small
groups at auctions for "bargains" to work underground sections of the mine for a
fortnight.
The equivalent mine yard for the Parys Mine is at the south west corner of the
Opencast, but its buildings are in a more ruinous state.
3: The PRECIPITATION
PONDS
It was discovered that purer metal could be obtained very efficiently by
precipitation from solution. Water was pumped to the top of the mountain and
allowed to drain down through the spoil and the underground workings (i.e. "sparging"),
dissolving the copper due to its very acid nature. Scrap iron was then added to
the copper-rich water to give metallic copper in a sequence of purpose-built,
brick-lined "precipitation ponds" of which there are several examples on the
mountain, the best preserved being those in this central valley.
The dissolved iron was itself then oxidised and precipitated as ochre, a
valuable by-product that was marketed as a pigment.
4: PEARL ENGINE HOUSE
This distinctive building, prominent on the skyline at the east end of
the mountain, once housed a Cornish Beam Engine. It was one of the earliest
steam engines in north Wales, installed in 1819 to pump water from the adjacent
230m Pearl shaft. Its chimney stood at the north west corner, but sadly it
collapsed some years back. In front are the remains of a capstan pit used to
raise and lower the oak pump rods in the shaft. The building is currently being
conserved by the Welsh Mines Preservation Trust with financial aid from Cadw.
5: CHARLOTTE YARD
In this large area of spoil, just to the north of the mass of hard
quartz-rich rock known as "Carreg y Doll", traces of a "dressing" or "cobbing
floor" can be seen in the form of a cobbled surface, sadly now much reduced by
the removal of spoil for road stone. This is where the ore from Mona Mine was
broken up into small pieces by the famous "Copper Ladies" (Morwynion Amlwch)
using an iron flat hammer, and protecting their fingers with iron rings. The
ore fragments were then picked out by children and roasted in large heaped kilns
for up to 3 months, filling the air with fumes.
6: The WINDMILL and OXEN
QUARRY
Built in 1 878 on the summit of Parys Mountain, in the hope of reducing
operating costs, the windmill was used to pump water from the underlying mine
workings. It was later connected to a steam engine at the nearby 270m deep
Cairns shaft by a system of reciprocating wooden rods ("flat rods"), the remains
of which could clearly be seen during the early part of this century. The
windmill was unique amongst the many on Anglesey in that it comprised five
sails.
To the north lies Oxen Quarry which owes its name to annual celebrations of the
first major rediscovery of rich copper ores on March 2nd 1 768. On this day the
people of Amlwch were treated to a roasted oxen. Within this quarry, the early
miners discovered "ancient" spoil tips. These contained rounded stones, or
"mauls", that had been used as hammers, and charcoal from "firesetting", an
early technique used to shatter rock before black powder explosives became
available in the 18th century. The charcoal has been dated by carbon-14 to
nearly 2000 years B.C. The history of copper mining on the mountain thus goes
back to the Early Bronze Age, making it one of the earliest mines known in
Britain.
7: The MODERN MINE
The 4000 years of mining history continues today. Anglesey Mining plc
was formed in 1984 to explore and develop the Parys Mountain property. In 1988
it raised £5.5 million and sank a shaft to a depth of 300m with more than 1 km
of underground tunnelling. Over 2,000 tonnes of ore were mined, processed and
sold, but development was halted by poor market conditions.
Geological investigation recommenced in 1995 and led to further drilling from
surface in 1997 with the objective of increasing the company's current resource
of 6.5 million tonnes at a combined grade of >1 0% zinc (the principle product),
copper, lead, silver and gold. The planned mine would require over 100
employees and should operate for more than 15 years. Ore would be extracted
from 80-600m below surface, concentrated in a processing plant and then
despatched to a smelter.
A BRIEF
HISTORY OF THE MINES
It was not until the mid-eighteenth century that the first major ore
deposit of the modern industrial era (the "Golden Venture Lode") was discovered
by Jonathan Roose. His tombstone and eulogy may be seen today in Amlwch
churchyard. At this time the mountain was divided between two owners leading to
the development of adjoining mines, the Mona Mine to the East (owned by an
ancestor of the present Marquess of Anglesey) and Parys Mine to the West.
The copper from these two mines dominated the world's markets in the 1780s. It
was used to sheath the admiralty's ships of war, in order to prevent the growth
of seaweed and barnacles and to prevent boring by worms. This increased their
manoeuvrability and made possible Nelson's victories. The post-war slump and
diminishing accessible ore reserves, together with competition from cheaper ores
from' abroad, led to the decline of the mines and to the end of deep mining in
the 1880s.
The ore was initially worked on the surface from shallow shafts and then by
open-pit mining (Opencasts) and later underground from adits and from shafts up
to 300m deep. The ore was broken into small lumps by hand, the best ore being
transported by ship from Amlwch Port to Lancashire or South Wales for smelting.
Copper was concentrated and extracted from the remainder using kilns and
furnaces on site and at Amlwch Port itself. It was also discovered that purer
metal could be obtained efficiently, although in small amounts, by its
precipitation from drainage water with scrap iron in purpose-built ponds.
Associated with the mines, other important chemical industries were established
on the mountain based on by-products, such as ochre pigments, sulphur, vitriol
and alum.
The eighteenth century miners recognised that they were following in the steps
of much earlier workers, an observation that was linked to the discovery locally
of copper ingots bearing Roman inscriptions. Recently, excavations have enabled
surface debris to be dated to nearly four thousand years ago, (the early Bronze
Age), and access has also been regained to the sealed underground workings of
Parys mine revealing evidence for this ancient mining. Parys Mountain is thus
an addition to the very few sites in Britain, such as the Great Orme, where
there is evidence for the prehistoric beginnings of our British metal mining
industry. It is therefore internationally important both as a historic mine and
as an archaeological site.
GEOLOGY and BIOLOGY
The rocks of Parys Mountain originated as muds in the margins of a sea
basin around 440 million years ago. At that time submarine volcanoes were
erupting lavas and ashes, and the fumes they exhaled produced rich deposits of
metals on the sea floor. These metals occur as the sulphide minerals
chalcopyrite (copper and iron), galena (lead), sphalerite (zinc), with abundant
pyrite (iron), and they form an ore deposit ("Kuroko type") which is unique in
Britain. During later distortion of the earth's crust (the "Caledonian Orogeny"
circa 400 million years ago) the ore deposit was deformed by being tilted
steeply down to the north, folded (synclinal structure) and fractured
(faulting), although this interpretation is currently under revision. During
these phases of deformation some of the metals were remobilised, giving rise to
a complex ore body.
The weathering of this deposit has produced very acidic conditions (pH @ 2).
The abundant iron has been redeposited in different forms to give the striking
red and brown colours of the mountain: there is little surface sign of copper
today, but lead was redeposited as its sulphate ("anglesite") for which Parys
Mountain is the type locality.
This extreme, harsh, acidic setting has resulted in a unique environment
supporting unusual forms of life. Special bacteria derive their energy from the
oxidation of sulphides, and a rich flora of special lichens can be found coating
rock surfaces, whilst heather survives over most of the mountain. Bats,
including the rare lesser horse shoe bat, have colonised the mine workings, and
amongst the birds to be seen soaring with the jackdaws over the opencasts are
the red-legged / billed choughs.
ThomasWilliams (1737-1802)
The mountain was divided in ownership leading to the development of two
separate mines, the Mona Mine to the East and Parys Mine to the West. Legal
disputes marked the early mining until both mines came under the control of
Thomas Williams (Twm chwarae teg -"Tom fair play"), a local lawyer from LLanidan.
He became a major British industrialist of his time, equal in prowess to the
Wilkinsons, Boulton and Watt, and someone of whom Anglesey can be justly proud.
Under his astute management Amlwch came to dominate the world's copper markets
at its peak in the 1780s when a workforce of several thousand was employed at
the mines.
Further reading:
Harris, J.R. (1964) The Copper King Liverpool University Press
Hope, B.D. (1994) A Curious Place: the industrial history of Amlwch (1550-1950)
Bridge Books, Wrexham
Rowlands, J.R. (1981) Copper Mountain 2nd edn.,Anglesey Antiquarian Society,
Llangefni