Evidence for early mining in west central Wales by Simon Timberlake

Abbey Cwmhir Heritage Trust

A description of investigations into the Pre-historic and Roman mines of west central Wales

The Early Mines Research Group has been investigating the origins of mining for metals in Wales for over 30 years, beginning with excavations on Parys Mt and Nantyreira in the Hafren Forest in 1988.Following a 10 year study of the extraordinary well-preserved Early Bronze Age copper mine on Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth, much of this investigation has focused on a very interesting group of prehistoric mines centred around Plynlimon in the Cambrian Mountains which were a lot smaller than the workings which many people are aware of on the Great Orme, but which were up to 500 years earlier in date, and in some ways akin to the Irish mines in the way they were exploited.One of these, later referred to as Nantyarian or Blaendyffryn Mine lies within the Ceredigion outlier of the medieval granges of Abbey Cwmhir, and although little is known about it, this is an interesting site which doubtless attracted some attention throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods.The current investigation of the origin of West Wales mines is putting the dates back both earlier and later into the Iron Age and Roman periods.This area is important for the story of metals in Britain.Simon Timberlake is a geologist and archaeologist who first began to investigate ancient mines when he was at university in Aberystwyth back in the 1980s. He has worked on mining sites from the Bronze Age to the modern period as far afield as Wales, England, France, Austria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia. Now retired, he had a successful career as a museum curator and latterly as a field archaeologist and university-based researcher.

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Evidence for early mining in west central Wales by Simon Timberlake

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Evidence for early mining in west central Wales by Simon Timberlake

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