The Bronze Age Mine

The oldest industry in Wales

The copper on the Great Orme was worked from about 1700 BC to 600 BC, which makes this one of the largest known Bronze Age copper mines in Europe. The ancient miners dug around five kilometres of tunnels and shafts following the malachite and azurite veins through the limestone, using fire-setting to break the rock and bone and antler tools to lever it out. They worked by eye and by the colour of the green staining, and they got remarkably deep — the deepest ancient workings reach about seventy metres below the surface.

Then it stopped, and the site was forgotten. It was rediscovered in 1987 during a landscaping scheme, when a trench hit a Bronze Age tunnel. Excavation since then has recovered thousands of bone tools, stone hammers, and a remarkable amount of evidence about how the work was organised.

Stage one: the opencast

At the published coordinate you are above the opencast trench, the largest of the ancient surface workings. It is a long, deep gash in the limestone following the vein, and the spoil heaps beside it are made of the crushed rock the miners left.

The stage one container is a micro in a solution hollow in the limestone at the western lip of the trench, at knee height. It contains the coordinates of stage two and a warning about opening times.

Stage two: underground

Stage two is inside the public mine, which is entered through the visitor centre on the far side of the hill. There is an entry fee and the mine is closed outside the visitor season, so check before you travel.

Inside, the self-guided route follows the Victorian workings and passes through a section of the Bronze Age tunnels where the ancient tool marks are still visible on the walls. The stage two container is a micro attached under the handrail at the point where the route turns from the Victorian gallery into the Bronze Age section. It is at ankle height on the outside of the rail and it is easy to walk past.

Do not touch the ancient tool marks. Skin oils are genuinely damaging to the surfaces and the mine relies on visitors not doing exactly that.

Stage three: the final

The final is above ground again, on the Marine Drive side of the hill, in a rock crevice beside the path where it passes a ruined powder store. The container is a micro with a rolled logbook and nothing else. Bring a pen.

Terrain and access

• The surface route is on the Great Orme, which is a country park with traffic-free paths and a cable car. The gradients are moderate, not severe.
• The mine is cold — around 10 degrees Celsius year round — and the floor is uneven and wet in places. Stout shoes, not sandals.
• The ancient workings are a scheduled monument and the mine is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its geology and its bat population. Some passages are closed in winter for hibernation.
• Cash for the mine entry fee; the card machine is unreliable.

After the find

The summit has the remains of a Bronze Age settlement, a medieval church and a Victorian tramway, and the view takes in Snowdonia, Anglesey and the Irish Sea. Marine Drive around the headland is a good two-hour walk or a short drive with several stopping points.