Initial extraction via series of crawl and chambers commenced in the Bronze Age. These working were subsequently lost, and work re-commenced in the 17C as the Old Mine and New Mine (worked via Pyllau Shaft) on land belonging respectivelly to the Bishop of Bangor and the Mostyn family. The Ty Gwyn Mine subsequently worked veins at the eastern end of the Orme. The antiquity of the workings were recognised, but attributed to the Romans rather than the Bronze Age. Several shafts and adits were commenced including Ty Gwyn Adit, Penmorfa Adit, Vivian Shaft, Treweek Shaft and Roman Shaft. In the 1970s whilst investigating a filled in area with the intention of building a car park, the true extent of the workings and its Bronze Age origin were recognised, and the painstaking job of clearing the workings commenced, culminating with the Visitor Centre and Underground Tour.
Great Orme Exploration Society, Great Orme Mines (showcave)
External Links
Publications (30)
- (1925); BGS - Mineral Resources of GB (c1920s) Vol XXX - Copper Ores: Midlands, Lake District & N Wales; 102 pages
- (1989); CATMHS - Newsletter 023-March; 25 pages
- (1991); CATMHS - Newsletter 029-April; 27 pages
- (1991); CATMHS - Newsletter 030-July; 20 pages
- (1991); CATMHS - Newsletter 031-November; 31 pages
- (1994); CATMHS - Newsletter 037-January; 29 pages
- (1995); CATMHS - Newsletter 041-January; 33 pages
- (1999); CATMHS - Newsletter 056-February; 28 pages
- (2003); CATMHS - Newsletter 072-August; 35 pages
- (2007); CATMHS - Newsletter 088-July; 32 pages
- (2018); CATMHS - Newsletter 132-August; 40 pages
- (2020); CATMHS - Newsletter 140-August; 48 pages
- Barnatt, John (1999); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 14-2 Win - Prehistoric and Roman Mining in the Peak District - Present Knowledge and Future Research; 12 pages (19-30)
- Barnatt, Johna and Haddon Thomas, Garth (1998); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 13-5 Sum - Prehistoric Mining at Ecton, Staffordshire - A Dated Antler Tool and its Context; 7 pages (72-78)
- Bick, D.E. (2003); Old Copper Mines of Snowdonia, The; pp. 124-131
- Campbell Bannerman, N.V. (2000); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 14-4 Win - Beach Slags of the North Wales Coast; 8 pages (41-48)
- Craddock, Paul T. (1996); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 13-1 Sum - Use of Firesetting in the Granite Quarries of South India, The; 5 pages (7-11)
- Craddock, Paul T. and Craddock, Brenda R. (1996); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 13-2 Win - Beginnings of Metallurgy in South-West Britain - Hypotheses and Evidence, The; 12 pages (52-63)
- Craddock, Paul T. and Craddock, Brenda R. and Langenscheidt, Adolphus (2002); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 15-1 Sum - Stone Mining Hammers from Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica; 5 pages (24-28)
- Diane and Nigel Campbell Bannerman (2001); Great Orme Explained, The; 77 pages
- Guilbert, Graeme (1996); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 13-1 Sum - Oldest Artefact of Lead in the Peak - New Evidence from Mam Tor, The; 7 pages (12-18)
- JNCC (2010); Mineralization of England and Wales; pp. 342-346
- Jones, Nigel and Walters, Mark and Frost, Pat (2004); Mountains and Orefields; 208 pages
- Joseph Yelloly Watson (1843); Compendium of British Mining, with Statistical Notices… & Glossary; 97 pages
- Lewis, Andrew (1994); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 12-3 Sum - Bronze Age Mines of the Great Orme - Interim Report; 6 pages (31-36)
- Matheson, Ian (1994); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 12-3 Sum - Coniston Field Visit; 3 pages (113-115)
- Nicholls, Keith H. and Hutchinson, Jon (2015); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 19-3 Sum - Lead and Zinc mining in Flintshire - the engineering legacy for new development; 7 pages (74-80)
- Pickin, John (1999); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 14-2 Win - Stone Hammers from the Ecton Mines in the Bateman Collection, Sheffield; 4 pages (15-18)
- Timberlake, Simon (1994); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 12-3 Sum - Archaeological and Circumstantial Evidence for early Mining in Wales; 11 pages (133-143)
- Timberlake, Simon (2015); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 19-3 Sum - New investigations and new ideas on Prehistoric-Roman metal mining and smelting in Wales; 10 pages (21-30)
