Ordovician Lower Van Formation grits, with mineralization consisting of chalcopyrite and lead within a quartz gangue. The vein strikes both north-south and east-west.
A shaft is located east of the dressing floors at SN 8273 8744, with another near the source of Nant Yr Eira to the northwest at SN 8220 8660. Numerous trial workings are scattered across the hillside east of the stream at SN 8267 8747.
Short sections of tramroad extend along the 19th-century spoil tips from the two shafts near the dressing floors, one leading to two ore bins and the other ending behind the crusher house. Two wheelpits are present on the dressing floors—one (38x3ft) powered the crusher house and aided pumping, while the function of the smaller wheelpit, located south of the crusher wheel platform, remains unclear. A reservoir upstream at SN 8265 8773 once supplied water for operations.
Processing infrastructure includes a crusher house, two round buddles, and an ore bin with a picking table platform. Jiggers were likely installed on the platform in front of the large wheelpit. The site also features a mine office east of the dressing floors and a magazine on the hillside to the southeast at SN 8290 8723.
During a 1954 visit, Bick noted a buddle circle, a shaft and and adit in a ‘quarry’. The opencuts and other trial levels were beyond the ‘quarry’.
| Year | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1858 | Mine rediscovered some 1,500 years after it closed by Captain Reynolds from Llanidloes. The open workings he found were 250m long, 3m wide, and of unkown depth. A waterwheel and crusher were installed, and 33 tons of kead recovered, slong with prehistoric mining tools that were deposted at the Alnwick Museum. |
| 1860 | Operated by the Snowbrook (Plynlimmon) SIlver-Lead Mining Company with Captain Goldsworthy in charge. South end explored, winze put down below old bottoms, some ore raised. |
| 1865 | After ending up in the Chancery, mine comes up for auction, including 38 foot water wheel and 24 inch crusher. |
| 1874 | Another company in charge. With new water wheel installed for pumping mine reaches 12 fm level. |
| 1880s | Mine active in early 1880s. |
Total recorded output of 161 tons of lead ore.
External Links
- https://archwilio.org.uk/her/chi3/report/page.php?watprn=CPAT725
- https://www.geologywales.co.uk/central-wales-rigs/PDFs/nantyreira_mine.pdf
- https://www.walesher1974.org/herumd.php?group=CPAT&level=3&docid=301357968
- https://www.walesher1974.org/herumd.php?group=CPAT&level=3&docid=301360560
- https://www.walesher1974.org/herumd.php?group=CPAT&level=3&docid=301362743
Publications (21)
- (1875); Snowbrook Silver Lead Mining Company - Share Certificate; 1 pages
- (1922); BGS - Mineral Resources of GB (c1920s) Vol XX - Lead and Zinc: Cardiganshire & West Montogmeryshire; 242 pages
- Anon (1860); Nant yr Eira Mine
- 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. (1980); Montgomery Metal Mines list , Archaeology in Wales : 36 : 83
- Bick, D.E. (1991); Old Metal Mines of Mid-Wales, The; West Montgomeryshire, Aberdovey, Dinas Mawddwy & Llangynog - Part 4; pp. 28- 30
- 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)
- Cressey, M. and Pickin J. and Hicks, K. (2004); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 15-6 Win - Silver Rig, Pibble and Woodhead Mines, Galloway, Scotland, The; 14 pages (49-62)
- Foster-Smith, J. R. (1978); Mines of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, The
- Frost, P. (2001); Hafren Forest, Nant-yr-Eira Mine , Archaeology in Wales : 41 : 125
- Hamer, E. (1870); A parochial history of Llangurig , The Montgomeryshire Collections : 3 : 232-300
- Hughes, Simon J.S. & Timberlake, Simon (1991); Early Metallurgical Sites in Great Britian No. 6 - Cwmystwyth; 12 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1971); BSA Proceedings Vol VI, No 46 - Mineral Field of Mid Wales, The; 8 pages
- Jones, Nigel and Walters, Mark and Frost, Pat (2004); Mountains and Orefields; 208 pages
- Jones, O. T. (1922); Lead and Zinc. The Mining District of North Cardiganshire and West Montgomeryshire
- Thomas, David (1998); Hafren Forest Archaeological Assessment; 96 pages
- Timberlake, S. (1990); Excavations at Parys Mountain and Nantyreira
- Timberlake, Simon (1988); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 10-3 - Evidence of Prehistoric Mining on Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth; 5 pages (160-164)
- 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)
- Walters, M. (1993); Powys Metal Mines Survey , Archaeology in Wales : 33 : 43-44
- Williams, C. J. & Bick, D. (1992); List of metalliferous mine sites of industrial archaeological importance
