Worked since antiquity. Extensive workings and remains on hillside. Buildings and Leats, tramroads and numerous adits. A dozen lodes worked mainly by adit and crosscuts, deeper working not being undertaken until more recent times.
Hushing reservoir survives at Copper Hill feeding 4 or 5 separate hush channels. The hushes are visible as prominent gashes in the hillside.
Discovery of stone implements and vast amount of material removed where they were found at Copper Hill indicate large amount of work carried out my ancient miners.
During late 18C, hushing was undertaken by Bonsall as recorded by Derbyshire mine engineer Francis Thompson who toured in 1788.
| Year | Leaseholder |
|---|---|
| to 1808 | Thomas Bonsall |
| 1808- | J. Jones |
| 1811- | J. Marsden |
| 1822- | Alderson Bros. |
| 1835- | Lewis Pugh |
| 1844- | Abel Gower |
| 1848- | John Taylor & Co |
| 1866- | Cwmystwyth New Mining Co. |
| 1899- | Cwmystwyth Mining Co. (Gammon) |
| 1905- | Kingside Zinc Blende Co. |
| 1909- | Brunner Mond |
| 1911- | Kingside Mines Company |
| 1915- | Cwmystwyth Mines Limited |
Potted history:
| Year | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1844 | Existed as 4 separate mines: Pugh’s, Kingside, Graig Fawr and Copper Hill. All were though to be be exhausted. Under direction of Capt. Mathew Francis, major exploration pgrogram carried out including sinking of Francis Shaft. |
| ? | Lease passed to John Taylor & Co, followed by several years returning over 1,000 tons of galena. Taylors Level driven. |
| 1863 | Under Capt James Raw, activity centred on western end. Pugh’s Shaft down to 40fm level. |
| 1869 | Pugh’s Shaft down to 54fm level, but ore was poor. Deepest part of the mine. |
| 1874 | Crosscut above Kingside Shaft extended to find new vein (Mitchell’s Lode), yielding lead, but also zinc at depth. |
| 1886 | Company reformed by Taylor, but not with much success. |
| 1899-1909 | Concentrated on zinc under Henry Gammon who built new mill (remains of which still stand) and a system of tramways and inclined planes. The low price of blende meant no profit was made. |
| c1910 | Worked sporadically for another decade. |
| 1921 | Final closure. |
GCR: Post-orogenic (A1) lead-zinc-copper mineralization in Central Wales
External Links
Publications (138)
- (1848); BGS - Memoirs Vol II, Part II; 425 pages
- (1888); Cwmyswyth - Shareholder Call; 1 pages
- (1922); BGS - Mineral Resources of GB (c1920s) Vol XX - Lead and Zinc: Cardiganshire & West Montogmeryshire; 242 pages
- (1980); WMS Newsletter Issue 02, December ; 5 pages
- (1981); WMS Newsletter Issue 03, June ; 4 pages
- (1984); Cwmystwyth Aerial 1984; 1 pages
- (1986); CATMHS - Newsletter 013; 18 pages
- (1986); WMS Newsletter Issue 14 Jun; 3 pages
- (1986); WMS Newsletter Issue 15 Dec; 4 pages
- (1987); WMS Newsletter Issue 16 Jun; 3 pages
- (1987); WMS Newsletter Issue 17 Dec; 5 pages
- (1988); WMS Newsletter Issue 18 May; 12 pages
- (1988); WMS Newsletter Issue 19 Dec; 6 pages
- (1989); CATMHS - Trip Report Easter - Easter Wales Meet; 5 pages
- (1989); WMS Newsletter Issue 20 Jun; 4 pages
- (1989); WMS Newsletter Issue 21 Dec; 8 pages
- (1990); Cwmystwyth IR Aerial 1990; 1 pages
- (1990); WMS Newsletter Issue 22 Jun; 8 pages
- (1990); WMS Newsletter Issue 23 Dec; 8 pages
- (1991); WMS Newsletter Issue 25 Dec; 5 pages
- (1992); WMS Newsletter Issue 27 Dec; 8 pages
- (1993); WMS Newsletter Issue 28 Jun; 8 pages
- (1993); WMS Newsletter Issue 29 Dec; 8 pages
- (1994); WMS Newsletter Issue 30 Jun; 4 pages
- (1994); WMS Newsletter Issue 31 Dec; 10 pages
- (1995); WMS Newsletter Issue 33 Dec; 8 pages
- (1996); CATMHS - Newsletter 047-August; 30 pages
- (1996); WMS Newsletter Issue 34 Jun; 7 pages
- (1997); WMS Newsletter Issue 37 Dec; 11 pages
- (1998); BGS - Minerals in Britain - Lead and Zinc; 6 pages
- (2000); WMS Newsletter Issue 42 Apr; 8 pages
- (2000); WMS Newsletter Issue 43 Oct; 16 pages
- (2001); WMS Newsletter Issue 44 Apr; 10 pages
- (2001); WMS Newsletter Issue 45 Dec; 14 pages
- (2002); WMS Newsletter Issue 46 Apr; 23 pages
- (2002); WMS Newsletter Issue 47 Oct; 28 pages
- (2003); WMS Newsletter Issue 48 Apr; 32 pages
- (2003); WMS Newsletter Issue 49 Winter; 32 pages
- (2004); WMS Newsletter Issue 50 Spring; 40 pages
- (2004); WMS Newsletter Issue 51 Winter; 32 pages
- (2005); WMS Newsletter Issue 52 Spring; 28 pages
- (2006); CATMHS - Newsletter 085-November; 22 pages
- (2007); CATMHS - Newsletter 087-May; 40 pages
- (2007); WMS Newsletter Issue 57 Autumn; 40 pages
- (2012); WMS Newsletter Issue 66 Spring; 40 pages
- (2014); CATMHS - Newsletter 114-February; 44 pages
- (2017); CATMHS - Newsletter 127-May; 45 pages
- (2017); WMS Newsletter Issue 76 Spring; 32 pages
- (2018); WMS Newsletter Issue 78 Spring; 29 pages
- (2018); WMS Newsletter Issue 79 Autumn; 40 pages
- (2020); CATMHS - Newsletter 140-August; 48 pages
- (2022); WMS Newsletter Issue 87 Autumn; 36 pages
- Alderson, George (1818); George Alderson's Cwmystwyth Map; 6 pages
- Andrews, Phillip (1994); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 12-3 Sum - Excavating Mines, with Examples from Cwmystwyth, Chinflon and Kestel; 9 pages (13-21)
- Anon; Cwmystwyth Plan; 1 pages
- Bick, D.E. (1991); Old Metal Mines of Mid-Wales, The; South of Goginan - Part 1; pp.19-22
- Bick, David; NMRS (1986); British Mining 30 - Frongoch Lead & Zinc Mine; ISBN 0901450 47 2; pp.7,19.
- Craddock, B.R. (1994); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 12-3 Sum - Notes on Stone Hammers; 3 pages (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)
- 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)
- Cwmystwyth - a way ahead; 3 pages
- Cwmystwyth Hydro Proposal; 2 pages
- Davies, Henry (1902); Cwmystwyth Mill - Plates; 2 pages
- Davies, Henry (1902); Cwmystwyth Mill; 2 pages
- Edited by D. J. Linton (2009); Welsh Mines & Mining - The Lode of History; 122 pages
- Edited by D. J. Linton (2012); Welsh Mines & Mining - Towards a Better Understanding - New Research on Old Mines; 152 pages
- Edited by D. J. Linton (2015); Welsh Mines & Mining - Mining Technology - Technical Innovation in the Extractive Industries; 181 pages
- Edited by D. J. Linton (2018); Welsh Mines & Mining - The Fascination that is in all Mining; 93 pages
- Edwards, Paul and Murphy, Frances (2015); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 19-3 Sum - Managing the Environmental Legacies of Frongoch Lead and Zinc Mine; 5 pages (3-7)
- Fellows, R & Anon; Cwmbrwyno Map & Secton; 1 pages
- Foster-Smith, J.R.; NMRS (1979); British Mining 12 - Mines of Cardiganshire, The; ISBN 0 901450 14 6; pp.7,9,10,69,80-81.
- Gill, M.C.; NMRS (1993); British Mining 46 - Grassington Mines, The; ISBN 0901450 39 1; pp.139.
- 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)
- Hall, G.W. (2014); Welsh Mines & Mining - Metal Mining in Mid Wales 1822-1921; 131 pages
- Hughes S.J.S.; NMRS (1981); British Mining No. 17; Cwmystwyth Mines, The
- Hughes, S.J.S.; NMRS (1988); British Mining 35 - Goginan Mines, The; ISBN 0901450 33 2; pp.21,22,29,62.
- Hughes, S.J.S.; NMRS (1990); British Mining 40 - Darren Mines, The; ISBN 0901450 36 7; pp.10,15,16,22,28,34,51,60,77,81,94,100.
- Hughes, Simon J.; Cwmystwyth Maps, Plans and Sketches 1; 20 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.; Cwmystwyth Maps, Plans and Sketches 2; 15 pages
- 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
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1976); Cardiganshire - Its Mines and Miners; 52 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1979); Decline of Mining at Cwmystwyth, The; 21 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1979); Decline of Mining at Cwmystwyth; 21 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1988); UK Journal of Mines & Minerals No 5 - Decline of Mining in Mid Wales and Prospects of Revival, The; 10 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1990); UK Journal of Mines & Minerals No 8, Autumn - Llywernog Mine and Museum, Dyfed, Wales; 8 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (2004); WMPT Newsletter April - Talybont - Some Recent work on Ancient Mining in Mid Wales; 15 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (2006); Manchester Research; 4 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (2006); Miner's Lot, The - Version 1; 6 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (2006); Miner's Lot, The - Version 2; 13 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (2006); Upon the Danger of Ore Chutes; 3 pages
- Hughes, Stephen (1994); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 12-3 Sum - The Hushing Leats at Cwmystwyth, The; 6 pages (48-53)
- Jarratt, Tony (1974); Logbook 1; 105 pages
- Jnl. Cwmbran Caving Club, 13; pp. 19-23
- Jones, Elias and Hughes, S.J. (2005); Cardigan Recollections Elias Jones 1894-1945 ; 24 pages
- Jones, Nigel and Walters, Mark and Frost, Pat (2004); Mountains and Orefields; 208 pages
- Liscombe & Co (1880); Mines of Cardiganshire, Montgomereyshire & Shropshire; 52 pages
- Louis, Henry (1896); Treatise on Ore Deposits -Cardiganshire; 12 pages
- Meek, James (2014); Cwmystwyth Mines - Management & Protection Plan; 3 pages
- Misc; Cwmystwyth Maps, Plans and Sketches; 13 pages
- Misc; Cwmystwyth Misc Modern Plans; 17 pages
- Misc; Cwmystwyth Misc Old Plans; 10 pages
- Misc; Cwmystwyth Misc Plans and Sections 1800s; 12 pages
- Morris, William (1794); William Morris' 1794 section of Graig Goch; 1 pages
- Murchison, J.H. (1869); Lead Mines as an Investment; 34 pages
- Nancarrow (1919); Nancarrow Cardiganshire Report; 21 pages
- Naylor, Peter (1981); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 08-1 Jun - Sir Hugh Myddelton The First Mines Adventurer; 6 pages (54-59)
- NMRS; British Mining 34 - Memoirs 1987; pp.23.
- NMRS; British Mining 45 - Memoirs 1992; pp.40-41.
- NMRS; British Mining 50 - Memoirs 1994; pp.60.
- NMRS; British Mining 55 - Memoirs 1995; pp.146.
- NMRS; British Mining 59 - Memoirs 1997; pp.78.
- NMRS; British Mining 80 - Memoirs 2006; pp.33-59,82.
- NMRS; Newsletter Aug/1990; pp.10.
- NMRS; Newsletter Aug/1995; pp.6.
- NMRS; Newsletter Feb/1994; pp.3.
- NMRS; Newsletter Feb/2006; pp.10.
- NMRS; Newsletter Jul/1993; pp.5.
- NMRS; Newsletter May/1993; pp.9.
- NMRS; Newsletter Nov/1987; pp.2.
- NMRS; Newsletter Sep/1977; pp.5.
- NMRS; Newsletter Sep/1989; pp.7.
- Palmer, M.; NMRS (1983); British Mining 22 - Welsh Potosi- "The Richest in all Wales"; ISBN 0 901450 24 3; pp.8.
- Palmer, Marilyn and Neaverson, Peter (1989); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 10-6 Win - Comparative Archaeology of Tin and Lead Dressing in Britain during the Nineteenth Century, The; 32 pages (316-347)
- 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)
- Pickin, John and Timberlake, Simon (1988); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 10-3 - Stone Hammers and Fire-Setting - A Preliminary Experiment at Cwmystwyth Mine, Dyfed; 3 pages (165-167)
- Pritchard, R.J.; NMRS (1985); British Mining 27 - Rheidiol Mines, The; ISBN 0901450 21 9; pp.4-6,9.
- Singer (1803); Singer's 1803 Cwmystwyth Map; 1 pages
- Thorburn, J.A.; NMRS (1986); British Mining 31 - Talargoch Mine; ISBN 0901450 27 8; pp.31.
- 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 (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 (2001); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 14-6 Win - How Old is the Owld Man - Discovering Ancient Mines; 7 pages (54-60)
- 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)
- Waller, William (1698); Waller's 1698 Cwmystwyth Map; 5 pages
- Williams, C.J.; NMRS (1995); British Mining 52 - Great Orme Mines, The; ISBN 0901450 39 1; pp.12.
- Williams, C.J.; NMRS (1995); British Mining 52 - Great Orme Mines, The; ISBN 0901450 39 1; pp.12.
- Williams, R.A.; NMRS (1991); British Mining 42 - Berehaven Copper Mines, The; ISBN 0901450 35 9; pp.14.
- Willis, Lynn and Sheelagh (1989); PDMHS (Peak District Mines Historical Society) 10-5 - Grooved Stone Hammer from Alderley Edge, A; 1 pages (289)
