Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
Great Opencast Mine, Parys Mountain
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 3496 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Amlwch Unitary authority : Ynys Mon NGR : SH44159030 Site Type (preferred type first) : POST MEDIEVAL OPENCAST MINE Status : Scheduled Monument
Description : Vast opencast pit used for mining copper ore. Work began on Parys Mountain about 1765, though there are indications of prehistoric and Roman mining. Opencast mining ceased about 1800, though underground work continued until c.1880. <1>
'...the ore was blasted and picked from the rock face. Stages close to the wall enabled the miners to work at the rock face to dislodge the ore. The latter was brought to the surface in buckets raised or lowered by whimseys. These whimseys were fixed along the upper edge of the chasm and ropes with buckets attached hung from them over the practically perpendicular side. In the 'dreadful hollow' the miners worked suspended in mid-air picking with a tool for a footing and cutting out ore in large pieces which fell to the bottom of the hollow. In this way the minder dug a cavern for himself and there he worked until a rope was lowered again to take him to the surface.' <4>
Early Bronze Age spoil was noted by Oliver Davies in the 1920s. The underground workings on the 16 fathom level at Parys Mine provide sequences of mine spoil containing stone maul, charcoal and wood, as wel as environmental debris being studied at Coventry University by Dr T Mighall. (Jenkins 2003)
