Largest Bronze Age example of its kind in the world
Uncovered in 1987 during a scheme to landscape an area of Llandudno’s Great Orme, the Copper Mine is the largest Bronze Age example of its kind in the world.
Excavated more than 3,500 years ago by miners using nothing more than stone and bone tools, the cavern gives visitors a feel for the harsh conditions our prehistoric ancestors faced in their search for precious resources.
The name Great Orme has ancient Scandinavian or Norse origins, ormr meaning snake and hofuth meaning head or headland.
Modern translations take it to mean ‘serpent’s head’, derived from the appearance of the landmass to those arriving by sea. The Little Orme lies on the other side of the bay, and the two land masses surround the town of Llandudno.
There are two main phases of mining at the site. The mine was first worked during the Bronze Age, about the same time as Stonehenge was being built, with miners using granite hammers brought up from the beach and animal bone to dig away at the copper ore.
Most of the ore was malachite, a green mineral used in other parts of the world as eye make-up or paint, however blue azurite, gold chalcopyrite and even native copper may have been mined.
It was worked for up to a thousand years, resulting in a vast array of tunnels, some so small they could have only been dug out by children around five or six years old.
The miners used animal fat candles to light their way in passages that extended for miles and went up to 220 feet below the surface.
Finally mining ceased when they reached the water table, by this time iron was the new material and the demand for copper wavered.
During the Industrial Revolution interest in the mine resumed and water was pumped from the site to reach the copper below.
Later Victorian miners sunk shafts down in the site; one can be seen on the visitors’ route that extends 470ft straight down to sea level.
Eventually the mine fell into disuse again as Llandudno became known more as a Victorian seaside resort then a mining town and the mine was covered up by spoil at the end of the 19th century and forgotten once more.
But a scheme to landscape the site in preparation for a car park prompted cavers and mining engineers to abseil down into the workings below and the historical importance of the sight came to light.
Four local people set up a company to buy the lease for the site, excavate it and open it up to the public, with the mine now a major attraction in North Wales.
More than 30,000 bones belonging to cows, sheep, pigs, deer, dogs and small rodents have been uncovered, some of which represented food, others were used as tools, while others could also have been ritual deposits.
Only two human bones have been found at the site so far and are on display in the visitor centre. Although people would have died in the mine, their bodies would have been taken out and given the proper burial rite for the time.
Other finds have included over 3,000 stone hammers, pestle and mortars or other tools; charcoal from fires lit in the underground; and markings in bone or the occasional fingerprint left on the tunnel walls.
Victorian miners also left various artefacts that range from clay pipes to iron shovels, teapots, horseshoes and a powder horn.
