Never mind New York or Cardiff, the world's most important exporter of metal and base for great ship-building in the 1800s was Amlwch Port.
Before the great mining of Parys Mountain, Amlwch was a quiet hamlet on the North East of Anglesey. Lewis, one of the illustrious Morris brothers of Anglesey and a then customs official in Holyhead, was commissioned in 1748 to record havens of refuge for ships sailing along the coast of Wales. In his report, he described Amlwch Port as being little more than a cove between two steep rocks, in which a vessel could barely turn, and which in his view, was totally undeserving of even a map.
The emergence of Amlwch as an important player on the international industrial stage grew from the discovery of vast reserves of copper on Parys Mountain. This discovery was made by local miner, Rowland Puw, who was given a bottle of whisky and a lifetime's free rent on a local cottage for his work. Others, however, profited far more handsomely from the mining and export of the metal which was in great demand as Europe began its industrial revolution.
The Amlwch mines, under the direction of Anglesey lawyer and entrepreneur Thomas Williams, better known to the miners as Twm Chwarau Teg (Fair Play Tom), became the world's most important producers of copper. Not only was it in huge demand by the emerging industries of the early years of the Industrial Revolution, the mining companies also produced sheathing for Nelson's 'Men of War' as well as minting their own coinage.
Such were the numbers of ships using Amlwch as a port at that time that delays were inevitable, and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1793 which allowed for the port's deepening, widening and regulation. Business that had previously been conducted on the western side was transferred to a raw broad quay, quarried out of the rock on the eastern side, where some of the buildings still stand.
Following the exhaustion of the mines, the port became a well known centre for ship-building. The yard belonging to William Cox-Paynter, but more especially the one belonging to Captain William Thomas, a local man who ran away to sea when he was 12 years of age, turned out vessels renowned for their superior workmanship, speed and beauty. Vestiges of these yards remain, in the form of a sail loft, workshop chimneys, and a dry dock quarried out of the living rock. Other buildings such as the watch house with its little lighthouse, several copper bins, as well as a lime kiln, are much as they were in the 1800s.
However, a number of warehouses, a water powered sawmill and a pub are now little more than ruins.
Parys Mountain is one of only three sites in Wales which have evidence of copper mining during the Bronze and Roman Ages. However, its history dates back much further, to the Ordovician times. About 450 million years ago, the foundations for the mountain were laid down as mud on the ocean floor and mixed in with metal ores created by volcanic activity.
Current scientific thinking is that during the Caledonian Orogeny, a mountain building episode about 400 million years ago, the rocks were folded and the minerals within them were re-dissolved and re-precipitated, resulting in the ore deposits becoming increasingly concentrated. As these have weathered and broken down they have turned the mountain striking shades of red and brown.
The acidic spoil has attracted unusual plants and lichens. Bats have made the mine workings their home, and jackdaws and choughs can also be seen flying over the opencasts. It is easy to see why the site has been used as a set for various sci-fi movies, including Dr Who.
Location: Parys Mountain is south of Amlwch in north east Anglesey.
Grid Reference: SH437909
Cost: Small donation for a guide leaflet (available from the car park) which will lead you on a marked trail around the mountain.
The Past Master
.
Dr David Jenkins and David Wagstaff of the Parys Underground Group take Phil Carradice, presenter of BBC Wales's Past Master, on a dark and slippery journey into the mountain.
Carefully navigating his way past a deep red pool, Phil
Carradice enters the workplace of the Bronze Age miners.
Click here to listen...
How did the rocks of Parys Mountain come to be so rich in copper and what will become of the mine in the future?
Click here to listen...
your comments
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Robert S. Comfort, British Columbia, Canada
Amazing and so informative to obtain history on my great-grandfather Lewis Hughes, mine manager of Hills Guano Works & my great-grandfather William Williams, Postmaster at Amlwch. My grandparents came to Canada in 1912 - Charles & Mabel Hughes.
Fri Feb 6 09:09:41 2009
Henry Jackson
My late grandfather Henry Williams of Bethesda St. Amlwch recalled miners being very poorly paid at the mine, even so, a large part of their wages was deducted for the sharpening of tools and supplying candles. He would have been 14 yrs old in 1900 when the mine was still working. No doubt all the men would have been on some sort of piece work, just like the men at the slate quarries, therefore if they were unable to work due to flooding or a tunnel collapsing, they would not get paid for the duration of the delay. All the men and boy miners had one set of clothing which would be wet through at the end of probably a very long shift, the clothes would somehow be dried on their return home, ready for the next shift or any socialising, such as the chapel or most unlikely, the pub, there wouldn't be any disposable income in those days.
Wed Dec 3 09:13:44 2008
Mel. S from Amlwch
What about the miners? You don't have much info on them.
Thu Oct 9 11:48:37 2008
Mark Smithard
It is so good to see someone taking care of the stark beauty of Parys Mountain. I mapped Parys Mountain in the summer of 1984, as a Geology Undergraduate at Coleg Pryfisgol Cymru, Aberystwyth. We had an earthquake that summer. For me the most spectacular memories were the bright blue copper sulphate crystals that precipitated on the rock face due to the high sulphur content, the heavy sulphur smell that hung in the air on a still summers night, and the monstrous spiders that spun their webs between jagged rocks in the depths of the pit.
Wed May 21 10:53:43 2008
Jeremy Garnett
I am lucky enough to have been down Parys Mountain Mine, I thought it would be claustrophobic it wasn't, but it left me in awe of the men who worked in it, particularly the first miners, I didn't dare follow them on their bellies into the earth.
Wed Nov 21 09:39:21 2007
Marcus Jones now in Lincolnshire
I have been researching my family tree for several years and have just been advised by Anglesey records that they can help me no further, but what a journey I've been on. My earliest ancestors being Thomas Jones who lived at Ty'n y Garreg Llandyfrydog, and whose son Samuel and daughter in law Anne Jones ran the Royal Oak, and the Red Lion in Amlwch. One of Samuels children became a master mariner sailing out of Amlwch to take the copper ore around the world for trade.
Mon Aug 20 16:22:23 2007
wil from the port
bob dick and myself were involved in clearing and making a slipway when hughes from liverpool owned the shipyard in 1955 - it was a pick, shovel and wheelbarrow job; unfortunately i was called up for national service just after completing and tarring the shed roof
Tue Feb 13 16:22:47 2007
Margaret Roberts Anglesey
I'm surprised Jonathan Roose is not mentioned. Was he not responsible for setting up that great industry? He was born in Birchover, Derbyshire in 1731. Having worked as a mine agent on the Lleyn Peninsular before coming to Amlwch it was at a time when all seemed at an end on Parys Mountain. The inscription on his gravestone in St Eleth Cemetery, Amlwch, tells us much about his life. It reads as follows: "Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth Roose wife of Jonathan Roose of Millbank in this parish who departed this life 28th day of April 1797 aged 42 years. Also the remains of the afore said Jonathan Roose who died on the 6th day of February 1813 aged 82 years.
Among this throng of congregated dead Of kindred men whose spirits hence have fled Here lieth one whose mind had long to bear A toilsome task of industry and care He first upon mountains wondrous riches found First drew its minerals blushing from the ground He heard the miner first exulting shout Then toiled near fifty years to guide its treasures out. The course of time will soon this stone decay His name his memory will pass away Yet shall be left some monuments behind Those laboured levels which he formed to draw The teemful waters to the vale below And pillard caverns whence he drew the ore Will long his genius show when known his name no more."
Wed Jan 24 16:53:50 2007
Hugh W. Hughes from Market Drayton
My family from Ty Mawr, Llangadwaladr&
Tyddyn Gyrfar, Bryngwran were hauliers from the mountain to Amlwch, so we believe. Is there any way of conforming this?
Fri Nov 24 09:34:19 2006
'Olly' Scarrott - now in the Isle of Wight
I helped build the new section of the harbour jetty in 1975 as a diver.
We had one man killed in a diving accident there.
Apart from the accident it really is lovely place and I have warm memories of the people.
Tue May 30 09:33:28 2006
Irene Brown, Amlwch
If you want to become a friend of Parys Mountain, we meet at the Sail Loft, Amlwch Port, on the 1st Thursday of each month. please come along! Diolch/Thanks.
Wed Jun 1 11:35:36 2005
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