The legacy of mining - archaeological, environmental and social impact - at Parys Mountain, Anglesey.

GeoMôn is a partner in the Metal Links INTERREG project which seeks to research the legacy of mining in two areas of Wales and two in the Republic of Ireland.  Located within our Geopark, Parys Mountain is believed to have been an active mining site since the early Bronze Age and is still the locus of continued exploration with the latest phase of exploratory drilling in 200X.  Prior to ‘industrial’ scale exploitation in the 18th Century, this was a quiet agricultural community with a small fishing inlet. 

This paper outlines our plans to investigate the development of the mining community, its impact on the local economy, and the current geotourism potential of the mine and surrounding area.  Our Geopark centre is located within the harbour constructed for the export of copper concentrate, which is developing its own identity as a heritage area separate to the mine site itself.  A shipbuilding industry developed here and the harbour saw its last phase of reconstruction as recently as the 1980s for the oil industry.  All is currently disused, but the impact on the local community of this long running ‘boom and bust’ economy will be part of our research project over the next three years.

GeoMôn will deliver a series of geotrails, both in print form and electronic, to highlight the geology, industrial archaeology, the environmental impacts, social history [a town trail], the processing plant and harbour, as well as the local landscape setting.

Our partners will be doing the same, in a lead mining setting in mid-Wales, and at two copper mining areas in Eire; this collaborative project offers the start of a network of cross-border mining-related geoheritage areas.