Bryn y Felin Copper Mine

Overview

An old copper mine on the wooded hill west of the Afon Glaslyn below Beddgelert, worked from before 1760 with a deep drainage adit and a riverside stamps mill, and offered for sale for the last time in 1875.

History

Bryn y Felin, 'mill hill', is a copper mine on the wooded hillside west of the Afon Glaslyn, south of Beddgelert, at the northern end of the Aberglaslyn pass. It began as part of the Beddgelert estate, and its most active period was in the eighteenth century: by the 1750s a deep adit had been driven, twenty men worked underground, and there were stamps and a dressing plant on the surface. A stamps mill stood beside the river, and when its waterwheel was offered for sale in the 1820s the premises were suggested for conversion to a woollen mill.

In 1802 the mine belonged to Thomas Jones of Bryntirion. It was sold in the 1830s, worked by the Brynfelin Company from 1838, and was operating in a small way in 1851 after a period of closure. The Brynfelin Copper Mining Company Ltd sank an engine shaft six fathoms below adit in 1861, but the work stopped for want of ore; one account gives 515 tons of ore sold that year, and in 1864 another 16 tons were raised, possibly from the dumps. In 1875 the mine was offered on the market with its plant, which included a machine house, a dressing house and a turbine.

Geology

Three parallel copper lodes, worked out to depth.

Workings

Three parallel deep worked-out lodes with shafts and inclined open stopes up to about 80 feet deep, a stone-lined shaft, and a long drainage adit (the Deep Adit) linking the workings to an outlet near the road.

Closure

Stalled for lack of ore after the 1861 engine shaft; offered for sale with its plant in 1875.

What remains

The remains are much degraded and lie in woodland on private land; the Deep Adit, reopened in the early 2000s, was mostly blocked again by 2026.

A pair of cottages that may have been the barracks, a horse whim circle, a settling tank, a dressing floor, buddle pits, a powder store in the woods, the leat to a destroyed machine house, the stamps mill's wheel pit, and spoil tips.

Redevelopment

Woodland.

Related mines

• Aberglaslyn Copper Mine — Copper mines on either side of the Aberglaslyn pass.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• 515 tons of ore were sold from Bryn y Felin in 1861. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• In the 1750s the Deep Adit was driven at Bryn y Felin, with twenty men underground and stamps and dressing plant on the surface. ¹
• When the stamps mill's waterwheel was offered for sale in the 1820s, the premises were suggested for conversion to a woollen mill. ^1,2
• In 1861 the Brynfelin Copper Mining Company sank an engine shaft six fathoms below adit, but work stopped for lack of ore. ^1,2
• 515 tons of ore were sold from Bryn y Felin in 1861. (uncertain) ²
• In 1864, 16 tons of ore were raised, possibly from the dumps. ¹
• In 1875 the mine was offered for sale with its plant, including a machine house, dressing house and turbine. ^1,2
• The mine consists of three parallel deep worked-out lodes with shafts, drained by a long adit with an outlet near the road. ³

Sources

1. (secondary) Bryn Felin (Buddlepit Mine Database) — Buddlepit Mine Database
2. (observational) Dusk deliberations at Bryn y Felin Copper Mine — Treasure Maps (Iain Robinson)
3. (secondary) Aberglaslyn Bryn y Felin Copper Mine (NPRN 411444) — Coflein (RCAHMW)

Record created: 19 October 2026 · Last researched: 19 October 2026