Garreg Fawr Iron Mine

Overview

An ironstone and copper mine on the western flank of Moel Eilio above Betws Garmon, begun as a copper trial, worked for iron in the 1840s and developed by Alfred Hickman Ltd from 1907 with an aerial ropeway over the hill to Llanberis.

History

Garreg Fawr mine works a vein of ironstone running from the floor of the Gwyrfai valley up the western flank of Moel Eilio above Betws Garmon. It is the upper of two concerns on the same hillside, divided by a parish boundary wall from the lower Ystrad or Silurian mine. It began as an unsuccessful trial for copper, and iron ore was mined there for a time in the 1840s; in the 1860s it was worked together with the neighbouring slate quarry by the Garreg Fawr Slate and Mineral Company, and later only sporadically under several owners.

In 1907 the Wolverhampton ironmasters Alfred Hickman Ltd took the mine and developed it on a large scale, building an aerial ropeway about 4.7 km long that carried the ore in buckets over Bwlch y Groes to a siding on the London and North Western Railway by Llyn Padarn at Llanberis; it appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1914. On 28 January 1909 Evan Jones, a 63-year-old platelayer, was crushed by a fall of roof and died a few hours later. One account has the mine closing in 1913 with a brief revival in the First World War, when foreign ore supplies were threatened; another gives 3,500 tons raised in 1919 and closure in 1920.

Geology

Ironstone, with some copper, in the Nant Ffrancon measures.

Workings

Shafts, adits and stopes along the vein from the valley floor to the plantation near the top of the hill, worked first as opencuts and then stoped into the hill on several levels, with open shafts dropping from each level and trial levels.

Closure

Closed in 1913 with a revival in the First World War, or in 1920 after raising 3,500 tons in 1919; the sources differ.

What remains

The stoped levels and opencuts survive with open, unguarded shafts and a deep sink hole; a working floor keeps concrete machine bases and a grinding stone, and several adits are flooded.

Opencuts, stopes and adits up the hillside, mine buildings, concrete machine bases and ore-washing channels, and the mortared stone bases of the aerial ropeway's stanchions.

Redevelopment

Hill grazing and a woodland plantation.

Related mines

• Garreg Fawr Slate Quarry — Worked together by the Garreg Fawr Slate and Mineral Company in the 1860s.

What's uncertain

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

• The Garreg Fawr ironstone and copper mines produced 3,500 tons in 1919 and closed in 1920. (disputed) ^2,5
• Garreg Fawr closed in 1913, with a brief revival during the First World War. (disputed) ¹
• The ore occurs as nodules of stilpnomelane in the Nant Ffrancon measures. (uncertain) ⁶

Recorded claims

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

• Garreg Fawr began as an unsuccessful trial for copper, and iron ore was mined there for a period in the 1840s. ¹
• In 1907 Alfred Hickman Ltd of Wolverhampton acquired the mine and built an aerial ropeway about 4.7 km long over the hill to Llanberis. ¹
• An aerial ropeway carried ore from the mine across the mountain to the Llanberis railway, and appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1914. ^2,3
• On 28 January 1909 Evan Jones, 63, a platelayer, was crushed by a fall of roof at Garreg Fawr and died a few hours later. ⁴
• The Garreg Fawr ironstone and copper mines produced 3,500 tons in 1919 and closed in 1920. (disputed) ^2,5
• Garreg Fawr closed in 1913, with a brief revival during the First World War. (disputed) ¹
• The ore occurs as nodules of stilpnomelane in the Nant Ffrancon measures. (uncertain) ⁶

Sources

1. (observational) Garreg Fawr / Ystrad (Silurian) Iron Mines — GeoTopoi (Graham Stephen)
2. (secondary) Garreg-Fawr Ironstone and Copper Mines, Betws Garmon (NPRN 400659) — Coflein (RCAHMW)
3. (secondary) Bryn-Mawr, Aerial Ropeway (NPRN 506080) — Coflein (RCAHMW)
4. (primary) NMRS deaths database: Evan Jones, Garreg Fawr, 28 January 1909 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (observational) Betws Garmon ironstone, copper mine, Aug 22 (trip report) — 28DaysLater
6. (observational) Ystrad/ Garreg Fawr Iron Mines — Treasure Maps (Iain Robinson)

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