Vigra Mine

Location	Llanelltyd, Bontddu, Dolgellau gold belt, Gwynedd — 52.7543, -3.9818 (exact)
Commodities	Gold, Copper
Type	Metal
Worked	1833–c. 1910 (little work after 1879)
Operators	Walter Claude Johnson (1894–1900), C. T. Owen (1919–1921)

Overview

Vigra, on the opposite side of the Bontddu valley from Clogau, began as a modest copper mine in the 1820s and became, after switching to gold in the 1860s, one of the more significant producers in the Dolgellau gold belt — though its history is so entangled with its neighbour's that its own output was never separately recorded.

History

An application to work Vigra was made in 1833, and the mine operated as a copper producer, alongside the neighbouring Clogau mine, mainly between 1825 and 1845. Vigra switched to gold in the 1860s, working a continuation of the same St David's lode running through Clogau Mountain that made Clogau itself one of Wales's most celebrated gold mines. Following a bankruptcy in 1857, Vigra was jointly owned with Clogau between 1861 and 1867, before reverting to independent ownership; the two mines were frequently operated together, working the same mineralised veins running across the valley. Little further work was recorded after 1879, though operations formally continued until 1897, and a brief resumption followed the First World War before mining at Vigra petered out for good around 1910. Because the mine's output was so consistently recorded alongside Clogau's in surviving accounts, nothing is known today of Vigra's independent production figures.

Geology

The mine worked a continuation of the gold-bearing St David's lode of Clogau Mountain, part of the Dolgellau gold belt — a genuinely unusual, non-granite-related hydrothermal gold mineralisation within Cambrian rocks, quite different from the tin- and copper-producing granite orefields of Cornwall and Devon.

Geological setting: Hydrothermal Deposits (well documented example)

Workings

Vigra was worked partly in conjunction with the neighbouring Clogau mine, sharing the same mineralised veins across the Bontddu valley; underground workings included Jenny's Adit, recorded on surviving 19th-century mine plans.

Closure

Little work was recorded after 1879; operations formally continued to 1897, with a brief post-First World War resumption before mining ended around 1910. Wilkinson's gazetteer records the gold working as running from 1836 to 1921, with C. T. Owen the last operator.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

Clogau Gold Mine — The two gold mines on opposite sides of the valley were co-owned.

Nearby mines

Clogau Gold Mine — 0.9 miles (1.4 km) NE
Hafotty Manganese Mine — 3.0 miles (4.9 km) W
Cefn Coch Gold Mine — 4.3 miles (7.0 km) NE
Glasdir Mine — 5.1 miles (8.2 km) NE
Turf Copper Mine — 6.2 miles (10.0 km) NE

Straight-line distance, within 9 miles (15 km). Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

Vigra operated as a copper mine mainly between 1825 and 1845 before switching to gold in the 1860s; because its output was so consistently recorded alongside the neighbouring Clogau mine's, no independent production figures for Vigra survive. ^1,2
Following a bankruptcy in 1857, Vigra was jointly owned with Clogau between 1861 and 1867 before reverting to independent ownership. ¹
Wilkinson's gazetteer places Vigra Mine at SH 663 192 in Llanaber parish, worked for gold between 1836 and 1921, with the Clogau Co. Ltd as operator in 1874-75, William Milford and Albert Henry Nicholson as owners or operators in 1880-82, Walter Claude Johnson as operator from 1894 to 1900 and C. T. Owen in 1919-21; a separate North Vigra Mine at SH 664 194 was worked for gold from 1862 to 1875 by the North Vigra Mining Co. Ltd. ³
The British Geological Survey holds an horizontal plan of the Vigra and Pontddu mines with a vertical section of Vigra (KP19212, copper and gold, two chains to the inch) and Jenny's Adit at Vigra (KP19210), and the Mining Remediation Authority the abandonment plans of Clogau St David's and Vigra (OM6215, OMR355A) and of Vigra and Pontddu (OMR50B). ^4,5

Photographs & further reading

Mines 34 - Welsh Gold Mines 2 - Vigra (28DaysLater) (photos)

An underground report from 2022-23 on Vigra, worked with Clogau across the Bontddu valley on the same veins, tracing the surviving holes into the hillside and the remains of the mill by the stream that served both mines — reduced now to walls and a machine base, but shown beside an old photograph taken from the same spot, with an account of its waterwheels giving way to turbines by the end of the 1800s.

View source

Wilkinson's Gazetteer and Bibliography of the Mines and Quarries of Wales (reference)

The searchable gazetteer whose Vigra entry gives the operators, dates and references.

View source

Sources

(secondary) Vigra Mine, Llanelltyd, Gwynedd, Wales, UK — Mindat
(secondary) Chapter 23: The Dolgellau gold belt — grahamhall.org
(secondary) Vigra Mine, Llanaber: entry in Wilkinson's Gazetteer and Bibliography of the Mines and Quarries of Wales (hendrecoed.org.uk) — Jeremy Wilkinson / Dave Linton (hendrecoed.org.uk)
(primary) Jenny's Adit at Vigra Mine (BGS Mine Plans Catalogue) — British Geological Survey
(primary) An horizontal plan of Vigra and Pontduu mines, KP19212 (BGS mine plans catalogue) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 23 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026