Wenvoe Iron Mine

Overview

A small haematite mine on the limestone ridge at Wenvoe, and the only Glamorganshire iron mine of any significance outside the main Llanharry to Taff's Well ore belt. It worked intermittently from at least 1859 to a last recorded return in 1919, under a succession of hopeful companies, and was largely forgotten until the neighbouring limestone quarry cut into its old workings in 1979.

History

Wenvoe was never a large mine, but it was an unusual one: Glamorgan's iron came almost entirely from the Llanharry to Taff's Well belt, and this working on the ridge above Wenvoe was the only one of any consequence outside it. Its recorded life is a series of intermittent attempts rather than a continuous operation, and there may have been some limited working before the documented period begins. The Mining Journal noted in 1859 that the Wenvoe Iron Ore Company was selling several thousand tons of haematite ore at good prices, and small-scale production continued to 1861. In 1864 a new concern, the Wenvoe Red Haematite Iron Ore Company, raised 5,752 tons — the largest figure recorded here. No production was returned the following year, but intermittent working appears to have continued into the mid-1870s and again towards the end of the century. The last report of mining comes in 1919, when the Wenvoe Iron Ore Company is recorded with four people employed above ground and none below: a company on paper and a caretaker's staff rather than a working mine. What kept the site from disappearing entirely was the quarry next door. Wenvoe Quarry, long known as the Alps Quarry, works the Carboniferous limestone of the same ridge, and in 1979 the advancing quarry face broke into the old iron workings. Photographs and a survey were made at the time.

Geology

The ore was haematite, with goethite recorded alongside it — iron oxides in the Carboniferous limestone of the ridge that runs along the eastern edge of the Vale of Glamorgan. That is the same kind of setting as the Llanharry to Taff's Well deposits a few miles north-west, where iron ore occurs in and against the limestone, but Wenvoe lies outside that belt and no source read for this record explains why ore was here at all.

Geological setting: Veins and Lodes (historical documentary reference)

Workings

Not established in detail. What is known of the underground workings comes from their accidental rediscovery: the quarry broke into them in 1979 and a survey was made then. The 1919 return records four people employed above ground and none below.

Closure

No formal closure is recorded. Working was intermittent from the 1860s onwards, and the last report of mining is the 1919 return of four surface workers.

What remains

The ground is part of the working Wenvoe Quarry, which broke into the old iron workings in 1979 as extraction advanced. The site is not publicly accessible.

Not established. Nothing read for this record describes surface remains distinct from the quarry that has taken in the ground.

Related mines

• Wenvoe Quarry — In 1979 the advancing Alps Quarry broke directly into the old underground workings of the Wenvoe iron ore mine on the north-east flank of the same limestone ridge — a physical connection between the two, not merely a shared location.

Nearby mines

• Wenvoe Quarry — 0.1 km SW
• Penylan Quarry — 7.8 km NE, Cardiff
• Little Garth Mine — 8.3 km N, Cardiff
• Rumney Quarry — 9.2 km NE, Cardiff
• Nantgarw Colliery — 11.7 km N, Rhondda Cynon Taf

Straight-line distance, within 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.

• Wenvoe was a small iron mine but the only Glamorganshire iron mine of any significance outside the main Llanharry to Taff's Well iron-ore belt, active mainly intermittently through the middle and later 19th century. ¹
• The Mining Journal reported in 1859 that the Wenvoe Iron Ore Company was selling several thousand tons of haematite ore at good prices, with small-scale production continuing to 1861; in 1864 a new company, the Wenvoe Red Haematite Iron Ore Company, mined 5,752 tons. ¹
• Intermittent production appears to have continued into the mid-1870s and towards the end of the century; the last report of mining is in 1919, when the Wenvoe Iron Ore Company is recorded with four people employed above ground. ¹
• The mine lay close to the Wenvoe limestone quarry, shown as Alps Quarry on earlier Ordnance Survey maps, and in 1979 the advancing quarry broke into the old workings; photographs and a survey were made at the time. ¹
• Wenvoe Quarry, long known as Alps Quarry, works the Carboniferous limestone of the same ridge on the eastern edge of the Vale of Glamorgan and has taken in the ground the iron mine occupied. ²
• Haematite and goethite are the minerals recorded from the locality, both referenced to the Mining Journal. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Wenvoe Iron Mine, Wenvoe, Vale of Glamorgan (locality 190318) — Mindat.org, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, citing the Mining Journal
2. (secondary) Wenvoe Quarry — Wikipedia

Record created: 5 September 2026 · Last researched: 6 September 2026