Mines in Powys

Powys's lead mines lie scattered through the remote Cambrian Mountains, worked at their most intensive in the 18th and 19th centuries at sites like Van Mine and Dylife, once said to be the largest village in Wales built entirely around its mine. Esgair Hir, in the hills above the Nant-y-Moch reservoir, was known in its day as the 'Welsh Potosi' after the fabulously rich Bolivian silver mountain, and a 1689 legal case fought there helped break the Crown's ancient monopoly on mining silver and gold, opening the way for private capital across the Welsh mining industry.

Open the full map for the year filters and disasters.

Mine	Worked	Commodities
Abercrave Colliery	1872–March 1967	Coal
Aberdaunant Mine	1800–late 1870s	Lead, Copper
Brynhenllys Colliery	1872–1955	Anthracite
Bryntail Lead Mine	Worked from the late 18th century–1884	Lead, Barite
Craig-y-Mwyn Mine	1692–19th century (exact final date unrecorded)	Lead
Cwm Elan Mine	1796 (discovery)–September 1877	Lead, Zinc
Dylife	1640–1901	Lead, Copper, Silver, Zinc
Esgair Hir and Esgair Fraith Mines	1691–1904	Lead, Copper
Gurnos Colliery	About 1900 (Wernplemis before 1858)–1928 (pumping to 1944)	Coal
Gwaunclawdd Colliery	By 1818–1927	Coal
Hendreladais Colliery	from c.1840	Coal
Heol Senni Quarry	from 19th century	Sandstone
International Colliery, Abercrave	By 1888–31 May 1967	Coal
Llanymynech Hill Mines and Quarries	From later Bronze Age–Around 200 AD	Copper, Limestone
Llwyngwern Quarry	By 1828–1941	Slate
Nant-y-Garw Lead Mine	1877 (vein discovered)–1899	Lead
Nantiago Mine	before 1846–c.1918	Lead, Zinc
Penwyllt Quarry	c. 1820–1937	Limestone, Silica Sand
Van Mine	1862–1922	Lead, Silver, Zinc, Barite
Yniscedwyn Colliery	1872–22 March 1968	Anthracite