Copper Mines

The Great Orme Copper mines is the most extensive Bronze Age Mine discovered in Western Europe. It is believed that the mine was first worked on over 3,500 years ago. Bronze is produced by combining the elements copper and tin, to produce the Bronze alloy. Bronze was seen as containing the attractive colour of copper with the strength of tin.

Bronze used both tin and copper qualities in equal measure. It was used in farming, to produce primitive scythe's. It was used to make weapons such as spears, swords and axes. It was also used to make personal items such a broaches and jewelry, as well as items such as cooking pots and vases.

Bronze Age people were not as nomadic as people from the Stone Age. They generally farmed, fished and hunted in areas near to the villages they created. The villages, consisting of a number of conical and cylindrical huts, can still be seen today. Apparently abandoned around 600 BC, but reopened in 1692. It is possible that some of the copper from the mine was exported to Continental Europe, even in the Bronze Age. By Victorian times techniques for mining had developed and techniques to access to deeper veins of Malachite were created. Malachite is the ore from which copper is extracted. The mines fell into disuse again at the end of the 19th century.

Today the mines can be visited by the public where it is possible to explore the underground passageways and old mine workings.