Sygun Copper Mine is a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

copper mine Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ...

which closed in 1903 but was renovated and reopened by the Amies family as a tourist attraction in 1986, focusing on audio-visual tours of the underground workings. Sygun Copper Mine was once a main supplier of minerals in Wales. It is located about outside of the village of

Beddgelert Beddgelert () is a village and community (Wales), community in the Snowdonia area of Gwynedd, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census was 460 (rounded to the nearest 10). This includes Nan ...

in the

Snowdonia National Park Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

History

Mining in the area started in

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

, with small-scale tunnels into mineral veins. These were left relatively untouched until the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

when the tunnels were dug deeper into the hills largely due to rising demand for copper. In 1836 the annual production of ore was valued at £2,800. By 1862 2,000 to 3,000 tons of ore had been extracted from the mine. In 1898 the flotation process, using a mixture of oil and water to extract minerals, was developed by the Elmore brothers, Frank and Stanley, who owned the mine with their father. This was to increase the rate of extraction of copper from the ore. In 1903 the mine was shut down as further working would be unprofitable as the veins had been largely exhausted. The entrance to the mine was reopened in 1983 and restoration work began in autumn 1986. In restoration, hundreds of tons of rubble were removed from the abandoned mine and access was improved. In 2002 the mine and its subsidiaries were put up for sale on the retirement of the original developers.

Awards

The Amies family was awarded the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

Award in 1988 for "the sensitive development of visitor facilities at Sygun Copper Mine" in 1988. The award was presented to the family by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

during an award ceremony, where an

ingot An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is Casting, cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In steelmaking, it is the first step among semi-finished casting products. Ingots usually require a second procedu ...

of copper produced from local ore was gifted to him. The copper mine is now owned and managed by the Ward Family who have refurbished all aspects of the mine and its visitor attractions.

Attractions

The Sygun complex also includes an art museum and

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

. The Sygun Museum of Wales also includes a

Welsh mythology Welsh mythology (also commonly known as ''Y Chwedlau'', meaning "The Legends") consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of t ...

and Welsh history section, the Red Dragon Heritage Centre. The museum has one of the largest art collections of any privately controlled museum in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, small portions being exhibited at various times throughout the year. The collection is split into two main departments,

antique An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

and 20th century.

Popular culture

The copper mine's original buildings, some of which still exist, were shown in the 1958 film ''

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness ''The Inn of the Sixth Happiness'' is a 1958 20th Century Fox film loosely based on the story of Gladys Aylward, a British woman who became a missionary in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Directed by Mark Robson, who received a nomi ...

''.The copper cavern, Alun Pritchard, ''Daily Post'' (Liverpool), 22 March 2003 (NewsBank UK, retrieved 30 June 2008)

References

External links

Sygun Copper MineSygun Copper Mine - Wales UndergroundAerial photographs of copper mines and works in WalesBBC Wales feature on Sygun Copper MineSygun Copper Mine on www.geograph.co.uk : photos of the mine and surrounding area
{{Authority control Beddgelert Copper mines in Wales Former mines in Gwynedd Former mines in Snowdonia Museums in Gwynedd Museums in Snowdonia Mining museums in Wales