Site of Snowdon copper store, Llanberis

Link to Welsh translationSite of Snowdon copper store, Llanberis

The Maes Derlwyn houses stand on the former “Bing” – where copper ore mined on Snowdon was stored before onward carriage for processing. The copper was carried down the mountain on horse-drawn sledges along what’s now the Llanberis Path, one of the most popular routes to Snowdon summit.

It’s thought that copper mining at Clogwyn Coch began in the late 18th century. An adit, old incline and other relics can still be seen below the Snowdon Mountain Railway’s Clogwyn station. Clogwyn is Welsh for cliff.

The mine, near Llyn Du’r Arddu, was over 600 metres above sea level. In some years, mining stopped for the winter and the men worked at another mine. Evidence that Clogwyn Coch mine sometimes operated in winter comes from the burial record of local resident Thomas Williams. He fell to his death near the mine on 3 December 1813 “as he was crossing some ice to go to his work”.

The mine was still being worked in the 1860s. In 1901 it was reported that a group from Caernarfon had secured a lease on the old copper mine with a view to reopening it. The idea was to use the mountain railway to transport the ore, but the venture never proceeded.

By the 1870s there were cottages in this area, which continued to be known as Bing. In 1885 John Owens of Bing was named in a published blacklist of Dinorwig quarrymen who were breaking a quarry strike. The strike aroused such strong feelings that at one point the managers were evicted from their quarry by a large crowd.

Private T Toleman, who lived at Bing, served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the First World War and was wounded in his left foot during the ill-fated Gallipoli landings in 1915. He recuperated in hospital in Bangor.

An early slate wagon, from a short-lived quarry on Snowdon, is displayed at the Bing site.

With thanks to Ken Jones

Postcode: LL55 4TW    View Location Map