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Penyclun Lead Mine is a post-medieval and modern lead extraction site in Wales, protected by Cadw under reference MG246. The mine exploits lead ore deposits hosted within the Ashgill rocks that underlie the site, a sequence of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone formed during the Ashgill period of the Ordovician. This geological setting is typical of Wales's mineral-rich terrain, which sustained significant lead mining activity from the medieval period through to the twentieth century.
The site represents the industrial heritage of Welsh lead mining, a sector that flourished particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when improved smelting techniques and growing demand for lead made such operations economically viable. Penyclun's working spans the period when mining methods evolved from small-scale extraction to more organised industrial processing.
The mine's designation as a protected monument recognises its importance to understanding Wales's post-medieval industrial development and its geological significance. The surviving features of the site, set within its distinctive Ordovician bedrock landscape, provide evidence of the engineering solutions and labour practices employed in extracting and processing ore from this challenging terrain.
Penyclun Lead Mine is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference MG246. View the official record →
Penyclun Lead Mine is a post-medieval and modern lead extraction site in Wales, protected by Cadw under reference MG246.
Penyclun Lead Mine dates from the post medieval/modern period, and is classified as a lead mine. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Penyclun Lead Mine is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is MG246.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Pen y Clun Camp (0.6 km), Bryn-tail Leadworks (1.5 km), Pen y Castell (1.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Penyclun Lead Mine's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Penyclun Lead Mine stands on Ashgill Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ashgill. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.