Hafna Lead Mine Mill

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument comprises the consolidated remains of a major nineteenth-century lead processing mill. In the 1860s a waterwheel-driven crushing floor was erected, which in the 1880s was superseded by a stone-built gravity-fed mill in tiers up the hillside. This mill was extended in 1893-4 and 1907 and operated until 1915. The mill is unique within north-west Wales in combining mechanical, physical and chemical processes, together with a tuyere furnace smelter. The bases of the machinery survive, together with parts of the furnace, the sites of a steam and gas engine, ore bins, spoil tips and a visually impressive chimney. An incline passes through the site and there is a capped shaft at the top. Hafna Lead Mine was worked since at least the eighteenth century.

The monument is of national importance as an outstanding surviving metal processing site associated with an important mine. It has the potential to enhance and illustrate our knowledge and understanding of mining technology and retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. The structures themselves may be expected to contain archaeological information concerning chronology and building techniques. The importance of the site is further enhanced by its group value with other industrial monuments nearby.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.