Author Topic: The Great Orme  (Read 218106 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #585 on: October 21, 2019, 03:45:36 pm »
THE Great Orme copper mine has been found to be much more important historically than previously believed.

Instead of being worked on a small scale over a long period it has been shown to have been at the centre of a copper boom lasting for 200 years and was the centre of international copper trade routes.

This was the result of very rich ores being discovered at the site which lead to the development of an extensive export trade being developed throughout the British Isles, including Ireland and stretching as far as the Baltic and Brittany.

Dr Alan Williams of Liverpool University, who conducted the research, said: “This was probably the earliest mining boom in British history.
“We have discovered it may have been as early as between 1600 and 1400 BC during the bronze age.

“The Great Orme mine has long been known as one of Europe’s largest, but its size had been attributed to a small scale, seasonal labour force working for nearly a millennium.

“Instead, it now appears likely that there was large scale copper production for about 200 with its metal reaching across Britain, Ireland and into continental Europe, probably involving a full-time mining community.”

He added: “The evidence for a boom period with metal reaching from Brittany to the Baltic suggests that Britain was much more linked into European bronze age trade networks than previously suspected by archaeologists despite Britain at that time having very few settlements of any size.

“The 200 years of boom is thought to have been from the very rich ores in the centre of the mine, an opencast area and the huge man-made cavern underground and was followed by several centuries of very minor production on the remaining thin minor ore veins producing very little copper.”                                                                                                                    ref Pioneer


Offline Ian

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 8949
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #586 on: October 21, 2019, 05:26:28 pm »
I'm actually working on this at the moment. It's fascinating: in or around 1300BC the Deverel–Rimbury culture prompted the mining of copper on the Orme. It’s likely that copper mining was being carried out around 2000BC since bronze artefacts have been unearthed in Wilmslow, dating back to 2000BC.

It all seems to have started around 450 million years ago. Around 450 million years ago, North Wales was home to a super volcano, with the caldera centred on Snowdon. As the huge, super continents of Laurasia and Gondwana moved towards each other to form Pangea, the landscape of North Wales was crumpled and compressed, to form not only a great super volcano but mountains higher than today’s Himalayas.

Move on 100 million years, to the period that gave the Earth its coal reserves, swamplands and dragonflies with three foot wingspans, and we see how the Orme rose from the warm, milky seas that abounded during that period, adding layer upon layer of the skeletonic remains of Cretaceous wildlife.

The Orme, as we all know, is Limestone, and together with the crumpling effect from the 400m year BC tectonic plate fissures, trillions of creatures during the Cretaceous period died, their skeletons contributing to the Orme's structure.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.


Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #587 on: October 22, 2019, 01:00:59 pm »
I like the bit about the "warm, milky seas" , sounds like an interesting piece of research, any further facts would be appreciated.............. a bit more in the present...................

Nature conservationists are inviting the public to help shape the future of the Great Orme.

Residents and visitors are invited to a community drop in day at the Great Orme Country Park Visitor Centre on Wednesday October 30 to meet the teams who are looking after this special landscape.

At the heart of wildlife conservation on the town’s famous beauty spot is Parc Farm, owned by the National Trust. The Trust is working with Conwy County Borough Council countryside unit, nature charity Plantlife and others to develop a long term vision for the farm and the wider Orme headland, which is of international botanical importance.

The drop-in day will be held at the Great Orme Country Park Visitor Centre on Wednesday October 30, between 11am and 4pm, and refreshments will be available. Anyone who can’t make the day is invited to share their ideas on an online questionnaire: http://bit.ly/YParcNT                                                     

Full story https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/17984938.publics-views-sought-future-great-orme-farm/

Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #588 on: October 30, 2019, 09:55:31 am »
Bronze age miners on the Great Orme were the leading armourers of their day, new research has revealed.

Geologists have discovered copper mined from the iconic limestone headland, in Llandudno , was used to make swords and axes, and some have even been discovered lying in European museums 3,600 years later.
This means the earliest mining boom was far earlier in British history than previously thought. and for 200 years mining was on a massive scale. cont.. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/great-orme-miners-armed-ancient-17158469

Link to journal ... https://www.antiquity.ac.uk/latest

General search link.. https://www.google.com/search?q=paper+by+Alan+Williams+and+Le+Carlier+de+Veslud%2C+published+in+the+archaeology+journal+Antiquity&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB813GB813&oq


Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #589 on: January 11, 2020, 10:09:51 am »
Upcoming zombie movie Inmate Zero enlists the Great Orme as home of its terrifying prison

THE Great Orme has been selected as the site for a series of grisly experiments.

The Llandudno landmark is set to appear in upcoming British horror flick Inmate Zero, moonlighting as the fictional St Leonards Island which is home to the terrifying prison setting.

A still from the zombie film - which is marketed as Patients of a Saint for US audiences - was shared with Facebook group The Great Orme by director Russell Owen, and shows a CGI prison superimposed on top of Gun battery site on the West side of the Orme.

On location shooting for the prison took place at HM Prison Shepton Mallet in Somerset.
The film is due for release in the UK on Friday, January 31.                                                         ref Pioneer


Offline Ian

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 8949
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #590 on: January 11, 2020, 11:10:14 am »
A bit of judicious photoshopping done there, I think. That's the fictional camp just past Mares Well. They've digitally removed the road to the West but left the concrete track to the top in view.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Hugo

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 13882
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #591 on: January 11, 2020, 12:08:17 pm »
I noticed that too Ian but if you look again to the west you can actually see the route of the Marine Drive

Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #592 on: March 04, 2020, 03:53:57 pm »
I believe there is a lot of access, behind some of the properties on Abbey Rd. which allows them
easy passage off the Orme ?     but I do agree with conservation methods, especially relocation and birth control.

Headmaster blasts destructive four legged 'vandals' trip-trapping over school grounds
Ysgol San Sior headteacher Ian Jones says some of the Great Orme goats should be relocated or put on birth control.

"Over recent years the goats have destroyed hundreds of pounds' worth of trees and plants, much to Mr Jones' increasing frustration and he now thinks some of them should be relocated.

He said: "The goats come to our school field a lot despite there being a 6ft wall around it, and have decimated 150 of our newly planted trees.

"We didn't have any apples last year as the goats had eaten all our apple blossom, and they destroyed some of the apple trees as well by breaking a lot of the branches."

More.... https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/headteacher-great-orme-goats-vandals-17859645

Offline Blongb

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 1077
  • I love living in Llandudno.
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #593 on: March 04, 2020, 05:20:50 pm »
If a Farmer was keeping these animals, he would be prosecuted for Animal Cruelty, but because it's CCBC, who had no experience in animal husbandry at all, they seem to think they can  totally abdicate all responsibility for looking after their welfare. The reason the Goats come down into the town at this time of the year is obvious, they have run out of fodder on the Great Orme. They aren't provided with any supplementary feeding, so have to resort to scavenging the towns gardens, doing thousands of pounds worth of damage in the process.  $angry$  $angry$  $angry$   
Quot homines tot sententiae: suus cuique mos.
(There are as many opinions as there are people: each has his own view.)

Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #594 on: March 05, 2020, 04:00:37 pm »
A lot of negative comments against the headmaster, on social media, but I do not think they have thought this through, were do you call a halt, at the moment the herd is approx. 150, and causing problems, and these will only increase as their numbers grow.

Offline Hugo

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 13882
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #595 on: March 05, 2020, 05:19:46 pm »
It's ridiculous to have a go at the Headmaster as he's only stating a fact.    That school deserves a lot of credit for the many positive things that they have done for the pupils
If the twits on Twitter can't think of something positive to post then  it would be better not wasting their own time posting anything at all.

Who owns the Goats?     No one will admit owning them for fear of a compo claim, but who put them there in the first place?     Perhaps the original Goats had been creating havoc in Gloddaeth Hall and were relocated because of the damage done at the estate.




Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #596 on: March 06, 2020, 11:29:01 am »
The garden was showing lots of patches of colour yesterday, (One photo below) we had a tidy up, bit of weeding chatting, to the neighbour's etc .... this morning different story, its all gone, at 6am, our neighbour was chasing them out of his garden, apart from the destruction, he was worried about his new car, as a another neighbour had his damaged recently by fighting billy's, also he was surprised as the goats jumped over his front gates with ease............. so we are on the headmasters side.

Offline Hugo

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 13882
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #597 on: March 06, 2020, 12:02:09 pm »
Nice photos Steve and lovely to see the colourful flowers coming out after this spell of awful weather.

Watch out though there's a Billy about!

Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme
« Reply #598 on: March 06, 2020, 04:53:37 pm »
Thanks H. Finished cleaning up the manure, both goat and new friendly visitor, a rabbit, and for good measure cleaned the the gull XXXX off the car, ah well  $angry2$

Offline SteveH

  • Management Board Member & Newsgroup Editor
  • *
  • Posts: 12989
Re: The Great Orme.....Statutory Nuisances complaint
« Reply #599 on: March 07, 2020, 11:31:45 am »
I am sending in a nuisance complaint regarding the goats, it is getting worse, they are now sleeping in the local gardens, and are definitely making themselves at home, time to make some noise.

If you are affected please join me in complaining.

Make a Statutory Nuisances complaint   Conwy Council

https://www.conwy.gov.uk/en/Resident/Forms-Regulatory/Form-Statutory-Nuisances-Complaint.aspx