ABSTRACT
The early history of Cwmystwyth Mine is a period of great speculation on very little information. The first traces of man in Ceredigion, formerly Cardiganshire, appear during the Neolithic or New Stone Age and there has been a total absence of the remains of this era in vicinity of Upper Ystwyth valley. It would seem unlikely that any exploitation of the mines took place immediately after the withdrawal of the Romans from Wales and none of the contemporary writings before 11th century suggest otherwise. It is in the remains of the new Abbey that the links with mining become evident. The monks were obviously capable engineers in that they built a leak system for their corn mill and used part of the tailrace to flush their underground sewers. The opencast area and tips have since been the scene of recent survey work and archaeological excavations carried out by Simon Timberlake and the Early Mines Research Group in 1986 and 1989.
