Nigel Jones, Mark Walters & Pat Frost. Mountain and Orefields: Metal Mining Landscapes of Mid and North-East Wales.

Nigel Jones, Mark Walters & Pat Frost. Mountain and Orefields: Metal Mining Landscapes of Mid and North-East Wales. NIGEL JONES, MARK WALTERS Mark Everton Walters (born June 2, 1964) is a former professional footballer from Birmingham, England. He was an attacking goal scoring winger. Club careerAston Villa & PAT FROST. Mountain and orefields:metal mining landscapes of mid and north-east Wales (CBA See Capital Builder Account. Research Report142). xvi+192 pages, 140 figures. 2004. York: Council for BritishArchaeology The Council for British Archaeology is a British organisation based in York that promotes archaeology within the United Kingdom. Since 1944 the Council has been involved in publicising and generating public support for British archaeology; formulating and disseminating ; 1-902771-47-8 paperback 19.95 [pounds sterling]. This volume forms the publication of a series of 1990s fieldsurveys of metal mines and mining landscapes, in what were then thecounties of Clwyd and Powys, occupying the north-east quadrant of Wales.It is well-produced, well-illustrated, well-edited, and well-priced; theonly technical criticism is that more use of colour (confined to thecover) might have improved the presentation and given a better'feel' of the landscapes involved. Unlike most British'mining history' literature, this volume is firmlyarchaeological in approach and illustrates the use of professionalarchaeological survey on mining sites; the methodology relies on EDM (Engineering Data Management) An information system that maintains the details of all engineering data while the product is in the design and concept phase. This includes geometry and changes to geometry. See PLM. EDM - Electronic Data Management measured survey and aerial photography This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.This article has been tagged since September 2007. with limited building recording;the historical background is taken (with full acknowledgement) from theworks of mining historians such as David Bick and George Hall. After abrief introduction, the volume consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 contains geological, historical and technologicalbackground. In mid-Wales (Powys), the veins (of lead, zinc and copperores) are hosted by crumpled Ordovician and Silurian deep-sea sediments,forming virtually-unsettled uplands of heather moor and modern forestry.Although not brought out in the text, most of these mines form theeastern side of the larger mid-Wales orefield, whose remainder lies inthe former county of Dyfed outside the study area. In north-east Wales(Clwyd), by contrast, the majority of mines (including all of thosesurveyed for the project) lie within the Flintshire/Denbighshireorefield, where veins of lead and zinc ores (not 'silverores', at least at macroscopic macroscopic/mac��ro��scop��ic/ (mak?ro-skop��ik) gross (2). mac��ro��scop��icor mac��ro��scop��i��caladj.1. Large enough to be perceived or examined by the unaided eye.2. level--the silver is an impurity im��pu��ri��ty?n. pl. im��pu��ri��ties1. The quality or condition of being impure, especially:a. Contamination or pollution.b. Lack of consistency or homogeneity; adulteration.c. inthe lead ore Noun 1. lead ore - ore containing leadore - a mineral that contains metal that is valuable enough to be minedmassicot, massicotite - the mineral form of lead monoxide; in the form of yellow powder it is used as a pigment , recovered by cupellation from the smelted lead) are hostedby gently-dipping carboniferous limestone, forming upland pasture with areasonable amount of settlement. This orefield lacks surface water butlies close to the North Wales coalfield and the industry and transportof the Dee estuary, whereas most of the mid-Wales orefield has abundantsurface water, but is remote from coal, transport and industry. Chapters 2 and 3 are case-studies of individual mines in mid--andnorth-east Wales respectively. The mid-Wales sample includes the BronzeAge workings at Nant yr Eira, and the multi-period workings with hushingat Craig-y-Mwyn and Pen Dylife; the former in particular forms a majorand dramatic site, with the water channels and hush dams used to form amassive (seventeenth century?) hushed opencast, under which laterunderground workings have been driven. Remaining sites are largelynineteenth-early twentieth century in date. In north-east Wales, no siteevidence has yet been identified for Roman (or earlier) mining, althoughinscribed pigs of lead and excavation evidence for smelting sites nearthe orefield show that a Roman mining industry remains to be located.Many of the sites, notably Halkyn Mountain, form extensivemedieval-eighteenth century earthwork earth��work?n.1. An earthen embankment, especially one used as a fortification. See Synonyms at bulwark.2. Engineering Excavation and embankment of earth.3. landscapes of multiple smallshafts and spoil rips, with horse-gin winding circles, small buildingsand some ore-dressing areas, overlain o��ver��lain?v.Past participle of overlie. to varying extents by nucleatedand mechanised nineteenth-twentieth century workings. The differencebetween these workings and those from mid-Wales, and the similaritiesbetween northeastern Wales and English limestone orefields such asDerbyshire and the Mendips, are notable; at the same time, no evidencehas been identified for the flat-buddle ore-dressing areas so common inDerbyshire, nor for the massive medieval 'mineries'(ore-dressing and smelting areas) of the Mendips. Chapter 4, 'Managing Mining Landscapes', discussesconservation issues, albeit briefly. Mining landscapes are seen aslessons on environmental issues. A few sites in both study areas havebeen excavated and actively conserved, and guided trails and displayboards have been put in at others. Threats from afforestation and landreclamation are seen as much reduced; the degree of later-twentiethcentury destruction of heritage and local distinctiveness from (in manycases) unnecessary reclamation stands out to this reviewer, and couldhave been more strongly emphasised. The volume as a whole is an important contribution to thearchaeology of mining, k is arguably the first widely-disseminatedregional corpus from the UK (since the pioneering and invaluable surveysof the Cornwall Archaeological Unit have concentrated in more detail onsmaller areas, and are little known outside Cornwall); its publicationshould be a wakeup call to English mining regions such as the Mendips,Derbyshire, the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines to dolikewise--and of course to colleagues in the major Continentalorefields. At the same time, it shares the weaknesses of 1990s miningarchaeology, still overwhelmingly processual in its underlying interestsand assumptions. The underground landscape is totally omitted, and so(virtually) is smelting. There is little comparison with other Welsh orEnglish mining landscapes, and no broader academic discussion of issuessuch as Welsh and English cultural influences (a crying omission inFlintshire, where the political and cultural history is so complex), thearchaeological visibility of mining law and other social and tenurialfactors (as Martin Roe is demonstrating in Yorkshire, for example), orthe role of mining in the broader social, settlement and agriculturalarchaeology of the study areas. There is still much to do! DAVID CRANSTONE Cranstone Consultants, Gateshead, UK (Email: cranconsult@btinternet.com)