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Ancient Mines in Montgomeryshire. By O. DAVIES, M.A. INTRODUCTORY. Few of those who have explored Central Wales will have failed to observe the numerous deserted mine-workings on both sides of the Plynlimon range, in North Cardiganshire and Western Mont- gomeryshire. They have been carefully described by Professor O. T. Jones1, and there are other references to the stone-hammers occasionally found, which seem to date from the earliest period of the industry. In 1935 the British Association for the Advancement of Science set up a committee to investigate early mining in Wales one of the first areas explored was the Plynlimon district. For the excavations a grant was generously made by the Powysland Club. In the British Associa- tion Reports for 1936 and 1937 an account was given of the mines yielding stone hammers, the very simple forms of which suggest a close comparison with those from Parys Mt. and Orme's Head, known to have been exploited by the Romans. There is thus a strong presumption that the earliest mines round Plynlimon are of Roman date and though the course of the Roman roads is hardly significant, ore and slag specimens were found at Caer Sws and Forden2. In Montgom- eryshire two mines have yielded primitive stone hammers, Nantyreira and Nantyricket. The tip of the latter is too denuded to be worth -excavating at the former a small test has been carried out. The irregular distribution of stone hammers and the character- istic style of the primitive working, with complete removal of the vein vertically over a short area, shew that there was no continuity with the revived mining industry of the XVIII and XIX centuries. In Cardiganshire there was mining at the beginning of the XVI. century3, and the industry was developed and put upon a permanent basis by the Society of Mines Royal after 1568. It does not, however, appear that the mines of West Montgomeryshire attracted much attention before the middle of the XIX century, though older workings are 1, Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Special Reports on Mineral Resources, XX. 2. These specimens belong to Welshpool Museum; some of them have been sent to me for examination, and will be reported in a subsequent volume. 3. Hunt, Memoirs of the Geological Survey, II ii (1848), p. 635.