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The search for minerals in the area started before the arrival of the Romans. The plentiful supply of iron ore, coal and limestone within a short distance of each other enabled a thriving industry to flourish in the area from early times. Quarrying has been and remains a major industry in the area and vast reserves of limestone have been taken from Creigiau Quarry, the Taff's Well Quarry and the Morganstown Quarry on the lower Garth and numerous smaller quarries in the area. Iron ore is found in the Carboniferous Limestone running from east to west from Rudry to Llanhari. The narrow band of iron ore of a type called Haematite lies in vein-like formations. The iron ore has been mined since Roman times from a pit on top of the Lesser Garth. During the expansion of the mine in the 19th century adits were driven in from the side of the hill and over 200 people worked in the confined shafts and tunnels extracting over 600,000 tons of ore. It ceased working in the 1930s. |
The iron ore mine in the Lesser Garth. |
An entrance adit, opened in 1842, to improve access to the iron ore mine. |
A view of one of the massive caverns |
