The Montgomeryshire mining boom and the lead in the Llanidloes hills

However minerals have been mined in the area since before the Romans who exploited earlier workings with evidence of a track from the site of early mines in the north west of Llanidloes to the site of the Roman fort in Caersws.

The Romans had certainly recognised the wealth of the lands which had once been the domain of the Ordovice tribe.

However it would be several centuries before any mining on the scale of the Romans took place in Llanidloes.

In the 1850s trials took place and in 1866 the first lead ore was produced near the hamlet of Y Fan.

The discovery of the Fan lead saw the mining operation expand and by 1868 owners invested in new machinery and increasing the number of miners.

Some of the miners came from less productive mines in the district and many were attracted to the rich new mine from further afield in Wales and soon a new village was built.

Van Mine. Picture: Powys Digital History Project.

The manager of the Van Mines was religious and did not approve of drinking so the village had two chapels but no public house.

Such mine workings in remote and mountainous terrain used readily available and cheap water-power, with specially built leats to channel water from the hills to drive water-wheels.

The mine thrived with as many as 700 workers as the village grew between the ancient farms of Manledd Uchaf and Manledd Isaf and by 1871 the Van Mine, as it became known, became among the most productive in Europe and the largest in Britain.

Van mines tramway viaduct piers. Picture by Colin Lea/Geograph.

In 1871 the mine operators, perhaps inspired by the Romans, built a railway line linking Van Mine to Caersws Railway Station and the Cambrian main line.

This had been a boom time in the history of the mine and when shares were sold in 1868 their value soared from under £5 per share to over £85 within a year.

In 1877 a pub called the Van Vaults opened in nearby Llanidloes for thirsty miners.

However the good times were not to last.

The old chimney at Van Mine. Picture by Ralph Rawlinson/Geograph.

The mines declined under pressure from foreign imports in the early 20th century while many miners moved to south Wales to work in the coalfields.

Operations ceased in the inter-war period and eventually closed in 1921 with much of the village left derelict.

The surviving remains include three yellow brick chimneys that were part of the smelting complex, an incline and tramway which had once formed part of the Van Railway.

The Van Mine is not the only mining community which had briefly risen in the hills around Llanidloes in the 1850s.

Dylife Mine's water-wheel. Picture: Powys Digital History Project.

The mine at Dylife between Llanidloes and Machynlleth used water-power fed along specially built channels to drive pumps and water-wheels, saving money on transporting coal to power steam driven machines.

During its existence the Dylife Mine was famous for having the largest water-wheel in Europe and the mine was producing large amounts of lead ore by 1862.

A community of 1,500 people called Dylife home but the mine went into decline due to cheaper imports and would share the fate of Van and would be left virtually abandoned as workers departed to south Wales though the Star Inn remains as a reminder of the village's early boom years.

Churchyard and demolished church in Dylife. Picture by Trevor Harris/Geograph.