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The Dolaucothi Gold Mines are ancient Roman surface and underground mines located in the valley of the River Cothi, near Pumsaint. The gold mines are located within the Dolaucothi Estate which is now owned by the National Trust.
They are the only mines for Welsh gold outside those of the Dolgellau gold-belt, and are a Scheduled Ancient Monument. They are also the only known Roman gold mines in Britain, although it does not exclude the likelihood that they exploited other known sources in Devon in South West England, north Wales, Scotland and elsewhere. The site is important for showing advanced Roman technology.
The history of gold mining at Dolaucothi dates back over two millennia. In around 74AD, the Roman military advanced on this area, quickly establishing a large fort and a gold mining industry that would continue, at one level or another, for around 200 years.
They’d create large open-cast workings and dug several tunnels (adits) to exploit the gold veins. Most of this was achieved using nothing more than picks and hammers in what must have been very hard labour.
They also demonstrated more advanced techniques as they were mining in an area of hard rock, before the age of explosives.
It’s believed that practices such as ‘fire-setting’ and ‘hushing’ would have been used. ‘Fire-setting’ is a process of setting blazes next to rock faces and dousing them with water to fracture the rock by thermal shock. Then ‘hushing’ involved building aqueducts to carry vast amounts of water to the tops of banks. The power of stored water would be released, stripping the top soil and vegetation exposing the ore within the bedrock. This is the technique that’s had the most significant impact on the landscape at Dolaucothi.
Despite the intrusive techniques that were in use by the Romans, what’s significant today is that the undulating woodlands, fields and hills seem timeless; the scars from mining, softened by nature, farming and the passage of centuries.
The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.
