Mining, by all accounts commenced at Coniston around 1599 and there is no evidence that there was any activity prior to that date.
It is believed that the early veins would have been found by shepherds tending their sheep and through torrents of water washing down the hillside. The early miners at Coniston appear to have been of Germans from the Tyrol area and brought over by the Elizabethan ‘Company of Mines Royal’.
Work almost always commenced on where the veins outcropped the surface, once the veins were worked to a level were it was difficult to wind out the ore and water another method to reach the veins was required.
In the early 17th Century tunnels were driven to meet the deeper workings to effect the drainage of water and to allow the ore to be removed.
The mine ceased to be in operation completly in the 50s.
Coniston Copper Mines are very much a vertical world, where deep shafts, false floors, precariously stacked deads and many other dangers abound. These mines present a serious danger to the inexperienced and should not be entered without a knowledgeable guide!
