Llancynfelin Lead Mine consists of a large complex of mine shafts and worked lodes which are believed to have been worked in the Roman period. The mine, reputedly once a copper mine, was re-opened in the 1740s and again in 1846, when a steam engine was erected for pumping and operating ore stamps. The venture was unsuccessful and the operating plant was sold. In 1854, a steam pumping engine was brought from Green's Foundry, Aberystwyth, and the the workings re-opened as Taliesin mine; however it had closed by late 1856.

Apart from the eighteen metre high chimney and a narrow cutting along which flat (pumping) rods ran, the visible remains are scanty, consisting of numerous shafts and spoil heaps. The notable chimney stack was originally part of a Cornish engine house. The 1888 Ordnance Survey County Series map for Cardiganshire (sheet number III, 4) shows the workings.

Claire Parry, RCAHMW, 2 June 2011.

Sources:
D. Bick, The Old Metal Mines of Mid-Wales, vol 3, 1988.
Association for Industrial Archaeology: A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Mid-Wales, 1984