Apart from agriculture, coal mining must be one of the earliest industries in the Brymbo locality, as records trace mining operations back to the 1400s.

Following his purchase of Brymbo Estate John Wilkinson, one of the earliest industrialists of the area, exploited mining operations even further. In total there were over one hundred mines on the estate raising coal, ironstone, and clay.

John Wilkinson

Many of the mines were known by number with about a dozen by name such as The Blast, Black Pits, The Wonder, Penrhos Uchaf (Upper Penrhos) and Penrhos Isaf (Lower Penrhos).

The last deep mine in the immediate locality, Plas Power at nearby Tan-y-Fron, closed in 1938. Only three mines were operational on the estate after Plas Power closed, and they were drift mines, namely Smelt at Brymbo, Connahs Level at Lodge and Level Fawr (Big Level) at Ffrith.
They remained operational until the late 1960s.

John Wilkinson purchased the 500-acre Brymbo Estate in 1792. At the time of his death in 1808 it had been enlarged to 900 acres. However, it would appear Wilkinson’s first industrial undertaking was in lead smelting, and his smelter was constructed at the junction of Pool Rd, / Minera Rd, at Top Brymbo. Associated with this was the Bottle Chimney.

The Bottle Chimney

Lead-bearing ore was mined at nearby Minera where Wilkinson and others had considerable interests in various mines.

His industrial efforts lead to the development of the Iron and Steel industry in the Brymbo area. He built a blast furnace and a foundry - these marked the beginning of two hundred years of metal production in Brymbo.

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