Ancient and amazing

From houses to parks, we explore some of our oldest places and spaces

- SALLY ROBINSON

Mine the gap

Great Orme Mines in Llandudno is one of the largest prehistoric copper mines in Europe. It was discovered by accident in 1987, during work to landscape the area. Initial excavations revealed dozens of intricate passages and thousands of early tools, including stone hammers and animal bone, which helped date the copper mine to the Bronze Age, 4,000 years ago. Since then, mining engineers have uncovered more passageways and the mine now has five miles of explored tunnels, opened to the public in 1991.
*greatormemines.info

A TREE MENDOUS LEGACY

In the churchyard of a tiny Perthshire village is one of the world's oldest living things: the Fortingall yew. Though this majestic tree's exact age is hotly contested, a common estimate is that it's between 2,000 and 3,000 years old, though it could be more than 5,000. Tree warden Fran Gillespie keeps a watchful eye on the health of the yew, reporting any concerns to the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. She also deals with overenthusiastic tree worshippers, who scale the yew's protective wall, built in 1785 to protect it from souvenir hunters.
*fortingall-graveyard.org.uk

CENTURIES OF WORSHIP