II.—The Geology of the Dolegelley Gold-Belt, North Wales

Extract

It is believed that the ancient Britons and the Welsh were fully aware of the precious metal which lay among their hills. Three Welsh chieftains are known to have possessed chariots of gold, and it is inferred that this gold was derived from mines which the Welsh worked at an early date. Many gold ornaments have from time to time been unearthed, and as their style differs entirely from that customary at the early Christian period, they are believed to belong to a time long anterior to that of Christianity. Again, it is known that the Romans under Julius Cæsar worked minerals in various parts of Britain, and there are many evidences of Roman mine-workings where gold must have been the principal, if not the sole, object of search. One of the most remarkable of these is outside Merionethshire, at Gogofau, near Pumpsaint, in Carmarthenshire, where the traces of Roman occupancy are undoubted. Another locality, this time in Merionethshire, is reported by Ramsay (12, p. 64) as on the banks of the Allt-y-Wenallt.