Great Orme

The Orme is a block of carboniferous limestone rising to 207 metres, cut off on three sides by sea. Beneath it are copper mines opened around 4,000 years ago, rediscovered in 1987 during landscaping: over eight kilometres of Bronze Age tunnels have been surveyed, some so narrow that only children could have worked them, and it is the largest prehistoric mine known anywhere. The Great Orme Tramway, opened in 1902, is one of only three cable-hauled street tramways still running in the world, pulled by a cable under the road in two sections. A cable car of 1969, the longest in Britain, runs from the other side. A herd of Kashmir goats, descended from a nineteenth-century gift, roams the headland and has been known to come down into the town streets.

Highlights

• The Bronze Age mines - over eight kilometres of tunnels first worked around 4,000 years ago.
• The cable tramway - one of three street funicular tramways left worldwide.
• The Kashmir goats - a feral herd on the headland and sometimes in the town.
• The limestone grassland - rare plants including a wild cotoneaster found nowhere else.

When to go

April to October for the tram, cable car and mines, which all close for winter. Wild flowers on the limestone peak in June. The toll road round the headland is open year-round in fair weather.

Practical notes

The mine tour involves low, narrow passages and helmets and is not suitable for anyone with claustrophobia. The cable car closes in wind, which is frequent. The tram runs in two sections with a change halfway. The goats are wild and should not be approached.

Nearby

Llandudno is directly below; Conwy and its castle lie south.

Key facts