1.
Bryneglwys Slate Quarry is located on the south-east side of the Dysynni valley, above Abergynolwyn. Surface workings began here in the early nineteenth century but later developed, producing for the market from 1844. Underground workings took place in the 1860s by men from Lancashire said to be diversifying due to cotton shortages during the American Civil War. Mining was done by means of a vertical shaft and tunnels. Water power was used for hauling and an incline later replaced the shaft. It was also used for compressed air as well as driving several mills. There was a writing slate factory. There was an extensive network of tramroads and inclines. But when the quarry first produced for the market, pack animals were used to transport the slate over the ridge to the south to a wharf at Pennal, on the north bank of the river Dovey. Later slate was exported directly to Aberdyfi by horse and cart through Tywyn. This then gave way to transport to Aberdovey via the Talyllyn Railway (NPRN 34946) which extended above Abergynolwyn to the quarry workings. During the latter part of the nineteenth century output exceeded 8000 tons per annum and more than 250 were employed. This had reduced to 120 workers in 1898 and 57 in 1937-8. The quarry closed in 1948. Most of the buildings were demolished in the early 1980s and most of the site has been afforested but much is traceable on the ground.
Early Ordnance Survey maps portray much detail. On these maps the quarry is named as Bryn-Eglwys.
Sources:
David Leighton & Claire Parry, RCAHMW, 14 January 2015.
2.
A relict quarry landform, partly afforested, dispersed but covering an extensive area in Nant Gwernol, an upland hanging valley. The site includes the only surviving chain incline aerial ropeway directly powered by waterwheels in the slate industry of Wales. Robert Williams, a manager appointed from Nantlle in the 1860s, installed a technology with which he was familiar from his native area, involving a heavy chain running into the pit at an angle from a headframe at the lip of the quarry. A traveller carriage ran up and down this chain hauled by a winding cable, with a waggon suspended on a continuation of the winding cable below. Waggons were lifted from the quarry floor, using power from the waterwheels, and landed on a platform at the top.
Other structures include a quarry pit face, tips of waste rock, a weighbridge house, and a self-acting inclined plane down to the mills.
Statement of Significance:
The dispersed surface workings of the relict Bryneglwys Quarry, which cover a considerable upland area in southern Gwynedd, include an important example of technology transfer within the Slate Landscape of north-west Wales, in the form of the site of a water-driven chain incline system imported from the Nantlle component part.
This site is part of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales World Heritage Site, Component Part 6: Bryneglwys Quarry, Abergynolwyn Village and the Talyllyn Railway. Inscribed July 2020.
Sources:
Hannah Genders Boyd, RCAHMW, February 2022