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Wrysgan Slate Quarry

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NPRN40602
Map ReferenceSH64NE
Grid ReferenceSH6777445581
Unitary (Local) AuthorityGwynedd
Old CountyMerioneth
CommunityFfestiniog
Type Of SiteSLATE QUARRY
Period19th Century
Description
Slate quarrying began at Wrysgan in the 1830s, and was developed substantially in the 1850s. The workings were underground in a series of chambers in the Back and Old Veins of the Ffestiniog Series, exploited at five different levels which were accessed by adits from the from the surface. A small mill dating from c1850 (at SH6767845431) was replaced in 1865 by a larger water-powered mill at the given location, on the middle of the five working levels. The site suffered from water shortages, with a very small reservoir (LLyn Wrysgan, SH6764745336) supplied by a leat along the steep hillside; and in 1920 electrical power was introduced. The quary worked intermittently until the late 1940s.

At first the products were lowered down an incline into Cwm Orthin, where there was a loading platform whence slates were carried by pack animals. Access to the quarry for the men was by a zig-zag track and steps up this slope. In 1850 a new incline was built to connect with the Ffestiniog Railway some 625ft (190 metres) below.

W J Crompton, RCAHMW, 21 December 2011.