Limestone quarrying has taken place in the Ceiriog valley and Froncysyllte area since the sixteenth century. The arrival of the canal at Froncysyllte in the early 1800s allowed the small quarries at Pen-y-graig to extensively expand and develop by improving transport links and enabling large-scale, cost-effective movement of limestone through the landscape for the first time.

As the quarry expanded, a complex system of tramroads and inclines developed to transport limestone from the quarry face to the three sets of lime banks by the Ellesmere Canal below: Froncysyllte Limekilns, Froncysyllte East Limekiln Bank and Froncysyllte West. These tramroads form the Pen-y-graig Tramway, and their development can be traced through the 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition OS maps of the quarry and village. Many of the routes are preserved in the modern street layout of Froncysyllte. The tramroad to Froncysyllte Limekilns were disused by the second edition OS map in 1899.

Pen-y-graig quarry was in operation until 1954. At the time of its closure, limestone was still being carried by tramroad to loading sites by the Ellesmere Canal. However, by the mid-twentieth century road transport had succeeded canal transport as the main mode of industrial transport.

RCAHMW, 20th May 2011.