Two tips of waste rock, both part of the relict landform of Cilgwyn Slate Quarry and generated by its now-infilled pit, one extending westwards, the other northwards.
The western tip is a significant visual feature, dominating the landscape of the Nantlle valley but also providing a vantage point into it. Many slate-makers’ shelters were erected here in the 1930s by quarrymen working in the informal economy, not only stark symbols of the economic devastation the slate industry of north-west Wales faced in this period but also illustrating a return to the small-scale minimal capitalisation that marked the very early phases of slate quarrying, and local resourcefulness when times were hard.
The northern tip was formed by constructing a railway on a distinctive alignment, a sinuous curve, to enable it to gain height, reflecting the need to find space to tip waste rock as well as the typical slate quarry narrow gauge railway technology of sharp curves and steep alignments.
This site is part of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales World Heritage Site, Component Part 3: Nantlle Valley Slate Quarry Landscape. Inscribed July 2020.
Sources:
Louise Barker & Dr David Gwyn, March 2018. Slate Landscapes of North-West Wales World Heritage Bid Statements of Significance. (Unpublished Report: Project 401b for Gwynedd Archaeological Trust)
Tirwedd Llechi Gogledd Orllewin Cymru / The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. Nomination as a World heritage Site (Nomination Document, January 2020)
Wales Slate World Heritage Site https://www.llechi.cymru/
H. Genders Boyd, RCAHMW, January 2022