| Location | |
|---|---|
  Minllyn Location in Gwynedd | |
| Location | near Dinas Mawddwy |
| County | Montgomeryshire (now Powys) |
| Country | Wales, UK |
| Coordinates | 52°43′08″N3°41′54″W / 52.7188°N 3.69823°W |
| Production | |
| Products | Slate |
| Type | Quarry |
| History | |
| Opened | 1790s |
| Closed | 1925 |
Minllyn quarry was a slate quarry near Dinas Mawddwy in Wales that opened before 1793 and continued working intermittently until 1925. The quarry is located on the western flank of Foel Dinas.
Three parallel veins of Ordovician [1] slate run through mid Wales. These veins surface at three locations – around Abergynolwyn in the west, surrounding Corris, and at their easternmost in the district around Dinas Mawddwy. Each of these locations has been a centre for slate quarrying, and Corris was the largest producer of the three.
Slate quarrying at Dinas Mawddwy dates back to at least 1793. In 1839, the Minllen Slate and Slab Company was formed to work the quarry, but it went bankrupt in 1844. [2] The main quarry was Minllyn quarry, a Narrow Vein quarry about a mile south of the town. This was connected to the Mawddwy Railway's Dinas Mawddwy station by a 1⁄2-mile-long (0.80 km) 2 ft 2 in (660 mm)-gauge incline. [3]
In 1856, a prosperous mill owner from Ardwick, Sir Edmund Buckley purchased the Lordship of Dinas Mawddwy and with it a large estate covering 12,000 acres of the town and local area. Sir Edmund's eldest son, also called Edmund Buckley and later made a baronet took over the Dinas Mawddwy estate and title in 1864. The younger Sir Edmund spent lavishly on his new estate. He purchased Minllyn quarry and, to get the slate to market he built the Mawddwy Railway to connect to the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway line, at Cemmes Road. [4]
In 1864, William Bullock, the mayor of Congleton formed the Merioneth Slate and Slab Company and leased the quarry. This company failed in 1871, and Bullock and new partner Robert Carlyle formed the Carlyle Slate and Slab Company to take over the quarry. Edmund Buckley declared bankruptcy in 1876 and most of his assets were sold off. The part of the estate containing Minllyn quarry was purchased by the Carlyle company. [2]
The Carlyle company was declared bankrupt in 1886. In 1889, William Bullock's two sons formed yet another company to operate Minllyn, this one called the Minllyn Slate Company - though the quarry continued to be referred to as the Carlyle Quarry for many years. The quarry operated until the First World War when its warehouse at Dinas Mawddwy station was requisitioned for timber cutting. [2] Work at the quarry restarted around 1919, but it closed for the final time in 1925. [5]
In the late 1860s, the Merioneth Slate and Slab Company opened another quarry on the west side of Foel Dinas, called Cae Abaty. This was separated from the main quarry by a large ridge, and a pair of linked 2 ft 2 in (660 mm) gauge inclines were laid to lift rock up from Cae Abaty and lower it to the upper mill at Minllyn. Cae Abaty's output was mostly slabs used to produce billiard tables, but also produced some crude roofing slates. The quarry worked intermittently and closed between 1901 and 1911. [6]
Cae Abaty is a relatively small quarry and the requirement to haul rock over Foel Dinas would have made it expensive to operate. Nevertheless, the owners installed a steam crane to help untop the main pit, probably in the 1890s. The crane was a "Patent Steam Guy Crane" built by Joseph Booth & Brothers of Rodley near Leeds and may have been used at Minllyn before being moved to Cae Abaty. [6]
Minllyn quarry was spread over a large area. The original workings were a series of open pits known as Bron-yr-Wylfa at the bottom of the east flank of Foel Dinas. In the 1803s, the Minllen Slate and Slab Company opened a new set of quarries about 800 feet (240 m) higher up the mountain where the Narrow Vein surfaced. These were quickly extended underground, following the slate vein. The company built a mill at this level which was powered by a 6 hp stationary steam engine - this was one of the earliest steam-powered slate mills in Wales. [2]
In the 1850s, under the ownership of Edmund Buckley, a long incline was dropped from the upper level to the valley floor. A new lower mill was built at the foot of the incline and it was connected to the Mawddwy Railway by a siding in 1867. This mill had 40 slate working machines, including 8 planers. [1] Some exploratory working of the bottom levels was done in the 1870s, but the commercial working was restricted to the levels at and above the upper mill. [2]
The steam engine powering the upper mill was replaced at an unknown date by a Pelton wheel fed from a small reservoir above it. A line of stone pillars leads north from the mill, which probably carried compressed air lines to power underground drills. One of the underground chambers contains the remains of a vertical-boilered steam crane, similar to the one used at Cae Abaty. [1]
The quarry's warehouse at Dinas Mawddwy Station was taken over in 1946 by a consortium of local farmers who converted it into a woollen mill. [7] In 1966, Cheshire industrialist Raymond Street took over. [8] Street modernised the spinning equipment and expanded the business. He adopted the name Meirion Mill for his business. In 1975 he laid the short 2 ft (610 mm) gauge Meirion Mill Railway at the mill, though this only operated until Easter 1977. [9]
The North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (NWNGR) was a railway company that planned to build a number of inter-connected 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in narrow-gauge railways across North Wales. The first two of these lines - jointly known as the "Moel Tryfan Undertaking" - were authorised by Act of Parliament 1872 and were built and opened in the 1870s. The original main line ran from Dinas Junction to Bryngwyn and opened in 1877. The second line was a branch from Tryfan Junction to South Snowdon, though shortly after opening, the company designated the Tryfan Junction to Bryngwyn section as the branch, and the Dinas Junction to South Snowdon section as the main line.
The Penrhyn Quarry Railway was a narrow-gauge railway in Caernarfonshire, Wales. It served the Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda, taking their slate produce to Port Penrhyn, near Bangor. The railway was around six miles (9.7 km) long and used a gauge of 1 ft 10+3⁄4 in.
Aberangell is a village in Gwynedd, Wales.
Dinas Mawddwy is a town in the community of Mawddwy in south-east Gwynedd, north Wales. It lies within the Snowdonia National Park, but just to the east of the main A470, and consequently many visitors pass the town by. Its population is roughly 600. The town marks the junction of the unclassified road to Llanuwchllyn which climbs up through the mountains to cross Bwlch y Groes at its highest point, the second highest road pass in Wales. This minor road also provides the closest access to the mountain Aran Fawddwy and is the nearest settlement to Craig Cywarch.
Bryn Eglwys quarry was a slate quarry and mine near Abergynolwyn, in Merionethshire, Wales. More than 300 men worked at the site, making it the principal employer in the area. Two veins of slate, known as the Broad Vein and the Narrow Vein, were worked. The geology continues eastwards towards Corris and Dinas Mawddwy, and westwards towards Tywyn. It was one of many quarries that worked these veins.
The Hendre-Ddu Tramway was a 1 ft 11 in narrow gauge industrial railway built in 1874 in Mid-Wales to connect the Hendre-Ddu slate quarry to Aberangell station on the Mawddwy Railway. It consisted of a main line 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) long and several branch lines and spurs serving other quarries, local farms and the timber industry.
Dinorwic quarry is a large former slate quarry, now home to the Welsh National Slate Museum, located between the villages of Llanberis and Dinorwig in Wales. At its height at the start of the 20th century, it was the second largest slate quarry in Wales, after the neighbouring Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda. Dinorwic covered 700 acres (283 ha) consisting of two main quarry sections with 20 galleries in each. Extensive internal tramway systems connected the quarries using inclines to transport slate between galleries. Since its closure in 1969, the quarry has become the site of the National Slate Museum, a regular film location, and an extreme rock climbing destination.
The Mawddwy Railway was a rural line in the Dyfi Valley in mid-Wales that connected Dinas Mawddwy with a junction at Cemmaes Road railway station on the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway section of the Cambrian Railways.
Oakeley quarry is a slate quarry in the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, north Wales. It was the largest underground slate mine in the world, and had 26 floors spanning a vertical height of nearly 1,500 feet (460 m).
The Ratgoed Tramway was a 2 ft 3 in gauge horse-worked tramway that connected the remote Ratgoed Quarry with the Corris Railway at Aberllefenni. It was 1.75 miles (2.82 km) long.
The Meirion Mill Railway was a narrow gauge railway that operated at Meirion Mill in Dinas Mawddwy, Wales. It only operated for three years from 1975 to 1977.
Meirion Mill is a woollen mill at Dinas Mawddwy in Wales. It operates as a tourist attraction. The mill is located on the site of the northern terminus of the defunct Mawddwy Railway.
Cymerau quarry was a slate quarry served by the Ratgoed Tramway, a horse-worked section of the Corris Railway. It is located about half a mile north of Aberllefenni in Merioneth, North Wales, on the eastern side of the isolated Cwm Ceiswyn. It worked the Narrow Vein, the highest-quality slate vein in the Abercorris Group.
The Upper Corris Tramway was a 2 ft 3 in gauge horse-worked tramway that connected the slate quarries around the villages of Corris and Corris Uchaf with the Corris Railway at Maespoeth Junction. It was just over 1.8 miles (2.9 km) long.
The Abercwmeiddaw quarry was a slate quarry that operated between the 1840s and 1938. It was located at Corris Uchaf about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Machynlleth, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The quarry was connected to the Corris Railway via the Upper Corris Tramway which carried its products to the Cambrian Railways at Machynlleth for distribution.
Foel Dinas is a mountain in Wales. It is the north-westernmost peak of the Dyfi Hills and sits above the town of Dinas Mawddwy.
The Broad Vein Mudstone Formation is an Ordovician lithostratigraphic group in Mid Wales. The rock of the formation is silty mudstone, intensely bioturbated in places. It varies in colour from a pale to a medium blue. This formation has been commercially quarried as slate in several locations along its length. The formation is between 400 metres (1,300 ft) and 560 metres (1,840 ft) thick and runs from Dinas Mawddwy south-west to Cardigan Bay at Tywyn.
The Narrow Vein Mudstone Formation is an Ordovician lithostratigraphic group in Mid Wales. The rock of the formation is silty, homogeneous or finely-laminated mudstone. It generally a medium blue colour. This formation has been commercially quarried as slate in several locations along its length. The formation is between 400 metres (1,300 ft) and 560 metres (1,840 ft) thick and runs from Dinas Mawddwy south-west to Cardigan Bay at Tywyn.
Hendreddu quarry was a slate quarry about three miles west of Aberangell in Merioneth, North Wales, near Nant Hendreddu on the slopes of Mynydd Hendre-ddu. The quarry worked the Narrow Vein, the highest-quality slate vein in the Abercorris Group. For the majority of the quarry's existence, the Hendre Ddu Tramway was owned by the same company that owned the quarry, and the two were run as a single enterprise.
Dennis Bradwell, was a British businessman who was mayor of Congleton in the 1870s. He owned silk mills in Cheshire and Staffordshire and a slate quarry in Mid Wales.
| Blaenau Ffestiniog, Croesor, and Cwm Penmachno areas | |
|---|---|
| Dinas Mawddwy and Aberangell areas | |
| Dulas Valley area | |
| Bethesda area | |
| Llanberis area | |
| Lledr and Conwy valleys areas | |
| Nantlle Valley area | |
| Vale of Llangollen area | |
| Arthog area | |
| Llangolman Area | |
| Outliers | |
