Dolwyddelan – in Victorian times, often spelled Dolyddelen – is a village and community in Conwy county borough, Wales, on the main A470 road between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed. As a community, the population of Dolwyddelan was recorded in the 2001 Census as 427, and 55.8% of those residents could speak Welsh. The population increased to 474 in the 2011 census with the proportion of Welsh speakers falling to 50.8%.
Aberllefenni quarry is the collective name of three slate quarries, Foel Grochan, Hen Gloddfa and Ceunant Ddu, located in Cwm Hengae, just to the west of Aberllefenni, Gwynedd, North Wales. It was the longest continually operated slate mine in the world until its closure in 2003. Foel Grochan is the quarry on the north side of the valley, facing Ceunant Ddu and Hen Gloddfa on the south; all three were worked as a single concern throughout their history. Rock was mainly extracted underground, though all three quarries had open pits as well.
Pont-y-Pant railway station is a single platform passenger station in the Lledr Valley, Wales, on the Conwy Valley line from Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog, which is operated by Transport for Wales Rail. The station house is well maintained and used as a private dwelling.
Gwydir Castle is situated in the Conwy valley, Wales, a mile to the west of the ancient market town of Llanrwst and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the south of the large village of Trefriw. An example of a fortified manor house dating back to c1500, it is located on the edge of the floodplain of the river Conwy, and overlooked from the west by the now-forested slopes of Gwydir Forest.
The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the late 19th century, at which time the most important slate producing areas were in northwest Wales, including the Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda, the Dinorwic Quarry near Llanberis, the Nantlle Valley quarries, and Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the slate was mined rather than quarried. Penrhyn and Dinorwig were the two largest slate quarries in the world, and the Oakeley mine at Blaenau Ffestiniog was the largest slate mine in the world. Slate is mainly used for roofing, but is also produced as thicker slab for a variety of uses including flooring, worktops and headstones.
The Gorseddau Junction and Portmadoc Railway is a defunct Welsh tramway.
The Hendre-Ddu Tramway was a 2 ft narrow gauge industrial railway built in 1867 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.
The Lledr Valley is a valley in Snowdonia in north Wales. It runs from the top of the Crimea Pass, north of Blaenau Ffestiniog down to Betws-y-Coed.
Narrow-gauge railways were used extensively in the slate industry of Great Britain, especially in Wales. Many quarries had internal tramways, some using many dozens of miles of track. Others had private lines that stretched from the quarry to transhipment points on local railways, rivers, roads or coastal ports.
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.
The Llwyngwern quarry was a slate quarry in Wales that opened by 1828 and continued working until about 1950. The quarry is located on the western flank of Mynydd Llwyn-gwern.
Cambergi quarry was a slate quarry in Cwm Hengae, west of Aberllefenni in North Wales. It operated between 1873 and about 1895.
Chwarel Ddu quarry was the earliest slate quarry in the Lledr Valley. It was working before 1810, and continued in sporadic operation until the late 1920s. It is about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west of Dolwyddelan, just beneath Dolwyddelan Castle.
Ty'n-y-bryn quarry was a slate quarry that was worked from the 1840s to about 1914. It stands on the south-east edge of Dolwyddelan.
Rhiw-goch quarry was a slate quarry that was worked from the 1860s to 1908. It stands on the north side of the Afon Lledr, on the opposite side of the valley from Pont-y-Pant railway station.
Owen Gethin Jones, was a Welsh building contractor, quarry owner and prominent poet.
The Penmachno quarry was a slate quarry near Cwm Penmachno, Conwy, North Wales. It was directly below the Rhiwbach Quarry. It was worked between 1818 and 1962.
The Cwm Ebol quarry was a slate quarry about 1 mile (1.6 km) north west of the village of Pennal in Mid Wales. It operated from about 1860 to about 1906. It was the last Welsh slate quarry connected only to a trans-shipment point instead of directly to a railway.
The Cambrian quarry was a slate quarry, located to the west of Glyn Ceiriog in Denbighshire, North Wales. There was some small-scale extraction of slate from the 17th century, but commercial extraction began in 1857, and the scale of operation increased from 1873, when the Glyn Valley Tramway opened, providing an easier route to market for the output of the quarry. Production after 1938 was on a reduced scale, and the quarry closed in the winter of 1946/47, mainly due to a lack of workers.
Bwlch y Slaters quarry is a slate quarry near Blaenau Ffestiniog, in Gwynedd, North Wales.
