 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(March 2019) |
Richard Methuen Greaves | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 November 1852 |
| Died | 12 April 1942 (aged 89) Porthmadog, Caernarvonshire, Wales |
| Occupation(s) | Landowner and slate mine proprietor |
Richard Methuen Greaves (1852-1942) was a North Wales landowner who owned and managed a major slate mine.
Third son of John Whitehead Greaves (1807–80), owner of Llechwedd quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog in Merionethshire, and his wife Ellen Stedman (1816-1887), as a young man in 1873 and 1874 he undertook a world trip. On 24 July 1883 at Wroxall, Warwickshire, he married Constance Mary Dugdale (1862-1947).
In 1881 a magistrate and slate quarry proprietor living at Ty Nanney in Tremadog, in 1885 he succeeded his brother John Ernest Greaves (1847-1945) as general manager of the Llechwedd Slate Quarries. He acquired the Wern estate at Tremadog in 1886 and in about 1899 bought the historic Brynkir estate at Dolbenmaen in Caernarvonshire. Greaves was interested in all things mechanical and instigated agricultural and domestic improvements on his estates. He served as Chairman of the Ffestiniog Railway from 1908 to 1920 and also as Chairman of the Carnarvonshire & Merionethshire Steamship Company. In 1896 he was Sheriff of Caernarvonshire.
John and Constance had no children, and he was succeeded by his nephew Lieutenant-Colonel Martyn Ivor Williams-Ellis (1885-1968), younger brother of the architect Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis. His memorial is in the church of St Beuno at Dolbenmaen. [1]
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,000 at the peak development of the slate industry, but fell with the decline in demand for slate. The population of the community, including the nearby village Llan Ffestiniog, was 4,875 in the 2011 census: the fourth most populous in Gwynedd after Bangor, Caernarfon and Llandeiniolen. The population not including Llan is now only about 4,000.
Porthmadog, originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies 5 miles (8 km) east of Criccieth, 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Blaenau Ffestiniog, 25 miles (40 km) north of Dolgellau and 20 miles (32 km) south of Caernarfon. The community population of 4,185 in the 2011 census was put at 4,134 in 2019. It grew in the 19th century as a port for local slate, but as the trade declined, it continued as a shopping and tourism centre, being close to Snowdonia National Park and the Ffestiniog Railway. The 1987 National Eisteddfod was held there. It includes nearby Borth-y-Gest, Morfa Bychan and Tremadog.
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