The Conwy Valley line is a railway line in north-west Wales. It runs from Llandudno via Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog, and was originally part of the London and North Western Railway, being opened in stages to 1879. The primary purpose of the line was to carry slate from the Ffestiniog quarries to a specially built quay at Deganwy for export by sea. The line also provided goods facilities for the market town of Llanrwst, and via the extensive facilities at Betws-y-Coed on the London to Holyhead A5 turnpike road it served many isolated communities in Snowdonia and also the developing tourist industry. Although only a little over 27 miles (43 km) between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog, the journey takes over one hour, largely due to the sinuous and steeply graded nature of the route taken. Most of the stations along the line are treated as request stops.
There were more than a thousand British narrow-gauge railways ranging from large, historically significant common carriers to small, short-lived industrial railways. Many notable events in British railway history happened on narrow-gauge railways including the first use of steam locomotives, the first public railway and the first preserved railway.
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 rapidly during the Industrial Revolution in Wales until the late 19th century, at which time the most important slate producing areas were in northwest Wales. These sites included 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.
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.
Llangolman is a village and parish in the southeastern Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is part of the community of Mynachlog-ddu. There are prehistoric remains nearby and the parish has a history of slate and clay quarrying.
Poldark Mine is a tourist attraction near the town of Helston in Cornwall, England, UK. It lies within the Wendron Mining District of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. Its features include underground guided tours through ancient tin mine workings; a museum of industrial heritage, mining equipment and Cornish social history; and a scheduled ancient monument and riverside gardens.
Wadebridge railway station was a railway station that served the town of Wadebridge in Cornwall, England. It was on the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway.
Trewarmett is a small hamlet in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies within the civil parish of Tintagel, 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Camelford. To the west of Trewarmett is Trebarwith Nature Reserve.
Dorothea quarry is a disused slate quarry in the Nantlle Valley area in North Wales. It covers a large area near the village of Talysarn and contains three flooded deep lakes.
Cilgwyn quarry is a slate quarry located on the north edge of the Nantlle Vale, in North Wales. It is one of the earliest slate quarries in Great Britain, being worked as early as the 12th century. King Edward I of England was reputed to have stayed in a house roofed by Cilgwyn slates, during the Welsh wars of independence. It is one of the major slate quarries in the Nantlle Valley area.
Cwmorthin quarry was a slate quarry west of the village of Tanygrisiau, north Wales. Quarrying on the site started in 1810. In 1860 it was connected to the Ffestiniog Railway. In 1900 it was acquired by the nearby Oakeley quarry and the two were connected underground. In 1970 it closed along with Oakeley. There was small-scale working in the 1980s and 1990s, and the mine finally closed in 1997.
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 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.
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.
The Prince Llewellyn quarry was a slate quarry that stands on the west side of the Lledr Valley, ENE of Dolwyddelan. It was worked from around 1820 to 1934.
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.
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.
The Slate Industry in the Nantlle Valley was the major industry of the area. The Nantlle Valley is the site of oldest slate quarry in Wales at Cilgwyn, and during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it was a major centre of the Slate industry in Wales. The quarries of the area are a World Heritage Site.
Tintagel Slate Quarries fall into two categories: the series of quarries lying between Tintagel Castle and Trebarwith Strand on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England and the open cast quarries further inland. There are around eight cliff-edge quarries as well as two wharfs, all of which are now disused as well as four inland sites, two of which are still in operation. The first quarry to be worked appears to have been Lanterdan at some point in the fifteenth century, while the last of the coastal quarries, Long Grass ceased operations in 1937. The remains of the coastal quarries occupy coastal land owned by the National Trust and most are easily accessible from the South West Coast Path. The Prince of Wales Quarry has been turned into a country park by North Cornwall District Council.
Bowithick Quarry is a disused nineteenth century open cast slate quarry situated in Trebarwith Valley on the outskirts of Tintagel in Cornwall, South West England. The quarry ceased operations in 1913.
