Abercorris quarry

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The Abercorris quarry (also known as Cwmodyn) was a slate quarry worked between the 1860s and the early 1950s. It was located at Corris Uchaf about 5 miles north of Machynlleth, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The quarry was connected to the Corris Railway which carried its products to the Cambrian Railways at Machynlleth for distribution.

[edit] History

The land occupied by the Abercorris quarry was leased to Thomas Green of London in 1863 who began quarrying operations, although the site was probably worked on a small scale before this date. In 1874 amidst a boom in demand for slate, the Cwmodyn Slate & Slab Quarry Company was formed, but demand slumped soon after and the company was sold at auction in 1878. Its new owner, J.W. Orchard began operations again by 1880 but this operation also failed and the quarry was closed by 1888.

Abercorris reopened in 1889, employing 40 men but again failed and was taken over in 1893 by W. John Lewis and Arthur T. Carr. This operation continued with limited success through to 1914 when it closed at the outbreak of the First World War. Following the war the quarry was reopened in 1920 under the ownership of T.O. Williams and C. Humphries. By 1928 this latest attempt had been wound up.

There was another small scale attempt to work Abercorris in the mid-1930s, and it was sporadically worked by the owners of Braichgoch quarry in the early 1950s, but this was the last time that slate was quarried as a commercial venture.

[edit] References

Richards, Alun John (1994). Slate Quarrying at Corris. Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. ISBN 0-86381-279-1.