Llechwedd quarry

Llechwedd quarry is a major slate quarry in the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, north Wales. At its peak in 1884 it produced 23,788 tons of finished slate per year and had 513 employees. It continues to produce slate on a limited scale and is the location of the Llechwedd Slate Caverns tourist attraction.

Contents

History

The Llechwedd slate quarry was opened in 1846 by John W. Greaves, a successful quarry owner. Greaves had a history with the slate quarries at Blaenau Ffestiniog, and had proposed a railway to link the quarries with the river wharf at Dwyryd as early as 1834. When the Ffestiniog Railway was opened in 1836, connecting Blaenau Ffestiniog with the sea at Porthmadog, Greaves travelled on the historic first train[1].

In 1843 Greaves was elected the treasurer of the Ffestiniog Railway and in 1844 he became its chairman[1]. This began a long association between the railway and the Greaves family.

By this time Greaves was running the Diffwys and Bowydd quarries under leases from their landowners. In 1846 Greaves and his partner Edwin Shelton leased pasture land nearby at Llechwedd and began prospecting for slate. They gave up their rent of Bowydd at this time. By 1847 miners located the "Old Vein" at Llechwedd and development of the quarry began under the management of John's son Ernest Greaves. An incline was built to connect the quarry with the Ffestiniog Railway (FfR) which was extended from its terminus at Dinas to meet the incline. This work was completed on June 30, 1848.

In 1851 2,900 tons of finished slate was produced by Llechwedd and shipped over the FfR and the company moved its offices to Porthmadog, the terminus of the railway. There a slate wharf dedicated to Llechwedd was built in 1853 where the quarry's products were trans-shipped to a fleet of sailing boats for transport to their markets. The quarry continued to increase production in the 1850s and 1860s, with 7,620 tons shipping in 1863.

In 1890 Llechwedd converted its internal quarry machinery to electrical power, becoming the first quarry in the Ffestiniog area to do so. Because of the high rainfall in Blaenau Ffestiniog the quarry used its own hydro-electric generating station to provide this power.

In 1909 Richard Greaves, the son of Ernest, became chairman of the Ffestiniog Railway

Locomotives

Name Type Builder Date Works number Notes
Freda 0-4-0 VB De Winton 1874[1] Sold to Tonfananu quarry 1898; scrapped about 1906
0-4-0 VB De Winton 1879[1] Sold or scrapped around 1898
Edith 0-4-0 IST W.G. Bagnall 1890 1278 Converted to Coalition, 1930
Margaret 0-4-0 IST W.G. Bagnall 1895 1445 Converted to The Eclipse, 1927
Dorothy 0-4-0 ST W.G. Bagnall 1899 1568 Stored out of use by 1963
No. 1 4wBE Wingrove & Rogers 1922 302
No. 2 4wBE Wingrove & Rogers 1922
Welsh Pony 4wBE Wingrove & Rogers 1926 Out of use 1964
The Eclipse 0-4-0E Llechwedd 1927 Electric locomotive built on the chassis of Margaret at the quarry. Supplied from overhead electrical wires
The Coalition 0-4-0E Llechwedd 1930 Electric locomotive built on the chassis of Edith at the quarry. Supplied from overhead electrical wires
No. 3 4wBE Wingrove & Rogers 1935
4wPM Llechwedd 1936 Built at the quarry from a Morris road lorry; out of use by 1964
4wBE Wingrove & Rogers 1936 918 Ex Maen Offeren quarry 1947 Later returned to, and now out of use at, Maen Offeren Quarry

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wynne Jones, Ivor and Hatherhill, Gordon (1977). Llechwedd and other Ffestiniog Railways. Quarry Tours Ltd.. ISBN 090289590. 

External links