Rhiwbach Quarry

Rhiwbach Quarry
<div style=""font-size:small;";">The ruins of the engine house and mill at Rhiwbach
Rhiwbach Quarry  Rhiwbach Quarry shown within Conwy
SH739461
List of places: UK • Wales • Conwy

Rhiwbach Quarry was a slate quarry located to the east of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Wales, at the far end of the Rhiwbach Tramway, which connected it to the Ffestiniog Railway. Commercial operation began around 1812, and it finally closed in 1952. It was the last Welsh slate quarry where workers lived in barracks on the site.

History

Rhiwbach translates as Little Hill, and was a remote site nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) to the east of Duffws, the eastern terminus of the Ffestiniog Railway in Blaenau Ffestiniog. The land on which it was located was owned by Lord Newborough, and small scale working of the site by local people needing roofing materials was carried out in the eighteenth century. More organised working of the site began in 1812, by two men from Penmachno and Yspytty Ifan, which gradually developed into a five-man partnership. The quarry was sold to Robert Owen Mousdale of Bryndyffryn, Llanrwst in 1849, and two men worked it for him.^[1]

Because of its remote location, the quarry faced a dilemma over transport. It lay to the east of the watershed, at the head of the Machno Valley, and the obvious route for exporting its products was northwards down Cwm Machno and Dyffryn Conwy to Trefriw quay. From there, slates could be loaded into river boats for onward transfer to Conwy, or directly into sea-going vessels. Although it was downhill, it was not ideal, as it involved around 14 miles (23 km) by cart to Treffriw, and then a further 10 miles (16 km) on the river. A shorter route to the south was possible, carting the slates to the Afon Dwyryd at Maentwrog, a journey of about 7 miles (11 km), and a further 8 miles (13 km) by boat to Ynyscyngar. However, from the quarry, there was a climb of 250 feet (76 m) in order to cross the watershed. Consequently, most product used the northern route to begin with,^[2] but from the 1830s, the southern route via Maentwrog was used.^[3]

In 1852, the Rhiw Bach Slate Quarries Company was set up in Manchester, with Charles Edward Cawley as its civil engineer, but by 1855 the company working the quarry was the Cambrian Slate Quarrying Company. The following year, the Manchester & Ffestiniog Slate & Slab Co Ltd was created, to buy out the quarry for £28,000. This was followed in 1858 by the incorporation of the Festiniog Slate Quarry Co Ltd, with a capital of £100,000. It consisted of several directors from a similarly named company set up in 1853 to buy out the Penmachno Quarry, a little to the north, and construct a tramway to it from Blaenau Ffestiniog. In 1860, agreement was reached with the Ffestiniog Railway on rates for the carriage of Rhiwbach slates, and the construction of an Extension Railway, on which the Ffestiniog would supply the rolling stock for a period of 21 years.^[4] The extension, known as the Rhiwbach Tramway, was financed by the quarry, but built by the Ffestiniog Railway. It was largely completed in 1861, as two quarries began using it in early 1862, but it was not fully completed until 1863.^[5] In the meantime, Rhiwbach built a wharf at Porthmadog in 1861, and carriage of their slates on the Ffestiniog Railway was first recorded in 1863, when 3,964 tons were transported.^[6]

The original company was wound up in 1877, and re-constituted as the Festiniog Slate Company Limited. Operation was sporadic until the company was liquidated in 1891. However, work continued at the quarry, under the direction of H Humphries, who traded as "Rhiw Bach Quarry Owners". By 1896 there were 95 employees recorded at the site, of which 29 worked underground. Humphries continued to work the quarry until 1913, when his company was wound up and the quarry closed. Some slate was exported via the Ffestiniog Railway in 1918, despite the fact that the quarry was officially closed, and the First World War legislation concerning labour still applied. In the following year the Festiniog Slate Quarries Company Limited was incorporated to work the quarry, and in 1928, the enterprise was sold to the Maenofferen Quarry. Parts of the tramway were relaid, and they continued to operate the quarry until 1953, when it was closed. The tramway was lifted back to the Cwt y Bugail junction,^[6] which continued to use the tramway for several more years.

Operation

The Rhiwbach Quarry village, surrounded by slate tips

There are five main veins of Ordovician slate that pass through Blaenau Ffestiniog, which from the top downwards are called the North, Back, Narrow, Main or Old and South or New veins.^[7] As they head eastwards, the lower three thin out and disappear, so that by the time Cwt y Bugail Quarry is reached, only the North Vein and Back Vein are left. Immediately to the east of the Cwt y Bugail main adit, the strata are cut by the Dolwyddlan fault, and the same two veins re-appear at Rhiwbach, some 0.6 miles (1 km) further to the south east, and at a considerably lower altitude.^[8] The two veins led to two separate workings, the 'old' workings on the North Vein just to the south on the exit incline, and the 'new' workings on the Back Vein, a little further to the south.^[9]

As the only connection to the outside world was initially a rough track, a community developed within the quarry site. Houses were built, to which were added a shop and a meeting room, which was used as a school and a chapel.^[3] The company also provided some barracks for men who travelled to the quarry and lodged there during the week. There were barracks with two or three bedrooms, but whereas some larger concerns such as the Dinorwic Quarry provided such accommodation free of charge, the men at Rhiwbach had to pay rent of between 2s 4d and 5s 8d (12p and 28p) per month. Such provision was condemned by a doctors' report on the state of mines in Merionethshire published in 1895, which stated that most barracks were overcrowded, dirty, and lacked sanitary arrangements, but whether the barracks at Rhiwbach fitted this general pattern is unknown.^[10] The managers house was unusual, as it was sited close to the workers houses and to the workings. Two rows of lavatories were also provided for use by the villagers.^[9]

With the opening of the Rhiwbach Tramway, the quarry was extended underground, and was eventually worked on eight floors. The peak output was in 1869, when nearly 8,000 tons of finished slates were produced, although this had reduced to below 4,000 tons within a few years. A steam engine powered the mill, and also powered the incline up to the tramway and other inclines to raise rock from the workings. A 600-yard (550 m) adit was cut in the 1890s, which provided natural drainage for much of the underground workings.^[3] From 1902, the steam engine also drove an air compressor, which enabled compressed air rock drills to be used.^[11] The manager enquired about other methods of modernisation in 1906, consulting pamphlets on electric rock-drilling machinery published in Cleveland, and one called La Puleggia Penetrante, published in Rome, the title of which means 'the penetrating pulley'. Following discussions with companies in Belgium and France, trials were carried out using wire-saws, but were unsuccessful.^[12]

By 1935, the annual output had dropped to 1,000 tons, and steam power was replaced by electricity. There were problems with obtaining men prepared to work the quarry, and it closed in 1952. At the time there were two men still living in barracks on the site, the last to do so in the Welsh slate industry.^[3]

Bibliography

References

External links

Media related to Rhiwbach Quarry at Wikimedia Commons