Llechwedd quarry is a major slate quarry

Slate industry

The slate industry is the industry related to the extraction and processing of slate. Slate is either quarried from a slate quarry or reached by tunneling in a slate mine. Common uses for slate include as a roofing material, a flooring material, gravestones and memorial tablets, and for electrical...

 in the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog

Blaenau Ffestiniog

Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It has a population of 5,000, including Llan Ffestiniog, which makes it the third largest town in Gwynedd, behind Caernarfon & Porthmadog. Although the population reached 12,000 at the peak of the slate industry, the population fell due to...

, north Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. 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

Llechwedd Slate Caverns

Llechwedd Slate Caverns is a visitor attraction in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales. Visitors can travel on the Miners' Tramway or descend into the Deep Mine, via a funicular railway, to explore the former Llechwedd slate quarry and learn how slate was extracted and processed and about the lives...

 tourist attraction.

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

Ffestiniog Railway

The Ffestiniog Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park....

 was opened in 1836, connecting Blaenau Ffestiniog with the sea at Porthmadog

Porthmadog

Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...

, Greaves travelled on the historic first train.

In 1843 Greaves was elected the treasurer of the Ffestiniog Railway and in 1844 he became its chairman. 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

Ffestiniog Railway

The Ffestiniog Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park....

 (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

Porthmadog

Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...

, 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 De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	1874		Sold to Tonfananu quarry 1898; scrapped about 1906
	0-4-0 VB	De Winton De Winton De Winton & Co were engineers in Caernarfon, Wales. They built vertical boilered narrow gauge locomotives for use in Welsh slate mines and other industrial settings. At least six De Winton locomotives have been preserved...	1879		Sold or scrapped around 1898
Edith	0-4-0 IST	W.G. Bagnall W.G. Bagnall W. G. Bagnall was a locomotive manufacturer from Stafford, England. It was founded in 1875 by William Gordon Bagnall and ceased trading in 1962 when it was taken over by English Electric Co Ltd. The company was located at the Castle Engine Works, in Castle Town, Stafford...	1890	1278	Converted to Coalition, 1930
Margaret	0-4-0 IST	W.G. Bagnall W.G. Bagnall W. G. Bagnall was a locomotive manufacturer from Stafford, England. It was founded in 1875 by William Gordon Bagnall and ceased trading in 1962 when it was taken over by English Electric Co Ltd. The company was located at the Castle Engine Works, in Castle Town, Stafford...	1895	1445	Converted to The Eclipse, 1927
Dorothy	0-4-0 ST	W.G. Bagnall W.G. Bagnall W. G. Bagnall was a locomotive manufacturer from Stafford, England. It was founded in 1875 by William Gordon Bagnall and ceased trading in 1962 when it was taken over by English Electric Co Ltd. The company was located at the Castle Engine Works, in Castle Town, Stafford...	1899	1568	Stored out of use by 1963
No. 1	4wBE	Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Ltd of Kirkby, Liverpool, built industrial vehicles including both small electrically motorised trolleys and electric locomotives , largely for use in mines and by tunnelling contractors....	1922	302
No. 2	4wBE	Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Ltd of Kirkby, Liverpool, built industrial vehicles including both small electrically motorised trolleys and electric locomotives , largely for use in mines and by tunnelling contractors....	1922
Welsh Pony	4wBE	Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Ltd of Kirkby, Liverpool, built industrial vehicles including both small electrically motorised trolleys and electric locomotives , largely for use in mines and by tunnelling contractors....	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 Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Ltd of Kirkby, Liverpool, built industrial vehicles including both small electrically motorised trolleys and electric locomotives , largely for use in mines and by tunnelling contractors....	1935
	4wPM	Llechwedd	1936		Built at the quarry from a Morris road lorry; out of use by 1964
	4wBE	Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Wingrove & Rogers Ltd of Kirkby, Liverpool, built industrial vehicles including both small electrically motorised trolleys and electric locomotives , largely for use in mines and by tunnelling contractors....	1936	918	Ex Maen Offeren quarry 1947 Later returned to, and now out of use at, Maen Offeren Quarry

External links

• AditNow - Photographic database of Llechwedd Slate Mine