Knew this one was going to be a tough one a huge site carrying loads of equipment, water and food so thought it would be best to get an early start. 7 am off I went thought it would be best to walk around and start from the top of the highest incline high up in the welsh mountains. Foot paths everywhere but more care is urged when off the tracks because the place is falling down, quite daunting at times.
A little history - The first commercial attempts at slate mining took place in 1787,Although this met with moderate success, the outbreak of war with France, taxes and transportation costs limited the development of the quarry. A new business partnership led by Assheton Smith was formed on the expiry of the lease in 1809 and the business boomed after the construction of a horse-drawn tramway to Port Dinorwic in 1824. At its peak in the late 19th century, "when it was producing an annual outcome of 100,000 tonnes", Dinorwic employed more than 3,000 men and was the second largest opencast slate producer in the country.
During the 1950s and 1960s extraction had become difficult, because after 170 years of extraction many of the unsystematically dumped tips were beginning to slide into some of the major pit workings, and after an enormous fall in the Garret area of the quarry in 1966, production had ceased almost permanently. It was however decided that some final work could be done by clearing some of the waste from the Garret fall. This involved making an access road for more modern quarry vehicles across some of the terraces, to the rock fall. This amount of slate won by this method was small and all production stopped by 1969.
Some great views here some photos -
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LE2RVL]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LEp7iS]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LgY1Rf]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LAoHg8]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LEp1X1]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LgBokE]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LEp5W3]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LE2QqS]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxrQA1]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LHkfyD]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LA3i4R]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LAoMm2]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxrQW1]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxNrds]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LHkgvZ]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LHkg9M]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxrPKJ]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxrQ6d]
Looking back through these photo's has reminded me of how awesome this place was and I enjoyed every hour of it. There's just too many to post ha ha Thanks for looking and comments welcome
TKE[/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url]
A little history - The first commercial attempts at slate mining took place in 1787,Although this met with moderate success, the outbreak of war with France, taxes and transportation costs limited the development of the quarry. A new business partnership led by Assheton Smith was formed on the expiry of the lease in 1809 and the business boomed after the construction of a horse-drawn tramway to Port Dinorwic in 1824. At its peak in the late 19th century, "when it was producing an annual outcome of 100,000 tonnes", Dinorwic employed more than 3,000 men and was the second largest opencast slate producer in the country.
During the 1950s and 1960s extraction had become difficult, because after 170 years of extraction many of the unsystematically dumped tips were beginning to slide into some of the major pit workings, and after an enormous fall in the Garret area of the quarry in 1966, production had ceased almost permanently. It was however decided that some final work could be done by clearing some of the waste from the Garret fall. This involved making an access road for more modern quarry vehicles across some of the terraces, to the rock fall. This amount of slate won by this method was small and all production stopped by 1969.
Some great views here some photos -
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LE2RVL]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LEp7iS]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LgY1Rf]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LAoHg8]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LEp1X1]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LgBokE]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LEp5W3]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LE2QqS]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxrQA1]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LHkfyD]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LA3i4R]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LAoMm2]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxrQW1]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxNrds]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LHkgvZ]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LHkg9M]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxrPKJ]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxrQ6d]
Looking back through these photo's has reminded me of how awesome this place was and I enjoyed every hour of it. There's just too many to post ha ha Thanks for looking and comments welcome
TKE[/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url]
