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Report - - Pen yr Orsedd Quarry, Nantlle. April 2018 | Mines and Quarries | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Pen yr Orsedd Quarry, Nantlle. April 2018

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Dee ANK

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Visited this slate quarry in Snowdonia during some super sunny Sunday. I'd been hillwalking the day before and spotted the quarry from Nantlle Ridge, the slate tips being hard to miss! .

Reading the map, the name Pen yr Orsedd didn't ring any bells, so I tried to research it a bit but found surprisingly little info online, and the little info there was was a little confused, different dates mentioned on different websites etc etc. Anyway, I drove back to the area the following day, parked in the village and walked up to the quarry, unsure if was still being worked or not.

Spent a good few hours working my way up the levels, plenty of rusting equipment around and buildings in various states of decay, plus fantastic views over the local hills.

History;
Quarrying began around 1860, with processing mills opened in 1860, 1870 and a third in 1898.

Workshops, drum houses, engine houses, offices, a hospital, accommodation and other related buildings remain, some are grade II listed. One of the most notable remains would be the blondins.

Blondins were a type of aerial ropeway developed to connect remote terraces in open pits in Welsh slate quarries. They would transport railway wagons slung from cradles to the slate mills where the rock was processed. They were named after the famous tightrope walker Charles Blondin.
The first known Blondins were at Penrhyn Quarry. Four were set up in Pen-yr-Orsedd, run by 'Bruce Peebles' motors.

Quarrying was scaled down in the 1970s and closed around 2000.




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[ Sorry if I've put too many pics!]
 

tigger

mog
Regular User
[ Sorry if I've put too many pics!]

"Too many pics" is when they are useless and repetitive....your post doesn't fall into that category.

Quarrying began much earlier than 1860 (the date the first mill was opened on the site), around 1815. The blondins were still in use when I was a kid (I'm not ancient!).

The offices and workshops on the middle level look to be deteriorating quickly - there had been plans to start some kind of museum/training centre in them and I beleive they were featured on some idiot-box thing in relation to that?

Pen-Yr-Orsedd has a very rich variety of remains which should be looked after. Slate waste there, mainly the middle and lower level, was being graded and used up until quite recently.

Great post and images.
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
What a lovely explore. So much to look at and capture. Great shots & write up. Love the stone house at the beginning. :thumb Gotta love mines
 

Shaun

28DL Regular User
28DL Full Member
"Too many pics" is when they are useless and repetitive....your post doesn't fall into that category.

Quarrying began much earlier than 1860 (the date the first mill was opened on the site), around 1815. The blondins were still in use when I was a kid (I'm not ancient!).

The offices and workshops on the middle level look to be deteriorating quickly - there had been plans to start some kind of museum/training centre in them and I beleive they were featured on some idiot-box thing in relation to that?

Pen-Yr-Orsedd has a very rich variety of remains which should be looked after. Slate waste there, mainly the middle and lower level, was being graded and used up until quite recently.

Great post and images.
When i visited even more roofs around there have collapsed, still a lovely little quarry my profile picture is from here, so that says how much i like this place
 

monk

mature
28DL Full Member
I live above this quarry, local kids have been down and smashed every window on the vehicles in the sheds :(
 
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