real time web analytics
Report - - Pen yr Orsedd Quarry Wales oct 17 | Mines and Quarries | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Pen yr Orsedd Quarry Wales oct 17

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

monk

mature
28DL Full Member
Been down here a few times now, really nice place for a mooch about in and A stunning location.

The Pen-yr-orsedd Slate Quarry is located to the north of Nantlle village. An open working, it opened in about 1816 as hillside galleries. Mills were built on three successive levels, the first in 1860 and the next, their first integrated mill, in 1870. The upper mill followed in 1898. Output in 1882 was 8251 tons with 230 men employed. Output was far higher in the 1890s with 613 men employed in 1898. The first connection to the Nantlle railway was by incline via Pen y Bryn (NPRN 33674) until this area was tipped on and direct connection to the railway was made. After closure of the Nantlle line in 1963 road transport was used. The quarry was made up of a series of pits and its most notable feature in the later years was the complex series of four aerial ropeways known as 'Blondins', with Bruce Peebles electrical equipment of 1906. The use of the Blondins gradually ceased, a lorry road being built down into one pit in use in the 1980s. There is also a surviving engine house on the site. The quarry remained in use, as small scale workings from the 1980s until production ceased in about 2000.

37372455825_9c0635a2fe_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YFhEtS] 37200573592_0f44a40f1c_c.jpg

Blondins
[url=https://flic.kr/p/YWtZGx] 37372531915_ac4f6669f1_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YHTaA8] 37229938311_9cf65e9c8a_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YFhwU3] 37200548082_6738f4e05d_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YFhtBb] 37200537012_187c353dcf_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/XDafUJ] 36520138754_1e8497450b_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YkmZ8L] 36975086870_1e79c614f2_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YkmXQq] 36975082500_489018acca_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/XDa6BA] 36520107484_ea98a44b69_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YDHnfu] 37182760436_41542ea3da_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YDHjy7] 37182751366_c5c45f2708_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/XGF2ZB] 36559898153_cc2f0317c9_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/YWtuUc] 37372435035_c666a372be_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Zndrg9] 37652408514_471b39c132_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/21siEYP] 38366369471_d08790f9d8_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/DjCvGC] 24496021288_66af5949b0_c.jpg

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ZndkLG] 37652390044_9361ab07a8_c.jpg

37652368554_91264ce846_c.jpg
[/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url][/url]
 

EOA

Exploring with Bob
28DL Full Member
That's a nice looking wander. :thumb

Are there any underground workings?
 

The Lone Ranger

Safety is paramount!
Staff member
Moderator
Very nice, looks like you had perfect weather too :thumb

Looks like the interesting stuff must have been beyond where I got to, there was a guy working with a JCB when I paid it a visit.
 
Last edited:

monk

mature
28DL Full Member
Very nice, looks like you had perfect weather too :thumb

Looks like the interesting stuff must have been beyond where I got to, there was a guy working with a JCB when I paid it a visit.

Cheers, to be fair it looks like you covered most of it, I wonder if the jcb that you saw was from the two big sheds at the top which could possibly have been in use when you visited.
 

The Lone Ranger

Safety is paramount!
Staff member
Moderator
Cheers, to be fair it looks like you covered most of it, I wonder if the jcb that you saw was from the two big sheds at the top which could possibly have been in use when you visited.

It looked as if they were still working it, but on a very small scale, was the same at Moel Tryfen Quarry, but that looked on a slightly larger scale. Local slate for local people?
 

monk

mature
28DL Full Member
It looked as if they were still working it, but on a very small scale, was the same at Moel Tryfen Quarry, but that looked on a slightly larger scale. Local slate for local people?

I live opposite moel tryfen and they're deffinitley still working it, but on a small scale, you could be right maybe just supplying local people.
 

Mr Sam

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Is the ariel ropeway still in use or the last few surviving pieces of an old system?
 

monk

mature
28DL Full Member
Have added this selection of pictures onto this thread.

After a bike ride around the quarry with my son we decided to try and get down into some parts that we was yet to explore in the qaurry.

We rode down into one of the deeper parts of the workings and decided to check out some potential underground sections.

First was a scramble up a sheep track and along a dodgy path to a possible entrance, but unfortunatly it only went back 10ft or so.
Deciding to head out, a unusually placed spoil heap caught our eye.
we jumped off the bikes and scrambled up the slate to find a partially hidden entrance.
We climbed in and was happy to find that this was infact much more interesting.
I'm not sure what the tunnel was used for, possibly a way to move slate via tracks to different areas of the qaurry maybe? but it was nice to explore it whatever.



830877


830878


830879


830880


830881
 
Last edited:
Top