I’ve travelled the North Wales coast for decades, and like many people I expect, have always fancied a wander around the old quarry workings visible on the headlands that jut out along the route.
The decision to look at the Penmaenmawr remains was entirely unplanned - coming back from Anglesesy one weekend the weather was good so I went for a walk around the western side, red route below.
This turned out to be quite interesting so I went back next weekend to do the eastern side, yellow route.
The weather wasn’t quite as good this time, but I’ll start with the eastern workings, originally the Graiglwyd quarry although the various quarries on the hill were all eventually worked by one company.
Background. Briefly, the sort of fine-grained igneous rock (‘granite’) quarried in Graiglwyd was particularly good for setts, which are squared-off cobbles much in demand for paving at the start of the industrial revolution.
Setts are only used for decorative purposes these days, but plenty of old sett paving can still be seen in e.g. Liverpool, particularly on the docks.
Indeed Graiglwyd was originally started (in 1834) by men from the Liverpool area, John Tompkinson who built St. George’s Hall, and Thomas Brassey, famous for building railways - a blue plaque for Brassey featured in a previous post on the pump house for graving docks in Birkenhead.
Eventually better road surfaces were developed and Penmeanmawr turned to producing various grades of crushed stone for road building and railway ballast.
Quarried stone was lowered down the hill in wagons running on tracks down ramps or ‘inclines’ - there were over 60 of these in total although many have since been obliterated by further excavations.
The map above also shows six stone crushing mills, but there’s little left and two have gone completely (Penmarion and Kimberley Bank Mills).
Quarrying still continues up on Penmeanmawr, with Hanson operating stone crushing, concrete, and tarmac plants here.
Prior Art. There’s a previous report from 2016 covering some of western side,
www.28dayslater.co.uk
one from 2016-2018 covering some of the eastern side,
www.28dayslater.co.uk
and another one from 2018 about the Hanson rock crushing plant near the top of the hill,
www.28dayslater.co.uk
The walk. As mentioned above, this report is just about the eastern side - I’ll do one for the western side later.
Rather a lot of photos here, literally a record of things to see on my arbitrary trajectory and all phone except for a few of the darker areas.
Starting at the bottom left of the yellow route, going up an old incline leads to a drum house.
Most of the inclines were ‘self acting’ meaning descending full wagons were connected to empty wagons via the drum, pulling them up on a parallel track.
However some inclines were powered and could act as hoists and this is one of them, with the machinery still there.
Next door is the lower of the two Pencoed storage bins - there used to be cranes above this but they seem to have gone.
The conveyor system under here is still in use, with a few lights and cameras around, although it looks a little run-down.
Crushed stone from the bin was originally dropped through the ceiling by lever-operated hatches, but is now just bulldozed down a single chute at one end of the bin.
Up another conveyor is the second bin, which has a properly derelict transport system underneath.
An old side-tipper wagon - this one is actually in quite good condition compared to some of wrecked ones out on the hill.
Next to the storage bin is what looks like one wall of another drum house, indicated by the arrow in a 1948 aerial photo.
Along the hill is some modern plant, just silos for finely crushed rock with a conveyor on top.
Another drum house behind.
Beyond the silos is a concrete mixing plant, behind which is the remains of Braichllwyd Mill (1886).
It’s little more than series of ramparts up the hill with bolts were things were attached and deep holes to fall down.
There was too much undergrowth to get many pictures but here are some, starting with a couple of little tunnels with hatches in the ceiling leading to a small basement area under the mill.
A plaque for Queen Vic’s Jubilee?
Beyond the mill is another drum house hiding in the woods - the plan above says this was a powered one although there’s no machinery left.
continued
The decision to look at the Penmaenmawr remains was entirely unplanned - coming back from Anglesesy one weekend the weather was good so I went for a walk around the western side, red route below.
This turned out to be quite interesting so I went back next weekend to do the eastern side, yellow route.
The weather wasn’t quite as good this time, but I’ll start with the eastern workings, originally the Graiglwyd quarry although the various quarries on the hill were all eventually worked by one company.
Background. Briefly, the sort of fine-grained igneous rock (‘granite’) quarried in Graiglwyd was particularly good for setts, which are squared-off cobbles much in demand for paving at the start of the industrial revolution.
Setts are only used for decorative purposes these days, but plenty of old sett paving can still be seen in e.g. Liverpool, particularly on the docks.
Indeed Graiglwyd was originally started (in 1834) by men from the Liverpool area, John Tompkinson who built St. George’s Hall, and Thomas Brassey, famous for building railways - a blue plaque for Brassey featured in a previous post on the pump house for graving docks in Birkenhead.
Eventually better road surfaces were developed and Penmeanmawr turned to producing various grades of crushed stone for road building and railway ballast.
Quarried stone was lowered down the hill in wagons running on tracks down ramps or ‘inclines’ - there were over 60 of these in total although many have since been obliterated by further excavations.
The map above also shows six stone crushing mills, but there’s little left and two have gone completely (Penmarion and Kimberley Bank Mills).
Quarrying still continues up on Penmeanmawr, with Hanson operating stone crushing, concrete, and tarmac plants here.
Prior Art. There’s a previous report from 2016 covering some of western side,
Report - - Penmaenmawr Mountain Quarry March 2016 | Mines and Quarries
After driving past this place many times and seeing the old mine buildings, this has long been a place ive wanted to explore. Myself, Rox and Trancentral took a long and very hard, steep walk but we got to the top eventually and as usual, not via the easiest route but it was worth it. Some...
www.28dayslater.co.uk
Report - - Penmaenmawr (East) 2016/2018 | Mines and Quarries
Penmaen diorite quarry was opened around 1830 as a source of granite setts. Initially most of the output was taken down inclines to a dedicated wharf for onward transport. In 1848 the mainline railway reached the town and a new loading area was constructed for rail transport. By this time the...
www.28dayslater.co.uk
Report - - Hanson Aggregates Penmaenmawr Quarry Dec 18 | Mines and Quarries
Hanson Aggregates produces and distributes aggregates - crushed rock, sand and gravel - from a network of quarries, depots, and wharves. The division includes Hanson Aggregates Marine, Europe's largest producer of marine-dredged sand and gravel. This is still a live site but we fancied a cheeky...
www.28dayslater.co.uk
The walk. As mentioned above, this report is just about the eastern side - I’ll do one for the western side later.
Rather a lot of photos here, literally a record of things to see on my arbitrary trajectory and all phone except for a few of the darker areas.
Starting at the bottom left of the yellow route, going up an old incline leads to a drum house.
Most of the inclines were ‘self acting’ meaning descending full wagons were connected to empty wagons via the drum, pulling them up on a parallel track.
However some inclines were powered and could act as hoists and this is one of them, with the machinery still there.
Next door is the lower of the two Pencoed storage bins - there used to be cranes above this but they seem to have gone.
The conveyor system under here is still in use, with a few lights and cameras around, although it looks a little run-down.
Crushed stone from the bin was originally dropped through the ceiling by lever-operated hatches, but is now just bulldozed down a single chute at one end of the bin.
Up another conveyor is the second bin, which has a properly derelict transport system underneath.
An old side-tipper wagon - this one is actually in quite good condition compared to some of wrecked ones out on the hill.
Next to the storage bin is what looks like one wall of another drum house, indicated by the arrow in a 1948 aerial photo.
Along the hill is some modern plant, just silos for finely crushed rock with a conveyor on top.
Another drum house behind.
Beyond the silos is a concrete mixing plant, behind which is the remains of Braichllwyd Mill (1886).
It’s little more than series of ramparts up the hill with bolts were things were attached and deep holes to fall down.
There was too much undergrowth to get many pictures but here are some, starting with a couple of little tunnels with hatches in the ceiling leading to a small basement area under the mill.
A plaque for Queen Vic’s Jubilee?
Beyond the mill is another drum house hiding in the woods - the plan above says this was a powered one although there’s no machinery left.
continued
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