1. The History
Ty'n y Bryn slate quarry is located on the south side of the small village of Dolwyddelan, Caernarvonshire, North Wales.
Quarrying started at Ty'n-y-bryn as far back as the 1840s, however, it wasn’t until 1861 the quarry saw the construction of a large water-powered mill, located behind the Pentre-bont houses. Its large waterwheel was fed from the nearby Llyn Cwm-penamnen reservoir, 1 mile to the south. The quarry itself was a pit with four levels, connected by a series of inclines to the aforementioned mill. The slate then was transported by cart to Trefriw for onward shipment. An account from the Llangollen Advertiser dated Friday March 21st, 1873 notes:
“None of the Dol[w]yddelen quarries can be said to be properly developed. They are all comparatively young, and have a serious disadvantage to combat against in having to take all their produce to Bettws-y-coed in cart.”
In 1875, the mill was also processing slate from the nearby Pen-llyn quarry, due east of Ty'n y Bryn which the company took over. Here slate was quarried but also extracted from underground workings too.
Latterly, in 1879, railway transport was used to transport the slate. Exchange sidings to accommodate the slate wagons were constructed adjacent to London and North Western Railway (LNWR) owned main railway line near Dolwyddelan railway station. This gave Ty'n-y-bryn the distinction of being the only quarry in the Conwy area to have direct rail connections. Additionally, an incline was built from sidings up to the mill. The incline used standard gauge so the wagons could be taken directly up to the mill, making it one of only four slate quarries in North Wales with standard gauge railway connections directly to its mill.
At its peak, output approached 2,000 tons of slate per annum (including slate from nearby Pen-llyn). Quarrying appears to have finished circa 1889, but a 1900 O/S map shows the quarry back working again:
By 1898, the quarry is recorded as having just eight men in its employ. The fascinating picture postcard below, taken circa 1900, appears to show seven of them, posing with their tools:
Quarrying at the quarry ended at the outbreak of World War One, in 1914. Attempts were made to restart Pen-llyn, using the Ty'n-y-bryn mill, in 1920. This lasted until 1924, when the quarry and mill closed for good. Today remain include four inclines and their ruinous drum houses, a number of dressing sheds and other buildings, the remains of a weighing machine, a wheel-pit and machine bases.
2. The Explore
It’ s taken me a while to get round to working this up into a report. It’s far from epic, but the fact that no one else is likely to draft a report on it, spurred me on to finally research the history and get a report done.
With so many slate quarries and mines in North Wales to choose from, you probably wouldn’t make a special trip to Ty'n y Bryn slate quarry. However, we were staying in the village and on a lovely sunny Spring day we looked across from the north valley side over to quarry bathed in sun (see first picture below) and decided we’d have a look.
The next day myself and my daughter set off, on foot, up to the base of the incline and made our way up the quarry’s steep inclines to its upper reaches. There’s nothing of exceptional interest but enough to keep you busy for an hour or so. Plus the views from the top back over Dolwyddelan are nice. We then made our way back down the slope and on to the lovely village pub, Elen's Castle Hotel, for refreshments and a bit of a warmup.
Finally, with hindsight, looking at how close we were to the nearby Pen-llyn quarry and the old O/S maps that show three old adits, it’s a shame we didn’t pop in here too. It remains a bit of an unknown quantity with next to no info on the web and no pictures, so one for next time.
3. The Pictures
Overview of the quarry from the north slopes of the valley:
You get a strong sense of nature taking the quarry back over:
The next day at the bottom of the incline and waste tips. Not such a sunny day as the day before!
These look like old engine bases:
Up the first incline we go:
The first level has some old building foundations:
And the start of more waste tips:
This initially looked like an adit entrance:
But on closer inspection:
It just proved to be dead-end:
Back to the incline and up again:
Remains of another building:
And our first view of the quarry pit to the right of the incline:
The view back down:
And the second winding house:
Up again:
And another winding house:
A nice little slate cabin with roof on:
And one with the roof off:
And another peek into the pit:
Ty'n y Bryn slate quarry is located on the south side of the small village of Dolwyddelan, Caernarvonshire, North Wales.
Quarrying started at Ty'n-y-bryn as far back as the 1840s, however, it wasn’t until 1861 the quarry saw the construction of a large water-powered mill, located behind the Pentre-bont houses. Its large waterwheel was fed from the nearby Llyn Cwm-penamnen reservoir, 1 mile to the south. The quarry itself was a pit with four levels, connected by a series of inclines to the aforementioned mill. The slate then was transported by cart to Trefriw for onward shipment. An account from the Llangollen Advertiser dated Friday March 21st, 1873 notes:
“None of the Dol[w]yddelen quarries can be said to be properly developed. They are all comparatively young, and have a serious disadvantage to combat against in having to take all their produce to Bettws-y-coed in cart.”
In 1875, the mill was also processing slate from the nearby Pen-llyn quarry, due east of Ty'n y Bryn which the company took over. Here slate was quarried but also extracted from underground workings too.
Latterly, in 1879, railway transport was used to transport the slate. Exchange sidings to accommodate the slate wagons were constructed adjacent to London and North Western Railway (LNWR) owned main railway line near Dolwyddelan railway station. This gave Ty'n-y-bryn the distinction of being the only quarry in the Conwy area to have direct rail connections. Additionally, an incline was built from sidings up to the mill. The incline used standard gauge so the wagons could be taken directly up to the mill, making it one of only four slate quarries in North Wales with standard gauge railway connections directly to its mill.
At its peak, output approached 2,000 tons of slate per annum (including slate from nearby Pen-llyn). Quarrying appears to have finished circa 1889, but a 1900 O/S map shows the quarry back working again:
By 1898, the quarry is recorded as having just eight men in its employ. The fascinating picture postcard below, taken circa 1900, appears to show seven of them, posing with their tools:
Quarrying at the quarry ended at the outbreak of World War One, in 1914. Attempts were made to restart Pen-llyn, using the Ty'n-y-bryn mill, in 1920. This lasted until 1924, when the quarry and mill closed for good. Today remain include four inclines and their ruinous drum houses, a number of dressing sheds and other buildings, the remains of a weighing machine, a wheel-pit and machine bases.
2. The Explore
It’ s taken me a while to get round to working this up into a report. It’s far from epic, but the fact that no one else is likely to draft a report on it, spurred me on to finally research the history and get a report done.
With so many slate quarries and mines in North Wales to choose from, you probably wouldn’t make a special trip to Ty'n y Bryn slate quarry. However, we were staying in the village and on a lovely sunny Spring day we looked across from the north valley side over to quarry bathed in sun (see first picture below) and decided we’d have a look.
The next day myself and my daughter set off, on foot, up to the base of the incline and made our way up the quarry’s steep inclines to its upper reaches. There’s nothing of exceptional interest but enough to keep you busy for an hour or so. Plus the views from the top back over Dolwyddelan are nice. We then made our way back down the slope and on to the lovely village pub, Elen's Castle Hotel, for refreshments and a bit of a warmup.
Finally, with hindsight, looking at how close we were to the nearby Pen-llyn quarry and the old O/S maps that show three old adits, it’s a shame we didn’t pop in here too. It remains a bit of an unknown quantity with next to no info on the web and no pictures, so one for next time.
3. The Pictures
Overview of the quarry from the north slopes of the valley:
You get a strong sense of nature taking the quarry back over:
The next day at the bottom of the incline and waste tips. Not such a sunny day as the day before!
These look like old engine bases:
Up the first incline we go:
The first level has some old building foundations:
And the start of more waste tips:
This initially looked like an adit entrance:
But on closer inspection:
It just proved to be dead-end:
Back to the incline and up again:
Remains of another building:
And our first view of the quarry pit to the right of the incline:
The view back down:
And the second winding house:
Up again:
And another winding house:
A nice little slate cabin with roof on:
And one with the roof off:
And another peek into the pit:
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