Graig Ddu Quarry

The derelict slate storage area at Graig Ddu quarry
The upper incline at Graig Ddu
Riding the "car gwyllt" in the Craig-ddu Quarry (1959)

Graig Ddu Quarry (sometimes known as Craig Ddu) (loc. SH724454) is a disused slate quarry in North Wales, originally opened as Manod Quarry in about 1800, but developed as Graig Ddu in the 1840s. Although output was only about 3000 tons a year (3140 tons in 1882), it reputedly has 36 saw tables and the same number of dressing machines on site. As with others in the area, the quarry suffered from a lack of water, resulting in the siting of the mill some distance away, at a lower level.[1]

This was one of the last quarries to ship slate down the Dwyryd, but after 1865 slate was taken down to Tan y Manod using a 4 pitch incline.[2] These inclines were renowned for the quarrymen's use of ceir gwyllt (wild cars), a sort of skateboard which sat on one rail, with an arm reaching across to a parallel rail, an operation that was only possible at Graig ddu, of all the Blaenau quarries, because the exit incline from the Mill level was both very long and of unusually shallow pitch - it ran across the face of the hillside to the east of Tanymanod, rather than directly up and down.[1]

The opening of the Festiniog And Blaenau Railway in 1868, which connected with the quarry inclines, vastly improved the method of transporting slate from the quarry. When, in 1883, this railway was converted to standard gauge, wagons were carried to Blaenau Ffestiniog using a piggy-back style similar to that used on the Padarn Railway at Dinorwig, after which they were either transferred to the Festiniog Railway or into GWR wagons.[2]

Closure and modern operations

Graig Ddu closed in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War. It re-opened briefly after the war to supply slates for rebuilding bomb damaged cities.[3] The quarry employed 86 men when it closed in 1946.[1]

From the mid-1980s, modern quarrying operations at the nearby Manod Quarry extended over the summit of Manod Mawr and reached the derelict Graig Ddu quarry. Much of the quarry site has been obliterated by this untopping operation. Untopping at Graig Ddu ceased in 2007.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Boyd, James I.C. (1975) [1959]. The Festiniog Railway 1800 - 1974; Vol. 2 - Locomotives and Rolling Stock; Quarries and Branches: Rebirth 1954-74. Blandford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-8536-1168-8. OCLC 874117875.
  2. 1 2 "Craig Ddu Quarry". The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum.
  3. ↑ Jenkins, Huw (11 April 2008). "Wild way home" (PDF). BBC News Wales.
  4. ↑ Sallery, Dave. "Manod / Welsh Slate's 'Cwt y Bugail Quarry': A brief history of the quarry".
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Coordinates: 52°59′28″N 3°54′55″W / 52.991057°N 3.915171°W / 52.991057; -3.915171

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