Background information courtesy of Dave Sallery's
penmorfa.com and Dilan4's
River Machno website.
Rhiwbach Slate Quarry, along with Blaen y Cwm, differed from all other quarries in the slate industry in one important aspect. The exit incline from the quarry for the finished product led up and not down. The classic balanced incline, by which the outward loaded slate wagons brought up the empty wagons by gravity, was not possible. The answer for the quarry was to build a substantial engine house to power the incline from the bottom, with the haulage wire passing around a sheave at the top. This engine house also powered the quarry machinery and the underground inclines. The remains of the engine house are a notable feature of the quarry with the tall chimney still an imposing sight.
The quarry was started at the beginning of the 19th century on a site to the South of the later main workings. This area developed into a deep pit working which has now flooded. This part of the quarry was worked out by the 1880's and work transferred to the present site. The pit working here, started in the 1860's, was later developed extensively underground to encompass eight levels. Drainage of the underground workings was through a tunnel which began 350 feet below the surface and emerged onto the side of Cwm Penmachno. The entrance to this drainage tunnel may still be seen today. When the quarry first opened, the slate was taken down on horseback into Cwm Penmachno and eventually to the quay at Trefriw on the Conwy. Later the finished product was taken out in the opposite direction, around the shoulder of Manod Mawr and down to the Afon Dwyryd below Maentwrog.
The Rhiwbach Tramway opened in 1863 and revolutionised the transport arrangements for the quarry. A wharf was opened in Porthmadog and from then on all slate went out along the tramway and down the Ffestiniog Railway. In 1908 the quarry started to use the exchange sidings at Minffordd to transfer their product to the national rail network.
The old dam which held back Penrhiw Lake. Believed to have given way sometime in the 1960's.
Entrance to the underground workings. Reported
here and
here.
The engine house and main buildings.
This quarry was one of the most remote in the industry and it was frequently cut off for long periods in bad weather. Because of this, the living quarters almost reached village status. The quite extensive remains of which includes family accommodation, a shop and a school house as well as the barracks for the single men.
Due to the remote location of the quarry, it developed into a quarry village with houses, barracks, a shop, and a schoolroom which doubled as a chapel. Women and children also lived on the site. The quarry company even provided a library and a comfortable reading room "for the purpose of reading, writing and improving themselves in the various aspects of knowledge".
Social activites included concerts by well-known artists, and well attended Eisteddfodau. Prior to the establishment of the schoolroom (after much pressure upon the authorities) the children used to walk to the school at Cwm Penmachno, but conditions meant that absence was frequent. The lady-teacher in the schoolroom (Kate Griffiths) travelled daily from Blaenau, being hauled up the inclines before walking along the remainder of the tramway. At the end of the day she would walk to neighbouring Graig Ddu and ride down the 3 inclines to Blaenau on the renowned "car gwyllt".
Rhiw Bach Slate Quarry & Buildings - April 11
Rhiw Bach Slate Quarry & Buildings - April 11 -
04-04-2011, 15:40
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