Ty Mawr West


Slate Quarry
Worked from 1960s to 1930s

Jan 1st, 2024 from GWSI by Buddle-Bot

Nov 18th, 2025 by BertyBasset



North Wales
Talysarn
53.0476189, -4.2465887
SH 4950 5240
Private Land
120m
#1,294


Pit and hillside. Had Blondin.

The main pit remains visible today, along with an adit, a shaft, and the remnants of several structures. Bases that once anchored the Blondin ropeway can still be identified, as can a concrete machinery plinth that probably supported a late-period oil engine. Evidence also survives of a makeshift cableway employed when the spoil heaps were later reworked. The incline, once a well-constructed embankment, still exists but has suffered considerable erosion over the decades.



This pit and hillside operation began as an extension of the Ty Mawr quarry, initially accessed through an open-cut excavation. As the workings grew deeper, operators installed a Blondin aerial ropeway to transport material from the quarry face. During the 1860s, the site employed as many as forty workers, though yearly production never exceeded one thousand tons. Processing took place in a mill fitted with three saws driven by a Robey steam engine, and the finished slate traveled to the road along a long, gently graded incline. Operations came to an end during the 1930s.


Publications (3)

  • (2002); WMS Newsletter Issue 47 Oct; 28 pages
  • (2004); WMS Newsletter Issue 51 Winter; 32 pages
  • Richards, Alun John (1991); Gazeteer of the Welsh Slate Industry, A; Gwasg Carreg Gwalch 978-0863811968





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