Rhiwbach quarry

The land on which it was located was owned by Lord Newborough, and small scale working of the site by local people needing roofing materials was carried out in the eighteenth century.

More organised working of the site began in 1812, by two men from Penmachno and Ysbyty Ifan, which gradually developed into a five-man partnership. The quarry was sold to Robert Owen Mousdale of Bryndyffryn, Llanrwst in 1849, and two men worked it for him.[1]

In 1852, the Rhiw Bach Slate Quarries Company was set up in Manchester, with Charles Edward Cawley as its civil engineer, but by 1855 the company working the quarry was the Cambrian Slate Quarrying Company.

In 1853, the Manchester & Ffestiniog Slate & Slab Co Ltd was created, to buy out the quarry for £28,000 (equivalent to £2,635,898 in 2019). This was followed in 1858 by the incorporation of the Festiniog Slate Quarry Co Ltd, with a capital of £100,000 (equivalent to £10,138,069 in 2019), which consisted of several directors from a similarly named company which was set up in 1853, to buy out the Penmachno quarry, a little to the north, and construct a tramway to it from Blaenau Ffestiniog. In 1860, agreement was reached with the Ffestiniog Railway on rates for the carriage of Rhiwbach slates, and the construction of an Extension Railway, on which the Ffestiniog would supply the rolling stock for a period of 21 years.[2] The extension, known as the Rhiwbach Tramway, was financed by the quarry, but built by the Ffestiniog Railway. It was largely completed in 1861, as two quarries began using it in early 1862, but it was not fully completed until 1863.[3] In the meantime, Rhiwbach built a wharf at Porthmadog in 1861, and carriage of their slates on the Ffestiniog Railway was first recorded in 1863, when 3,964 tons were transported.[4]

The original company was wound up in 1877, and re-constituted as the Festiniog Slate Company Limited. Operation was sporadic until the company was liquidated in 1891. However, work continued at the quarry, under the direction of H Humphries, who traded as "Rhiw Bach Quarry Owners". By 1896 there were 95 employees recorded at the site, of which 29 worked underground. Humphries continued to work the quarry until 1913, when his company was wound up and the quarry closed. Some slate was exported via the Ffestiniog Railway in 1918, despite the fact that the quarry was officially closed, and the First World War legislation concerning labour still applied. In the following year the Festiniog Slate Quarries Company Limited was incorporated to work the quarry, and in 1928, the enterprise was sold to the Maenofferen quarry. Parts of the tramway were relaid, and they continued to operate the quarry until 1952, when it was closed. The tramway was lifted from the Rhiwbach quarry to the junction with the tramway from Cwt y Bugail quarry,[4] which continued to use the tramway for several more years.

The quarry lay approximately 3 ¹⁄₂ miles (5.6 km) east of Bethania, the eastern part of Blaenau Ffestiniog, and approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Cwm Penmachno. It was located at the head of the Cwm Machno, to east of the watershed between the Afon Machno, a tributary of the Afon Conwy, and the Afon Teigl, a tribritury of the Afon Dwyryd.

There are five main veins of Ordovician slate which pass through Blaenau Ffestiniog, longitudinally (from east to west). From north to south, these veins are called: the North Vein, the Back Vein, the Narrow Vein, the Main (or Old) Vein, and the South (or New) Vein.[5] As they head eastwards, the lower three thin out and disappear, so that by the time Cwt y Bugail quarry is reached, only the North Vein and Back Vein are left. Immediately to the east of the Cwt y Bugail main adit, the strata are cut by the Dolwyddelan fault. The same two veins re-appear at Rhiwbach, 0.6 miles (1 km) further to the south east, at a considerably lower altitude.[6] These same veins are also worked by the Penmachno quarry immediately north of Rhiwbach.

There were two sets of workings in the Rhiwbach quary: The 'old' workings, which are located on the North Vein, are just to the south on the exit incline, and the 'new' workings on the Back Vein, a little further to the south.[7]

With the opening of the Rhiwbach Tramway in 1853, the quarry was extended underground, and was eventually worked on eight floors. The peak output was in 1869, when nearly 8,000 tons of finished slates were produced, although this had reduced to below 4,000 tons within a few years. A steam engine powered the mill, and also powered the incline up to the tramway and other inclines to raise rock from the workings. A 600-yard (550 m) adit was cut in the 1890s, which provided natural drainage for much of the underground workings.[8] From 1902, the steam engine also drove an air compressor, which enabled compressed air rock drills to be used.[9] The manager enquired about other methods of modernisation in 1906, consulting pamphlets on electric rock-drilling machinery published in Cleveland, and one called La Puleggia Penetrante, published in Rome, the title of which means 'the penetrating pulley'. Following discussions with companies in Belgium and France, trials were carried out using wire-saws, but were unsuccessful.[10]

By 1935, the annual output had dropped to 1,000 tons, and steam power was replaced by electricity. There were problems with obtaining men prepared to work the quarry, and it closed in 1952. At the time there were two men still living in barracks on the site, the last to do so in the Welsh slate industry.[8]

Because of its remote location, transport was a problem for the quarry in its early years. As it is situated in the Cwm Machno (Machno Valley), the obvious route for exporting its products was northwards down the Cwm Machno and Dyffryn Conwy to Trefriw quay. From there, slates could be loaded into river boats for onward transfer to Conwy, or directly into sea-going vessels. Although it was downhill, it was not ideal, as it involved around 14 miles (23 km) by cart to Trefriw, and then a further 10 miles (16 km) on the river. A shorter route to the south was possible, carting the slates to the Afon Dwyryd at Maentwrog, a journey of about 7 miles (11 km), and a further 8 miles (13 km) by boat to Ynyscyngar. However, from the quarry, there was a climb of 250 feet (76 m) in order to cross the watershed. Consequently, most product used the northern route to begin with,[12] but from the 1830s, the southern route via Maentwrog was used.[8]

In 1853, the Rhiwbach Tramway was built, which connected the quarry to the Festiniog Railway at Blaenau Festiniog. This in turn gave the Rhiwbach quarry a rail link to Portmadoc, a major port on Cardigan Bay. The quarry used the Rhiwbach Tramway for the rest of its life, until closure in 1952.

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