Took my sister to the Dinorwig Slate quarry in Llanberis yesterday for a bit of an explore as she had not been off the beaten track there before.
The quarry covers about 700 acres, and at its peak employed 3000 men. The first attempt at mining slate there happened in 1787, but the bussiness did not boom until 1824, the quarry finally closed in 1969.
It really is an amazing place, and I have posted a few pictures. The first couple of pictures shows an exposed railway track. on my last visit there I walked along this, but there has been a severe landslide since then. - glad I wasnt there when it happened. I did think for a second whether I could cross, but thought better of it, the steel was badly corroded & there was a joint in the rail about halfway accross (probably quite weak). A fall would of resulted in about a 200 ft sharp and jagged slide on slate before reaching the edge with about 250 to 300 ft shear drop afterwards.
The quarry covers about 700 acres, and at its peak employed 3000 men. The first attempt at mining slate there happened in 1787, but the bussiness did not boom until 1824, the quarry finally closed in 1969.
It really is an amazing place, and I have posted a few pictures. The first couple of pictures shows an exposed railway track. on my last visit there I walked along this, but there has been a severe landslide since then. - glad I wasnt there when it happened. I did think for a second whether I could cross, but thought better of it, the steel was badly corroded & there was a joint in the rail about halfway accross (probably quite weak). A fall would of resulted in about a 200 ft sharp and jagged slide on slate before reaching the edge with about 250 to 300 ft shear drop afterwards.
