Rhosydd Quarry - History

History

Slate was discovered in the vicinity of Rhosydd in the early 1830s. Two men from Croesor found it and assumed that it was on the estate of Croesor Fawr. They therefore asked the owner, William Turner, for a take-note, which would allow them to quarry the rock. It was also found by Meredydd Jones of Maenofferen, but he assumed that it was on the Cwmorthin Ucha estate, which was owned by William Ormsby Gore, and so he approached Ormsby Gore's agent for a take-note. As the boundary between the two estates was not clearly defined in this region, a court case followed in 1833, to decide where the boundary should be. The result was that Rhosydd was part of the Cwmorthin Ucha estate, and the Ormsby Gores issued take notes and later leases. Small scale working began, but the site was not easily accessible, as the workings were some 1,850 feet (560 m) above sea level, in an area of boggy moorland. A Mr Mathews from Aberystwyth obtained a lease, and created the first adit, but appears to have done little more. Another lease was issued to two speculators in 1850, but it was not taken up.

In 1852, Edward Barker obtained a take-note, which he then transferred to a partnership. Barker was the son of Ormsby Gore's agent, while the partnership consisted of a surgeon called William Taylor, a warehouseman called John Pearce, both from London, and John Harper, who was from Porthmadog. Harper briefly acted as managing director, but was soon replaced by a naval captain called Richard Oliver. The agent or general manager was Thomas Jones, who had assisted Barker in his search for slate. On 27 June 1853, the partnership became the Rhosydd Slate Company, which negotiated the conversion of the take-note into a lease in September. Finished slates were carried by the Ffestiniog Railway in 1854, and in 1855 some Rhosydd slates were shipped from Porthmadog. In the following year, the Joint Stock Companies Act 1856 was passed by parliament, and the quarrying company became the Rhosydd Slate Company Ltd on 7 November, under the terms of that act.

Finished slates were transported by pack horse when quarrying began. The route taken probably followed a well-built path that starts near the highest workings and runs between the peak of Moelwyn Mawr to its west and Llyn Stwlan to its east, before turning to the west and descending Cwm Maesgwm to reach the Maentwrog to Aberglaslyn turnpike road. As the quarry developed, and workings were opened up to the north, a more obvious route was that down Cwm Orthin to the east, which reached the Ffestiniog Railway at Tanygrisiau. However, the Cwmorthin Quarry objected, and restricted the use of this route by prohibiting the use of carts, which they enforced by erecting a gate at Ty Gwyn, about 25 yards (23 m) above the Ffestiniog Railway. Wheeled carts would have been difficult to control, because of the steep gradients, and sledges may have been used. These were known as "car llusg" in Welsh, which was often translated as "cart".

The company was created with a nominal capital of £50,000, and all the shares had been issued by 1862. Most of the money came from London, with some from Bath, but very little from local sources. To raise more money, £30,000 in debentures were then issued. A new lease was obtained in October 1859, on terms which were favourable compared to many other quarries in the area; royalies of two shillings (10p) per ton were payable, whereas five shillings (25p) was more common. Transportation improved in 1864, with the opening of the Croesor Tramway. Construction began in 1862 without an Act of Parliament, by obtaining wayleaves for the route from Porthmadog to the foot of the first incline at Garreg Hylldrem. Beyond there, it was effectively a private tramway, as it was built on land leased to the owners of various quarries which it served. There were two inclines at Garreg Hylldrem, and a third at Blaencwm. After a short level section, the tramway divided, with one branch ascending a large incline to the Croesor Quarry, and another ascending to the Rhosydd exit tramway. Both inclines descended by around 750 feet (230 m) and were the two highest single-pitch inclines in Wales. A deed of mutual covenant was signed on 1 October 1863 by the Rhosydd Slate Company Ltd and Hugh Beaver Roberts, the builder and owner of the Croesor Tramway, to formalise the building of the incline and connecting tramway. It also set the tolls for use of the incline at 2d (0.8p) per ton, reducing to 1d.

By this time, slate was being worked on five levels, and there were two adits, one of 550 yards (500 m), with a second of 700 yards (640 m). The first four wagons loaded with a total of 7.4 tons of slates descended the incline on 1 August 1864, the day on which the Croesor Tramway officially opened. The first month was exceptional, with the quarry sending 284 tons of slates to Porthmadog, after which it levelled out at around 200 tons per month. Coal traffic in the reverse direction developed, some of it for the quarry and some for the quarrymen's barracks. A proposed restructuring of the company in 1865 to raise additional capital did not occur, but the capital of the original company was increased to £125,000 in the following year. In March 1871, the lease was renewed for a further 42 years, but the company was soon in difficulties. Adequate returns could not be made on the large amount of money sunk into development, and on 27 June 1873, it went into voluntary liquidation.