Gallt y Fedw Slate Quarry

Overview

A small slate quarry of two open pits just east of Talysarn in the Nantlle valley, developed in the 1850s and worked until 1930, latterly with its neighbour Dorothea.

History

Gallt y Fedw quarry lies immediately east of Talysarn village in the Nantlle valley, close to the great Dorothea quarry. It was worked as two small open pits, perhaps on a small scale long before it was developed in the 1850s. A steam incline raised the rock to a mill of six saw tables, which unusually stood in the open air, and the finished slate went out by an incline that crossed and then joined the Nantlle Railway; a rubbish run bridged the Cilgwyn incline. Output was only a few hundred tons a year, with about a dozen men. One pit stopped in 1870; the other worked on until 1930, in its later years together with Dorothea, and a suction gas engine put in during the 1920s was never used.

The quarry was run by a limited company with shareholders among its own quarrymen: Robert Peter Jones of Penygroes, who died after an accident there in April 1894, was a shareholder as well as an experienced quarryman. In March 1902 the Gallt-y-Fedw Slate Quarry Ltd, with the interest on its debentures in arrears, came before the Chancery Division, which appointed a receiver and manager and let him borrow £530 for the month's wages so that the quarry would not close; a debenture holder's order followed in April. In 1903 the quarry was recorded as owned by the Old Penybryn Slate Company. Two more men died after falls, William Jones in 1903 and Peter Jones in 1917. By March 1918 about twenty of its men were in the forces, and the workmen and officials had set up a fund to send them gifts.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

Two small open pits, one abandoned in 1870, served by a steam incline to the mill and an incline down to the Nantlle Railway.

Closure

One pit ceased in 1870 and the other in 1930, the quarry being worked with Dorothea in its last years.

What remains

A crowded site with a small mill and other buildings, incline formations and a shallow stone-lined pit of unknown purpose, as recorded in 1991.

A small mill and several buildings, incline formations, possible launder pillars, a privy and a stone-lined pit about 30 m across.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Dorothea Quarry — Neighbouring Talysarn quarries; Gallt y Fedw was worked together with Dorothea in its later years.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Gallt-y-fedw was worked as two small open pits and developed in the 1850s, with a steam incline to a six-saw-table mill whose tables worked in the open air. ¹
• One pit ceased in 1870 and the other continued until 1930, latterly worked with Dorothea. ¹
• In March 1902 the Chancery Division appointed a receiver and manager of the Gallt-y-Fedw Slate Quarry Ltd and allowed him to borrow £530 for wages. ^2,3
• In 1903 Gallt y Fedw quarry was owned by the Old Penybryn Slate Company. ⁴
• Robert Peter Jones of Penygroes, a quarryman and shareholder in Gallt y Fedw, died after an accident at the quarry in April 1894. ⁵
• Peter Jones, aged 50, died after falling at Gallt y Fedw quarry in June 1917; the inquest returned accidental death. ⁶
• In 1918 Gallt y Fedw's workmen and officials ran a fund to send gifts to the quarry's men serving in the forces. ⁷

Sources

1. (secondary) Gallt-y-Fedw Slate Quarry (NPRN 40552) — Coflein (RCAHMW)
2. (primary) Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald, 14 March 1902: The affairs of a Carnarvonshire quarry — Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
3. (primary) Evening Express, 26 April 1902: Local law cases: in re the Gallt-y-Fedw Slate Quarry (Limited) — Evening Express (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
4. (secondary) Mine accident record: William Jones, Gallt y fedw Quarry, 25 November 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) Y Genedl Gymreig, 17 April 1894: Damwain angeuol yn Nantlle — Y Genedl Gymreig (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
6. (primary) Yr Herald Cymraeg, 26 June 1917: Damwain angeuol yn chwarel Galltyfedw — Yr Herald Cymraeg (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
7. (primary) Y Dinesydd Cymreig, 20 March 1918: Chwarel Gallt y Fedw — Y Dinesydd Cymreig (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)

Record created: 20 October 2026 · Last researched: 20 October 2026