Hafod-y-Wern Slate Quarry

Overview

A Gwyrfai valley slate quarry above Betws Garmon that grew from a hillside working into three pits with the coming of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway, employed 49 men in 1898 and closed in the mid-1920s.

History

Hafod-y-Wern slate quarry lies on the hillside of the Gwyrfai valley above Betws Garmon, across the valley from the Ystrad iron mine. It began as a small hillside working and grew into a substantial undertaking once the railway reached the valley, deepening into three pits reached by tunnels. Slate was lowered by a long incline to water-powered mills on the valley floor, fed by two embanked ponds and an aqueduct, and a branch of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway ran right to the mill.

The quarry was working in 1878, when a Flintshire man, William Williams, was badly hurt by a fall of rock. It later stood idle, and in April 1897 the arrangements for reopening it were completed: bargains were let to the labourers, and about a hundred quarrymen were to start work. Within weeks the men came out on strike, which one paper likened to the difficulties behind the Penrhyn dispute and another put down to the suspension of three men for alleged insubordination; they returned to work in July. In 1898 the quarry employed 49 men. Ordnance Survey maps show it in use in 1890, 1900 and 1915. After some years of small-scale working it closed in the mid-1920s, and the incline was shortened in its last phase so that only the lower part remained in use.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

A hillside working deepened into three pits reached by tunnels, with an older working known as the Old Quarry reached by a tunnel at the foot of the main incline.

Closure

Closed in the mid-1920s after several years of small-scale working.

What remains

Heavily overgrown, the mill area and tips much disturbed by later aggregate extraction and the upper part under forestry; the main incline still climbs from the mill bank into the woods.

The long main incline with the ruins of its drumhouse at the head, the site of a header reservoir midway up, traces of the tunnel to the Old Quarry, and the formation of the railway branch beside the quarry road.

Redevelopment

Bulk aggregate extraction disturbed the mills and tips; the upper part of the site is forestry.

Related mines

• Glanrafon Quarry — Gwyrfai valley slate quarries served by the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway.

Recorded claims

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

• Hafod-y-Wern began as a small hillside working and developed into a substantial quarry of three pits reached by tunnels after the railway arrived. ^1,2
• A branch of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway ran right to the quarry's mill. ^1,2
• In 1878 William Williams, a native of Flintshire, was badly injured at Hafod-y-Wern quarry by a fall of rock. ³
• The quarry was reopened in spring 1897, with about a hundred quarrymen to be employed. ^4,5
• The quarrymen at Hafod-y-Wern struck in summer 1897 and returned to work in July; the cause was given as the suspension of three men for alleged insubordination. ^6,7
• In 1898 the quarry employed 49 men. ¹
• After several years of small-scale working the quarry closed in the mid-1920s. ^1,2

Sources

1. (secondary) Hafod-y-Wern Slate Quarry (NPRN 400658) — Coflein (RCAHMW)
2. (secondary) Hafod y Wern — Buddlepit Mine Database
3. (primary) Y Genedl Gymreig, 5 September 1878: Waenfawr: Damwain — Y Genedl Gymreig (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
4. (primary) Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald, 30 April 1897: The Hafodywern Quarry — Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
5. (primary) Yr Herald Cymraeg, 4 May 1897: Chwarel Hafodywern — Yr Herald Cymraeg (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
6. (primary) The North Wales Express, 9 July 1897: The Strike at Hafodywern — The North Wales Express (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
7. (primary) Llangollen Advertiser, 2 July 1897: [No title] — Llangollen Advertiser (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)

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