Tymawr East Quarry

Overview

A Nantlle Valley slate quarry between Nantlle and Talysarn, worked as an open pit and hillside working from around 1860 to about 1910, one of a paired East and West quarry of the same name.

History

Tymawr East (Ty Mawr East) Slate Quarry, an open pit and hillside working on the south side of the road between the villages of Nantlle and Talysarn, opened around 1860 and closed around 1910. It was one of a paired East and West working of the same name, reflecting the common Nantlle Valley pattern of small, independently-run quarries -- the valley as a whole had at least 37 operating quarries at one time, working a long belt of Cambrian slate that also fed the far larger operations at Dorothea and elsewhere in the valley.

Geology

Slate of the Nantlle valley, worked as an open pit and hillside working; the vein is not named on the record.

Workings

Water power may have been used for hauling and pumping before steam was introduced. A chain incline and a water balance were used to move material, along with an internal tramway; there was no external rail connection, and slate was carted away by road. The quarry employed 20 men in 1882, when only 150 tons of output was recorded, and 32 men by 1898.

Closure

Closed around 1910.

What remains

As surveyed by RCAHMW in 1991, several buildings survived, including dressing sheds and an engine house and chimney dating from the 1890s, alongside the firebox and boiler of a semi-portable steam engine.

The 1991 survey also recorded a haulage incline (possibly water-powered), a wheel pit, the base of a second chimney dating from the 1870s (serving an earlier engine and winder, now quarried away), the bases of a Blondin aerial cableway system, and a well-engineered access road.

Related mines

• Tymawr West Quarry — Adjacent East and West workings of the same original Tymawr quarry.

Recorded claims

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

• Ty Mawr East Slate Quarry, on the south side of the road between Nantlle and Talysarn, opened around 1860 and closed around 1910. ¹
• The Nantlle Valley had at least 37 operating slate quarries at one time, working a long belt of Cambrian slate, of which Tymawr East -- one of a paired East and West working -- was one of the smaller, independently-run examples. ²
• The quarry employed 20 men in 1882 (150 tons of output that year) and 32 men by 1898, moving slate by a chain incline, a water balance and an internal tramway rather than an external rail connection, with cart haulage from the site. ¹
• A 1991 RCAHMW survey recorded surviving dressing sheds, an 1890s engine house and chimney with the firebox and boiler of a semi-portable steam engine, a haulage incline, a wheel pit, the base of an 1870s chimney for an earlier, now-quarried-away engine and winder, bases for a Blondin aerial cableway system, and a well-engineered access road. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Ty Mawr East Slate Quarry — Coflein (RCAHMW)
2. (secondary) Slate industry in the Nantlle Valley — Wikipedia

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 15 September 2026