Tymawr West Quarry

Overview

A small Nantlle Valley slate quarry on the south side of the road between Nantlle and Talysarn, adjoining its paired sibling Tymawr East, active from the 1860s to the 1930s and worked latterly with a Blondin cableway as its open pit deepened.

History

Tymawr West (Ty Mawr West) Slate Quarry, on the south side of the road between Nantlle and Talysarn, lies adjacent to the already-published Tymawr East quarry. Active by the 1860s, it began as a pit-and-hillside working that developed into an open pit, accessed by an open cut; as work progressed downward a Blondin cableway was brought into use to lift material out, which was then reduced in a small on-site mill before being carried to the road by a long, shallow incline. Despite this investment, the quarry remained small: up to 40 men were employed at its peak, but annual output stayed well below 1,000 tons, and by 1898 the workforce had fallen to just seven men. The quarry finally closed during the 1930s; its pit, an adit and a shaft all still survived when the site was surveyed in 1991.

Workings

Worked as an open pit accessed by an open cut, with a Blondin cableway lifting material as the pit deepened, a small mill for reduction on site, and a long, shallow incline carrying slate out to the road.

Closure

Closed during the 1930s.

What remains

Pit, adit and shaft all survived as of a 1991 survey.

A pit, an adit and a shaft, surviving as of a 1991 survey.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• Active by the 1860s, Tymawr West began as a pit-and-hillside working that developed into an open pit accessed by an open cut, using a Blondin cableway to lift material as work progressed downward, with a small on-site mill and a long, shallow incline carrying slate to the road. ¹
• Despite its investment in cableway lifting, the quarry remained small: up to 40 men were employed at its peak, but annual output stayed well below 1,000 tons, and by 1898 the workforce had fallen to just seven men. ¹
• The quarry closed during the 1930s; its pit, an adit and a shaft all still survived when the site was surveyed in 1991. ¹
• The Nantlle Valley's slate quarries -- Tymawr West among them -- were characteristically run independently and on a much smaller scale than the large integrated enterprises at Bethesda, Llanberis and Blaenau Ffestiniog, with slate carried out via the Nantlle Railway, opened in 1828. ²

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Sources

1. (primary) Coflein site 400633 — Coflein (RCAHMW)
2. (secondary) Slate industry in the Nantlle Valley — Wikipedia

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026