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. The Ordnance Survey maps of 1889 and 1900 show the ground in use as the Nantlle Vale Slate Quarry, in existence in 1882 and closed about 1910; by the 1916 map it appears divided between Ty Mawr West and Ty Mawr East. In its last years the old tips were reworked by means of a makeshift balanced wire incline.

Geology

Slate of the Nantlle valley, the paired working alongside Tymawr East; the vein is not named on the record.

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. The tips were reworked late in the quarry's life using a makeshift balanced wire incline.

Closure

Closed during the 1930s.

What remains

Pit, adit and shaft all survived as of a 1991 survey. A number of buildings stood then too, the mill among them, with the bases of the Blondin, a concrete machinery base perhaps for a late oil engine, and the wire incline used to rework the tips. The embanked incline to the road is much eroded.

A pit, an adit and a shaft, surviving as of a 1991 survey. Also buildings including the mill, the Blondin bases, a concrete machinery base and the much eroded embanked incline.

Related mines

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

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The Ordnance Survey maps of 1889 and 1900 show the Nantlle Vale Slate Quarry here, in existence in 1882 and closed about 1910, afterwards apparently divided between Ty Mawr West and Ty Mawr East. (uncertain) ¹

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
• In 1991 a number of buildings survived, including the mill, with Blondin bases, a concrete machinery base and a makeshift balanced wire incline used in late reworking of the tips; the embanked incline is much eroded. ¹
• The Ordnance Survey maps of 1889 and 1900 show the Nantlle Vale Slate Quarry here, in existence in 1882 and closed about 1910, afterwards apparently divided between Ty Mawr West and Ty Mawr East. (uncertain) ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

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

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026