Seeking Allt Ddu photos · AditNow Community

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simonrl
51% (Neutral)
Administration Topic Starter

16 years ago

Does anybody have any photos of Allt Ddu? This was the quarry closest to Dinorwic's main tips on the Dinorwic side. Wyn has uploaded some nice shots of the pit here http://www.aditnow.co.uk/album/Allt-ddu-Slate-Mine-Archive-Album/ but it would be great to see some of the tips prior to the landscaping in the mid 1980s.

Thanks,
Simon

my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by

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Barney
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

Page 3 has 2 photo's from 1978

http://www.jgd.org.uk/rotwsi/alltddu03.htm

does that pre date the landscaping?

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

Yes, also those on page one dated August 86 predate the vandalism oops landscaping too. I first visited that area June 83 😞 They had just about finished by then. 😠

hymac580c
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Newbie

16 years ago

I worked on that job for about 2 months driving a bonneted Magirus Deutz tipper lorry for the contractor from mid Wales. Cannot remember the name now. One of 9 tippers working on the site. The company went bust, one reason was the fact that they were having loads of punctures on the lorries from the sharp slate especially when turning.
I do not remember a lot about the landscape , but they were filling in a huge pit around where the car park is at the end of Dinorwig where the footpath starts.

Bellach dim ond swn y gwynt yn chwibian, lle bu gynt yr engan ar cynion yn tincian.

Barney
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Newbie

16 years ago

"JohnnearCfon" wrote:
Yes, also those on page one dated August 86 predate the vandalism oops landscaping too. I first visited that area June 83 😞 They had just about finished by then. 😠

I guess i should have read the text instead of just looking at the pretty pictures!
What was the reason for the removing of the tips, just to fill in a pit elsewhere, or was there more too it than that?

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

Yes, the row of identical tippers were still parked up there on my first visit. They were still filling in part of the Allt ddu pit, as well as Chwarel Fawr pit too. The road that formerly curved round the Chwarel Fawr pit was then diverted straight across where it had been filled.

simonrl
51% (Neutral)
Administration Topic Starter

16 years ago

Thanks for the link Barney, I should have thought to look on the ROTSWI site, it's a good resource. I grew up about a mile from Allt Ddu, hence the interest in seeing photos of the place. All I remember was seeing the tip to the south east of the pit slowly disappear, and the hill behind slowly appear. I also remember walking past one of those huge trucks you'd have been driving Hymac - it was a monster, doubly so aged about 8 or 9!

my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by

hymac580c
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

I wish I had taken more interest in what was to see on the site then, but from what I can remember there was only tips and the pit. Also the company worked 12 hr shifts and we had to go like sh*t off a shovel as they wanted to complete the work. The Magie Deutz tippers as they were called was a nice lorry as they were only about a year old then, but the tyres were totaly unsutable for slate and they were loaded to the brim as there were extention tailboard fitted. Designed capacity was 16 tons but they carried more like 18 to 20 tons.

Bellach dim ond swn y gwynt yn chwibian, lle bu gynt yr engan ar cynion yn tincian.

AndyC
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

I did not realise that the landscaping was so enthusiastic there.

I wonder why this was done. Whilst personally I would always rather see the remains untouced, I can understand when it is done to improve the area. The tips on the edge of talysarn come to mind.

But why such aggresive landscaping here? Has it have made such a difference to the small community it borders?

Been injured while at work and are not to blame?

Get over it.

Gwyn
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

#10

I can't help with any photos, sorry.
Have you tried the Archives in Caernarfon? Given the modernity of the works, I'd expect them to hold a good selection of "before, during and after" pictures, as well as a representative amount of related paperwork.

grahami
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Newbie

16 years ago

#11

I've just added a couple of shots to the archive album, I thought there was third, but can't find it at the moment. They don't show very much, I'm afraid. I took them while wandering about with my father before I got seriously into slate IA.

If I can find any more, I'll post them.

Grahami

The map is the territory - especially in chain scale.

simonrl
51% (Neutral)
Administration Topic Starter

16 years ago

#12

Thanks Graham, the view along the tip was one of the views I was looking for. I used to live on the hillside in the distance on the right hand side of the photo.

my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by

Wyn
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

16 years ago

#13

I was hoping that my father's slides may have had some views of here, but unfortunately not. I rememember that there used to be a nissen type hut, when I visited in the late sixties/early seventies? which had an old lorry in, which fascinated me. That was located at the "turning circle" at the end of the public road.