I photographed this block recently in the wall of the weighouse by the head of the uphaulage incline on floor 6 of Diffwys. A quick Google search on the wording - Brick & Tile Co, Buckley, Chester - took me to the pages of the Buckley Historical Society, who have documented much about the Buckley brickworks.

I've sent them the photo, which they are keen to use, but I wonder if anyone can provide any additional information about the buildings, such as when they were built and how long they were in use etc.

It struck me as slightly odd that these blocks were brought in and incorporated here in the weighhouse when there would have been an endless supply of slate blocks to hand which would have sufficed. I have not seen such blocks in the walls of other quarry buildings. Was there a good reason for their use here?

Photograph:

🔗Diffwys-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-46871[linkphoto]Diffwys-Slate-Mine-User-Album-Image-46871[/linkphoto][/link]

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My guess on this would be that it was 'cannibalised' from a disused building such as an old boiler house.
There were many steam engines at Diphwys in the late 1800's working the mills, inclines etc. A certain grade of brick was used around boilers and chimneys etc as slate would crack with the heat.
When mills became idle machinery and building material would be reused.
This is one example -
🔗Personal-Album-106-Image-46872[linkphoto]Personal-Album-106-Image-46872[/linkphoto][/flink

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Certain types of Buckley brick were specially selected for their hard load bearing abilitys (apparently millions went into one of the Menai crossings).Must have been a good reason to use any in ffestiniog being such a remote area to get to.The Making of Buckley and District by T.W Pritchard,and Life in the Victorian Brickyards of Flintshire and Denbighshire by Andrew Connolly might be of interest.
As hymac says,looks as though its original purpose is lost due to its `re-use`.

I have some reports of the IA group on Floor 6 mill and the Diffwys engines. I'll dig them out and have a look. As Hymac says brick was used for boiler mounting and would quite possibly have come along with the boiler(s).

Grahami

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Would be interesting if you could find that report Graham.
I have noticed that there is quite a bit of brick at Diphwys especially in areas where a steam boiler would be. Much at the top and bottom mill.
You will also find brick underground at the 'Diphwys newydd' as well as coal cinders at the flooded incline head which was powered by a steam engine.
You can see the remains of a chimney which would go up the chamber and out by a roofing shaft.

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The 1983 reports are interesting, I may precis them at some time, but do not add much to this particular aspect.

Given that the boiler was by John Latham of Chester in 1864, and the engine was from Liverpool, bricks for the boiler seating from Buckley sounds highly likely!

Grahami

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Thanks for this guys. That sheds a bit more light on it. Any idea on the approximate date of the building these bricks are currently in?

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Very briefly:

Floor 6 Mill

The original mill was what is now the centre section and was constructed around 1863-4.
Power for this was provided by a 20hp steam engine by Fawcett, Preston & Co. of Liverpool made in 1861 in the centre bay of the engine house built at right angles to the north wall. The east bay contained the boiler – a 20ft x 5ft Cornish type by John Latham of Chester in 1864. The west bay contained a fitting shop. The discrepancy in the dates is curious, but may only mean that the engine was a stock item.

The first extension to the mill was in 1888/89 on the west end, using materials from the Alabama Floor 2 Mill. A second extension followed in 1894 this time on the east end. A new Lancashire type boiler was now fitted in the old fitting shop, but whether this superceded or supplemented the Cornish one is hard to say.

The last change was electrification in 1913-15 when the whole of the steam plant was removed and electric motors installed in the old engine room.

The uphaulage incline from Floor 3 was in place on the 1901 OS map, but no head building is shown. The next edition of ca 1912 or so shows the building in place. A copy of the 1901 map annotated by the Diffwys company labels it as “New Electric Hauler”


Cheers

Grahami

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Brilliant, any idea why the mill was called 'Allabama'.
Also so you know where the adit goes to that leads off the short incline at Diffwys bottom level. The level with the incline drum down to Votty.
It has always puzzled me as it goes in for a while and then you come to a slate built wall with a 1ft square drain at the bottom.

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Briefly... it is thought that the "Alabama" name dates from the Alabama incident during the american civil war in 1862 when Britain was accused of carrying COnfederate spies on the H.M.S.Trent which was then threatened by the Union warship Alabama.

I have given much thought to the level just above the Floor 0 mill. It's easier to show it on a plan, but basically the level is actually floor 0 (!) - this is because although all the floors above were able to use tramways to connect the working floors in Diffwys' Hen Waith to their respective mills or inclines on the west of Diffwys Hill, floor 0 was too low - below the horizon of Bowydd in fact and worked jointly by them. (it is the Writing Slate Mill floor in later parlance) so floor 0 was connected by a level, it is poorly shown on the OS as "Old Level" at the pit end but makes sense when you plot where ther tramways had to be. We know that the construction of the floor 0 mill was rushed to completion, so it seems likely that they could not wait for the platform to be built up high enough but used it as it stood - and so the short incline from the level was needed. Thi is backed up to some extent by the remains of the original upper part of the Diffwys-FR incline which was at the same level to the south of the floor 0 mill.

Further a confusing plan in the NLW shows floors 1, 1 1/2 and 2 - but no floor 0, yet the shape etc. of the floors matches what we call floor 0, floor 1 and floor 2. Thus I believe that what was floor 1 was renamed floor 0, and floor 1 1/2 was renamed floor 1. AT which point everything fits together nicely.

I'll try and upload some stuff tomorrow to show this.

In haste,

Graham

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