I was reading `Gwynedd-Inheriting A revolution ` by David Gwyn,were he talks briefly about the slate quarries of Nantlle.He mentions the `chain incline´(latterly evolving into arial inclined ropeway) as being the invention of Thomas Avery,who introduced them to Delabole in the 1700s (calling them `papote heads`)-.Does anyone know any more about this,as Ive trawled the Net and can`t find anything about this mining engineer.Is he the Cornish equivalent of Moses Kellow?Was it men from the Cornish mines who brought this method of up-haulage to North Wales?
The only thing I found was a historic description of the quarry,its methods, and the `papote heads`, in the event of broken chains.

Wasn't Moses Kellow Cornish? Is this the man who was born in 1863 in St Teath, Cornwall and on the 1881 Census was ennumerated as a Slate Quarry Clerk in Llanfrothen, Merioneth, Wales?

Kellow (which happens to be my uncle's family name) is a Cornish language surname, the plural of 'kelli' meaning wood or grove.

As to Delabole Quarry, a fellow PhD colleague at the Institute of Cornish Studies did her doctorate on Delabole: name Catherine Lorigan. She subsequently published an excellent book:

Delabole: The History of the Slate Quarry and The Making of its Village Community, Pengelly Press 2007, priced £14.99.

Might have the information you are seeking in it.

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Right you are! Maybe should have asked: was Avery to Delabole what Kellow was to the Welsh quarrys.
As to the book,have you read it/can anyone recomend it?
Something you might find interesting if you are into Delabole is`A Familiar Description of the Old Delabole Slate Quarries`by John F Turner,1865 (through Wikipedia or Stone Roof Org.)
Thanks for the tip ,Cornish Pixie!

I've got the book and can definately recommend it. A small quote from the same although the dates don't tie in with the ones you mention.

"In the early nineteenth century, Thomas Rickard Avery, a merchant whose main business premises were in Boscastle and who had acquired a 'good bit of knowledge from the old quarrymen of Tintagel', bought a share in Landwork, which was proving to be a very successful venture. Avery tried to persuade his partners to invest in new machinery that would enable the slate to be raised from the pit more economically, but as the quarrymen had no capital to contribute, they were forced to allow Avery to buy them out. Shortly thereafter, horse whims were erected. A waterwheel for pumping and a steam engine were installed and soon Avery had 'one of the best quarries that can be seen anywhere'. In addition to gaining control at Landwork, by 1830 he had become the tenant ofthe Bakes' Quarries.23 When in 1833 Robert Rankine Bake's trustees advertised the Delabole Quarries to let for a term of fourteen or twenty-one years, Avery, as sitting tenant, must have assumed that he would be granted the lease, but the following year it was granted to John Granger and George Trickett, both residents of Plymouth".

In addition Catherine Lorigan mentions that the technological innovations that he introduced turned the the small-scale workings into a fast-expanding business.

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a common problem with the then-common fixed-term lease system; there is no incentive to invest in improvements unless they will show a profit within the term of the lease, rather than be a benefit to another tenant ( who can afford to underbid because they don't have the cost of the improvements to fund )

not that it's a thing of the past, the railways suffer from it in terms of rolling stock renewals, in particular

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Thanks for the info everyone. seems like such a large and historic quarry that obviously influenced others was worth a look in.Presumably they must have spent a fortune pumping the place out (like Dorothea etc..) being a massive and deep excavation.
Will try and get hold of the book.Thanks again!