Moel Fferna Quarry

The Quarry (mine) is located about 4.8 miles above the A5, at 1650ft altitude.
There were 7 tiers. The first five had their own adit, while levels 6 & & were accessed from adit 5. These all entered a single underground stope (or cavern) about 75ft high. The "new" cutting shed is the corrugated building in the lower left picture, and the older cutting shed the demolished slate slab building in the lower right picture. The final winch slope is shown on the right of the upper picture. An LDC 67kW DC generator supplied power to the machine shop, via a 54ft long (4" diameter) driving shaft with eight belt drive take-off pulleys drove the slate dressing machines. There were a pair of smaller generators for lighting and ancillary machinery. Slate cutting was done by a pair of Anderson-Brice traversing saws, and Turner Bros slate edging dressers.

There were work cabins on levels 3,4 & 5 where the workers ate. Paraffin heaters replaced the original coal stoves (coal came up on the returning "empty" wagons). A Rushton & Hornsby 112hp three cylinder class V was used for underground transport and kept on level 3 (I believe it was sold in the closure auction for 10 pounds!). Level 5 was also the level where a suspended bridge crossed the open cavern).

In 1947 the company purchased two Bedford trucks, one was kept at the Glyndyfrdwy rail siding, and the other at Carrog, where several miners lived. A moorland road starts beside the white office building in the lower left and joins a paved farm road that leads back to the A5 just west of the Sun Inn (about a mile west of the village of Glyndyfrdwy): https://whatpub.com/pubs/CLN/293/sun-inn-glyndyfrdwy. For the hikers this provides an alternative access but I find the railbed more interesting (and shorter). The tomb (burial mound) of the last "Welsh born prince" Owain Glyndwr (see Shakespeare) is located just beside the Sun Inn.

This photograph is by Metman and was uploaded March 9th 2017. © Metman please do not copy or distribute without prior express permission.

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