Apparently Welsh Slate is my thing this year, handy as there is loads to see around North Wales and you can't move for finding another one! Cwt-y-Bugail is a smallish quarry over the hill from Manod and up the valley from Rhiwbach. You could easily spend a day exploring the various different workings that dot the valley between Penmachno and Bleanau without touching the bigger beasts of Manod or Maenofferen. It's a smaller quarry but it makes for a great mornings wander in the blustery wind and rain as there is quite a bit left scattered about the site. The large caverns opening onto a older, larger pits are pretty cool to see as most places I have been are either adits leading to large underground workings or massive holes in the ground.
Looking back across the valley:
Short history shamelessly stolen from various parts of the internet.
Cwt y Bugail means "Shepherd's Hut", and was probably the only notable feature in the vicinity, and hence was used for the name of the quarry. Adam Gregory leased the Blaen y Cwm quarry above Blaenau Ffestiniog from 1838 to 1849. During this time he made several trial workings at Cwt y Bugail. In 1863 Hugh Beaver Roberts sold half his interest in the Cwt y Bugail land to a consortium who formed the New Cwt y Bugail Slate Company Ltd. to begin production on the site. This company worked the quarry until 1875 when the quarry was sold to the Bugail Slate Quarry Company Ltd. under the chairmanship of Thomas Scott of Edinburgh; during this period the quarry was known locally as 'y cwmni Ysgottiad' ("the Scottish Enterprise").
Around 1877 the quarry was taken over by Owen Williams from the nearby village of Penmachno. He ran Cwt y Bugail for the next thirty years and was the great-grandfather of Owen Glyn Williams who managed the quarry in the 1980s. Production of slate peaked in 1877 and began dwindling significantly from 1884 onwards. By 1887 the quarry was closed, but Owen Williams formed a worker's cooperative and began working the quarry in 1888. The cooperative purchased the quarry from the Bugail Slate Quarry Co. for a nominal fee in 1892 Modest production with 60 men employed continued until 1898 when another gradual decline set in. In 1908 a rock fall in the quarry caused the company to fall into debt and it went into receivership in 1899. The receiver sold the quarry to Cadwalader Owen Roberts of Betws-y-Coed for a nominal sum.
The quarry continued operating under the name the New Welsh Slate Quarry. Cadwalader Pierce took over as manager in 1911 repairing some of the damage from the rock fall. The quarry continued producing until 1912 but after that only already worked slate was dispatched and the quarry closed again in April 1914. Roberts reopened Cwt y Bugail in 1919 after the end of the First World War and worked it for three more years, but again the enterprise failed and the quarry closed. In 1923 Tudor Roberts of Glanypwll set up the Cwt y Bugail Slate Quarries Ltd. to purchase and work the quarry. This company owned the quarry until 1961, though from 1946 it was sub-leased to the nearby Maenofferen quarry to which it was connected by the Rhiwbach Tramway. From 1956 onwards the quarry was sub-leased to Manod Slate Quarries Ltd. which operated the Graig Ddu quarry to the south. In 1961 the Cwt y Bugail company was taken over by a consortium led by Dafydd Price, who also purchased Graig Ddu which at this time was a much more productive quarry. Some sporadic slate extraction continued at Cwt y Bugail until 1972.
A subsidiary of Ffestiniog Slate Quarry Ltd. purchased the land and mineral rights to Cwt y Bugail in 1985. Ffestiniog Slate Quarries also owned the Oakeley quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog and in 1997 was taken over by the McAlpines group. McAlpine's slate interests were subsequently taken over by Welsh Slate Ltd., the owners of the Penrhyn quarry. The nearby Manod quarry has been renamed 'Cwt-y-Bugail' since Cwt y Bugail quarry's closure.
Quite a lot of the site remains, but in poor condition. The Mill, barracks and other smaller buildings are still evident. The steam winding engine was removed around a decade ago, but other bits of machinery dot the site alongside original track used to shift materials.
Original tramway cutting:
Mill building - still with wood saw tables
North Workings - tools marks evident on nearly every surface :
Underground workings.
They aren't extensive as other workings as its two big ceverns with a few link tunnels, some adits and one larger underground working off of a pit, but they do contain some cool features and remains.
One of the other underground workings
Link adit back to the main mill
We didn't drop down into the last workings as 4 days of slate and a 5 hour drive home meant we had run out of enthusiasm, but there was time to see the below ground waterfall.
For a smallish quarry we knew nothing of, it made for a good mornings wander. After a quick below ground cuppa, we walked back to the car and got soaked!
S8
Looking back across the valley:
Short history shamelessly stolen from various parts of the internet.
Cwt y Bugail means "Shepherd's Hut", and was probably the only notable feature in the vicinity, and hence was used for the name of the quarry. Adam Gregory leased the Blaen y Cwm quarry above Blaenau Ffestiniog from 1838 to 1849. During this time he made several trial workings at Cwt y Bugail. In 1863 Hugh Beaver Roberts sold half his interest in the Cwt y Bugail land to a consortium who formed the New Cwt y Bugail Slate Company Ltd. to begin production on the site. This company worked the quarry until 1875 when the quarry was sold to the Bugail Slate Quarry Company Ltd. under the chairmanship of Thomas Scott of Edinburgh; during this period the quarry was known locally as 'y cwmni Ysgottiad' ("the Scottish Enterprise").
Around 1877 the quarry was taken over by Owen Williams from the nearby village of Penmachno. He ran Cwt y Bugail for the next thirty years and was the great-grandfather of Owen Glyn Williams who managed the quarry in the 1980s. Production of slate peaked in 1877 and began dwindling significantly from 1884 onwards. By 1887 the quarry was closed, but Owen Williams formed a worker's cooperative and began working the quarry in 1888. The cooperative purchased the quarry from the Bugail Slate Quarry Co. for a nominal fee in 1892 Modest production with 60 men employed continued until 1898 when another gradual decline set in. In 1908 a rock fall in the quarry caused the company to fall into debt and it went into receivership in 1899. The receiver sold the quarry to Cadwalader Owen Roberts of Betws-y-Coed for a nominal sum.
The quarry continued operating under the name the New Welsh Slate Quarry. Cadwalader Pierce took over as manager in 1911 repairing some of the damage from the rock fall. The quarry continued producing until 1912 but after that only already worked slate was dispatched and the quarry closed again in April 1914. Roberts reopened Cwt y Bugail in 1919 after the end of the First World War and worked it for three more years, but again the enterprise failed and the quarry closed. In 1923 Tudor Roberts of Glanypwll set up the Cwt y Bugail Slate Quarries Ltd. to purchase and work the quarry. This company owned the quarry until 1961, though from 1946 it was sub-leased to the nearby Maenofferen quarry to which it was connected by the Rhiwbach Tramway. From 1956 onwards the quarry was sub-leased to Manod Slate Quarries Ltd. which operated the Graig Ddu quarry to the south. In 1961 the Cwt y Bugail company was taken over by a consortium led by Dafydd Price, who also purchased Graig Ddu which at this time was a much more productive quarry. Some sporadic slate extraction continued at Cwt y Bugail until 1972.
A subsidiary of Ffestiniog Slate Quarry Ltd. purchased the land and mineral rights to Cwt y Bugail in 1985. Ffestiniog Slate Quarries also owned the Oakeley quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog and in 1997 was taken over by the McAlpines group. McAlpine's slate interests were subsequently taken over by Welsh Slate Ltd., the owners of the Penrhyn quarry. The nearby Manod quarry has been renamed 'Cwt-y-Bugail' since Cwt y Bugail quarry's closure.
Quite a lot of the site remains, but in poor condition. The Mill, barracks and other smaller buildings are still evident. The steam winding engine was removed around a decade ago, but other bits of machinery dot the site alongside original track used to shift materials.
Original tramway cutting:
Mill building - still with wood saw tables
North Workings - tools marks evident on nearly every surface :
Underground workings.
They aren't extensive as other workings as its two big ceverns with a few link tunnels, some adits and one larger underground working off of a pit, but they do contain some cool features and remains.
One of the other underground workings
Link adit back to the main mill
We didn't drop down into the last workings as 4 days of slate and a 5 hour drive home meant we had run out of enthusiasm, but there was time to see the below ground waterfall.
For a smallish quarry we knew nothing of, it made for a good mornings wander. After a quick below ground cuppa, we walked back to the car and got soaked!
S8
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