Cilgwyn quarry

Quarrying at Cilgwyn dates back to the 12th century. By the end of the 18th century a large number of small pits had grown into a substantial working. The Cilgwyn Quarry Company was formed in 1800 by the Caernarfon solicitor John Evans. By the 1820s it had been taken over by the Cilgwyn and Cefn Du Slate Company, though this company collapsed in 1831. It was then taken over by George Alfred Muskett, a banker from St Albans who served as MP for that city from 1837 to 1841. Muskett's tenure was not successful, and by 1840 the quarry was failing. Many of the quarrymen went unpaid and they resorted to selling slates directly instead of through the company. Muskett fled the country in 1842,…

Cilgwyn was an opencast quarry comprising three main pits: Gloddfa Glitiau to the north-east, Old Cilgwyn to the west and Veingoch to the south-east. Earlier in its history there were a larger number of smaller pits. The mills stood on top of significant waste tips to the south and east of the pits. A tramway north ran from the mills to another waste-tipping site to the north of the quarry at Bryn Hyfryd Terrace.