Pantdreiniog quarry

The early history of the quarry is obscure, but it appears to have started around 1825, and was certainly working in 1845, when quarryman John Hughes of Maentwrog fell to his death into the pit, which was then 40 yards deep. In 1860, owned by William Owen, the Pantdreiniog Slate Company produced 3,000 tons of slate, dropping to 1,372 tons produced by 30 men in 1864. During the 1860s, the quarry expanded and took over the adjacent Coetmor Quarry. Sometime in the late 1860s the quarry closed. In 1872, the quarry was re-opened by the Bangor and Pant-Dreiniog Slate Co. (Ltd.) and took on 50 workers. That year they produced 1,500 tons of finished slate. In 1884, it was recorded as worked by the…

On 22 November 1900, the continued friction between the quarrymen an owners at Penrhyn quarry resulted in another strike and lock out. This was the start of the "Great Strike of Penrhyn", which lasted for three years and was the longest dispute in British industrial history. Slate produced here was shipped via the LNWR to Deganwy on the River Conwy. This initial attempt failed sometime in 1902, but in the summer 1903, with the Penrhyn strike still underway, Parry tried again. A new enterprise North Wales Quarries Ltd. was started, funded mainly by the North Wales Quarrymen's Union. The union contributed over £15,000 (£) to purchase Pantdreiniog, along with the nearby Moel Faban and…