49-621: 53°04′48″N 4°04′55″W / 53.080°N 4.082°W / 53.080; -4.082 The Afon Colwyn (English: River Colwyn ) is a small river in Gwynedd , north-west Wales , a tributary of the Afon Glaslyn . It has its source on the south-western flank of Snowdon . It first flows west to cross the A4085 Caernarfon to Beddgelert road at Pont Cae'r Gors just south of Rhyd Ddu , then flows south parallel to
98-506: A public auction was arranged, intended to pay off some of the quarry's debts. The auctions were held on 12 and 13 December 1969. The auctioneer's national advertisement (in The Guardian 29 November 1969), the event was described as "An auction sale of machine tools and stocks, four Hunslet locos, and engine and boat fittings". The locomotives referred to, lots 613–616, were "Dolbadarn", "Red Damsel", "Wild Aster" and "Irish Mail". Before
147-660: A pumped storage hydroelectric scheme. Many of the Hunslet locomotives have been preserved on several of Britain's narrow gauge heritage railways. More recently, new build versions of the class have been built by the Exmoor Steam Railway , and by a new Hunslet company at the Statfold Barn Railway . In 1987, part of the film Willow was shot in the Dinorwic quarry, on the lower terraces next to
196-513: A unitary authority , the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain as area committees . The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy . In 2003, the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the two local government areas of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Conwy county borough
245-512: A few parishes of Denbighshire : Llanrwst , Llansanffraid Glan Conwy , Eglwysbach , Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Tir Ifan. The county was divided into five districts : Aberconwy , Arfon , Dwyfor , Meirionnydd and Anglesey . The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included
294-580: A name for a local authority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police . The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After
343-519: A nominal two-foot gauge, the actual gauge between the rails at Dinorwic was 1 ft 10 + 3 ⁄ 4 in (578 mm) in common with its neighbour Penrhyn, but fractionally narrower than the public lines of the Ffestiniog Railway or North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway which were 1 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 in (597 mm). Early steam locomotives were used by the quarry, and built by De Winton & Co. But from 1870
392-498: A part of Allt Ddu, and Chwarel Fawr and Chwarel Goch became linked to it too. In the 'Great New Quarry', Raven Rock and Garret Quarries became one massive quarry, operating as an open hillside gallery quarry, with the lowest two levels being accessed by tunnels. Harriet, Morgans, and Sofia quarry are all still identifiable as separate pits today, whilst Braich quarry became a large working of three contiguous smaller pits. Below this, The galleries of Victoria and Wellington were joined along
441-565: A steam-operated railway on a new track replaced the tramroad and operated until 1961. The Padarn Railway , or the Dinorwic Quarries Railway as it was also known, belonged to the quarry company. It was constructed with a four-foot gauge but transported slate waggons with a nominal two-foot (centre-to-centre) gauge from the Gilfach-ddu quarry yard to Penscoins at the top of the escarpment with a view of Port Dinorwic. From
490-584: A tidal creek on the Menai Strait 's mainland shore called Aber-Pwll, Moel-y-Don, or Felin Heli. The Assheton-Smith family of Vaynol established a tiny wharf on a marshy inlet to convey the output of its Dinorwic quarry in 1793, which marked the beginning of the development of the dock system and related buildings. It was located directly downstream of a tide-powered grain mill that gave the region its Welsh name, Y Felinheli, and replaced an earlier setup where slate
539-525: Is a county in the north-west of Wales . It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy , Denbighshire , and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon . The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes
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#1732794313451588-687: Is a large former slate quarry , now home to the Welsh National Slate Museum , located between the villages of Llanberis and Dinorwig (formerly Dinorwic) in Wales . At its height at the start of the 20th century, it was the second largest slate quarry in Wales (and thus, the world), after the neighbouring Penrhyn quarry near Bethesda . Dinorwic covered 700 acres (283 ha) consisting of two main quarry sections with 20 galleries in each. Extensive internal tramway systems connected
637-566: Is now entirely within Clwyd. A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 by the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name Gwynedd. In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, Gwynedd had been proposed as
686-807: Is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed , at the end of the Roman era. Venedotia was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from c. AD 500 which reads: Cantiori Hic Iacit Venedotis ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd'). The name was retained by the Brythons when the kingdom of Gwynedd was formed in the 5th century, and it remained until
735-711: The Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site . During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire . In
784-401: The Isle of Anglesey . Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of 979 square miles (2,540 km ) and a population of 117,400. After Bangor (18,322), the largest settlements are Caernarfon (9,852), Bethesda (4,735), and Pwllheli (4,076). The county has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 64.4%, and is considered a heartland of
833-790: The traditional climbing route The Quarryman (E8 7a) in the Twll Mawr section, and the sport climbing route The Very Big & the Very Small 8b+ (5.14a) in the Rainbow Slab section, of the Dinorwic quarry. The most famous route is Stevie Haston's Comes the Dervish (E3 5c) in the Vivian quarry section, and the hardest route is currently James McHaffie's sport climbing route, The Meltdown at 9a (5.14d) (previously bolted and attempted by Dawes and Jerry Moffatt ), also in
882-671: The 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough , and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council still appoints nine of the eighteen members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints three; and the Welsh Government appoints the remaining six. There has been considerable inwards migration to Gwynedd, particularly from England. According to
931-564: The 2021 census , 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh, while 64.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census . It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales. The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5 and 15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011. The proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd declined between 1991 and 2001, from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though
980-529: The 2021 census, 66.6% of residents had been born in Wales whilst 27.1% were born in England. The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park , which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in
1029-590: The A4085 to Beddgelert. On the way it is joined by two tributaries, Afon Cwm-du and Afon Meillionen . At Beddgelert it joins the Glaslyn, to then flow south to Tremadog Bay near Porthmadog . The Colwyn is a short and fast-flowing river. It generally carries less water than the Glaslyn, but water levels can rise very rapidly when there is heavy rain. The river is popular with whitewater kayakers and anglers. Gwynedd Gwynedd ( Welsh: [ˈɡwɨnɛð] )
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#17327943134511078-531: The Garret area of the quarry in 1966, production had ceased almost permanently. It was however decided that some final work could be done by clearing some of the waste from the Garret fall. This involved making an access road for more modern quarry vehicles across some of the terraces, to the rockfall. This amount of slate won by this method was small and all production stopped by 1969. At the Receiver's instruction
1127-560: The Quarry Engineering Works at Port Dinorwic. The boiler was eventually sent to Bristol to get the work done. In 1892, the first steamship owned by a quarry was purchased. Port Dinorwic was never the fully developed maritime community of the nineteenth century that Porthmadog was, in part because it shared ownership with the Quarry and was devoted to its commerce. For instance, it lacked a sizable shipbuilding sector, and
1176-532: The bidding started, it was announced that Gwynedd County Council had placed a Preservation Order on the Gilfach Ddu workshops, and many items within it. The original connection between the quarry and the company's port at Y Felinheli was the Dinorwic Railway , a 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge line built in 1824. This was worked by horses and it soon became apparent that it was inadequate for
1225-488: The first internal tramways were in use. These first lines were worked using horse- and hand- power. For the next seventy years, the tramway system grew until it reached the point where more powerful traction was required. The first steam locomotives used were small vertical boiler locos supplied by De Winton 's of Caernarfon . In 1870 the first locomotive supplied by the Hunslet Engine Company arrived at
1274-472: The former Denbighshire parishes) passed to the new Conwy County Borough . The remainder of the county was constituted as a principal area, with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire , as it covers most of the areas of those two historic counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. The present Gwynedd local government area is governed by Gwynedd Council . As
1323-512: The hillside and continued downwards in two separate main workings: Wellington and Hafod Owen. Each was eventually to contain several small sinks too, some below lake level. The current form of the quarry is little different from that of the time of the Great War, save for enlarging of the actual quarry faces and deepening of the sinks. Certainly, all the main inclines were in place, very little was altered until closure. The nearby Marchlyn quarry
1372-654: The invasion of Edward I. This historical name was revived when the new county was formed in 1974. Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th century, when it was conquered by England . The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 . It covered the entirety of the historic counties of Anglesey and Caernarfonshire , and all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd ); and also
1421-580: The language . The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. The county contains much of Snowdonia ( Eryri ), a national park which contains Wales's highest mountain, Snowdon ( Yr Wyddfa ; 3,560 feet, 1,090 m). To the west, the Llŷn Peninsula is flatter and renowned for its scenic coastline, part of which is protected by the Llŷn AONB . Gwynedd also contains several of Wales's largest lakes and reservoirs, including
1470-547: The largest, Bala Lake ( Llyn Tegid ). The area which is now the county has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales , which under the House of Aberffraw remained independent from the Kingdom of England until Edward I 's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech , which form part of
1519-444: The outbreak of war with France , taxes, and transportation costs limited the development of the quarry. A new business partnership led by Assheton Smith was formed on the expiry of the lease in 1809 and the business boomed after the construction of a horse-drawn tramway to Port Dinorwic in 1824. At its peak in the late 19th century, "when it was producing an annual outcome of 100,000 tonnes", Dinorwic employed more than 3,000 men and
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1568-617: The past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish fine , meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish Féni , an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to fían , 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps *u̯en-, u̯enə ('strive, hope, wish')
1617-399: The proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%. The Annual Population Survey estimated that as of March 2023, 77.0% of those in Gwynedd aged three years and above could speak Welsh. Dinorwic quarry Dinorwic quarry ( / d ɪ ˈ n ɔːr w ɪ ɡ / din- OR -wig ; Welsh: [dɪˈnɔrwɪɡ] ; also known as Dinorwig quarry )
1666-594: The pumped-storage scheme. Scenes from the 1994 film Street Fighter were filmed on the south side of "Watford Gap" near the Matilda hole. Clash of the Titans was filmed in the quarry in 2009. The Dinorwic quarry has also become a major British rock climbing venue, particularly the sections of Twll Mawr (meaning "big hole"), Vivian quarry, Rainbow Slab, and Australia. Famous British rock climbers such as Johnny Dawes have created well-known extreme test-pieces such as
1715-491: The quarries using inclines to transport slate between galleries. Since its closure in 1969, the quarry has become the site of the National Slate Museum , a regular film location, and an extreme rock climbing destination. The first commercial attempts at slate mining took place in 1787 when a private partnership obtained a lease from the landowner, Assheton Smith. Although this was met with moderate success,
1764-639: The quarry acquired most of its locomotives new from the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds . These were purpose-built, initially using a series of Hunslet general/unclassified designs, but after 1886 these fell into one of three classes: Preserved at the Statfold Barn Railway Preserved at the NGM Preserved at the Statford Barn Railway Port Dinorwic ( Y Felinheli ) was initially only
1813-673: The quarry's workshop at Gilfach Ddu was acquired by the then Caernarfonshire County Council, who now lease the building to the National Museum and Galleries of Wales. It now houses the National Slate Museum . Equipment from the internal quarry railway was used to build the Llanberis Lake Railway over part of the trackbed of the Padarn Railway. The quarry has been partly used by the Dinorwig power station ,
1862-410: The quarry, and the majority of the locomotives that worked at Dinorwic were eventually supplied by Hunslet. Between 1935 and 1949 the Quarry acquired 22 light internal combustion rail tractors for use on the levels. Half of these were new, the other half second-hand. Their survival rate did not match those of the steam locomotives, and when the quarry closed in 1969 only three still survived. Although
1911-504: The quarry, but it was achieved. Docks and quays were constructed in 1809, lock gates were added in 1828, dry docks and engineering facilities were built in the 1830s, a new outer basin was finished in 1854, an outer lock was added in 1897, and a new sea wall was built in 1905 between the harbour and basin to extend the quays. In 1852, a standard gauge extension of the Chester and Holyhead Railway reached Port Dinorwic, although nearly 90% of
1960-573: The slate continued to be transported by sea, exclusively in rented vessels. The dry dock was a unique facility in North Wales, making it very valuable to coastal shipping while the vessels were there. The engineering shops of The Dry Dock Co. also were looking to have Merddin Emrys's boiler repaired with new copper fireboxes and retubing the FR Co. got estimates from Avonside Engine Company of Bristol and
2009-461: The slate quarries. Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county. The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai , both now part of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai . Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh . According to
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2058-429: The south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter. Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy. The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in
2107-695: The surveyor for ship insurance in Port Dinorwic worked for the Portmadoc Mutual Ship Insurance Society. The organisation has no less than thirteen surveyors working in Porthmadog! Other visiting steamers that were not owned by the quarry were nevertheless crucial after the First World War. The ships owned by Dinorwic Quarry were underrepresented in a 1925 photograph of coastal steamers. Following closure,
2156-460: The traffic generated by the quarry. A number of surveys of alternative routes were undertaken by members of the Spooner family , the result of which was the construction of a new railway which opened in 1848: the 4 ft ( 1,219 mm ) gauge Padarn Railway which operated as the quarry's main transport link until closure in 1961. The first use of railways at the quarry came around 1800 when
2205-416: The transporters, they were unloaded here and lowered down a self-acting incline to the port, where locomotives moved them to the quays. Despite the fact that these locos were close to but not identical to those employed in the quarry, they were occasionally moved between places. The buffer beams on the port locos caused particular difficulties when trying to get them up the inclines to the higher levels of
2254-428: Was a situation that lasted for many years, certainly until the mid-1830s. The 1824 railway brought transport problems. Produce from the upper quarries was not a problem, but Wellington, Ellis, Turner, Harriet, and Victoria quarries were all below the level of the railway. This was a problem solved in the 1840s when the lake level railway was built, and the quarry as we know it began to take shape. Adelaide quarry became
2303-542: Was lightered into the Menai Straits from 500 metres to the southwest. Slates from Dinorwic quarries were hoisted onto lighters and transported to ships anchored further offshore in the Menai Strait until the quays were opened in 1809 allowing ships to be loaded directly. The name Port Dinorwic was being used by 1824, and in this year a tramroad from Dinorwic quarries (the Dinorwic Railway ) was opened. In 1848,
2352-460: Was opened in the 1930s to provide access to the main slate vein higher up the mountain. The quarry closed in July 1969, the result of industrial decline and difficult slate removal. During the 1950s/60s extraction had become difficult, because after 170 years of extraction many of the unsystematically dumped tips were beginning to slide into some of the major pit workings, and after an enormous fall in
2401-595: Was the second-largest opencast slate producer in the country. Although by 1930 its working employment had dropped to 2,000, it continued in production until 1969. The slate vein at Dinorwic is nearly vertical and lies at or near the surface of the mountain, allowing it to be worked in a series of stepped galleries . This is however not quite how the quarry developed. The first quarrying was spread across several sites: Adelaide, Allt Ddu, Braich, Bryn Glas, Bryn Llys, Chwarel Fawr, Ellis, Garrett, Harriet, Matilda, Morgan's, Raven Rock, Sofia, Turner, Victoria, and Wellington. This
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