Rhiwgreiddyn Quarry
Photographs taken by Ray Gunn around and below Rhiwgreiddyn slate quarry, Ceinws / Esgairgeiliog. From the slate waste tips to the village across the newly restored fields. Also photographs of a short section of the old council road below the quarry that was abandoned in 1895 when the road was re-aligned up to the tramway to make more room to tip more waste.
The slate waste tip below the RHiwgreiddyn quarry, between the road and the river Dulas contains the waste from the newer part of the quarry that opens next to the road. There was also possibly another entrance lower down, level with the old council road, which was closed to make more room to tip more waste slate. This tip also contains the sawn ends and offcuts etc. from the slate mill and complex of finishing and enamelling buildings etc.
Yn 2002 Scottish Power began to use the tip to store and prepare new poles ready for transporting to replace old ones on the mountain sides and remote, inaccessible places around this area. To watch the helicopter pick up and carry off each pole, returning a few minutes later for another one was a fascinating and novel experience - and was something that the old quarrymen would never have dreamed possible.
