Tu Hwnt i'r Chwarel / Beyond the Quarry

The Ogwen Valley, stretching from Capel Curig to the Menai Strait by Bangor, has a long and fascinating past. Bangor University’s Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates has received a grant of £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to work with the communities of the Ogwen Valley in Gwynedd to explore the lives and experiences of those generations of people who lived and worked in the valley, most of them on the Penrhyn estate, during the course of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. 

The Penrhyn estate was a dominant force in the life of north west Wales for centuries, exerting an influence which extended over a massive landholding base and embracing all aspects of society – from industry, politics, culture and religion, through to architecture, farming and land management.  Important parts of this complex and at times contentious story are preserved and interpreted at major heritage sites including Penrhyn Castle and the National Slate Museum. 

However the lives and experiences of those thousands of individuals who lived on the estate as tenants and who worked on estate farms, or as woodmen, gamekeepers or in the Castle as domestic servants remain largely untold.  The project aims to redress this balance by drawing upon the memories and memorabilia of people living in the area, and through research of historical records kept at Bangor University Archives and Caernarfon Record Office. This site is a record of the information we have gathered as a part of this project.