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Welsh Slate history
Welsh Slate company history timeline
What links Queen Victoria, a small duchess, a broad lady and a big forehead? The answer is that they could all have been found at Penrhyn Slate Quarry in 1832 when Henry Hawkins painted his picture of the quarry teeming with activity.
Most famous is the Blaenau Ffestiniog railway which opened in 1836 carrying slates from the quarries at Blaenau to Porthmadog.
The Cwt-y-Bugail slate quarry in Ffestiniog, North Wales has been producing slates from 1840, and is currently the highest industrial site in the UK.
Following the Industrial Revolution and the Enclosure Acts, fresh air had become, as Alastair Borthwick wrote in 1930, “the property of moneyed men”. However the booming 50s and swinging 60s had led to more people having spare cash, free-time and cars than ever before.
The First World War had a dramatic impact as did the global economic depression of the 1930’s.
By 1960 Dinorwig’s workforce had been reduced to about 300 and the Vaynol Estate had sold off a lot of their land.
Then, in 1969, when workers were enjoying their summer break, letters arrived announcing to workers that the quarry had shut for good.
And the history-making has continued: in 2011, Steve McClure made the first ‘all pitches in a day’ ascent of Dawes’ four-pitch testpiece, the Quarryman.
In 2011, Gwynedd Slate Industry was selected by a panel of experts to be put forward by the UK as a candidate for nomination for World Heritage Site status.
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Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Welsh Slate, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Welsh Slate. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Welsh Slate. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Welsh Slate. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Welsh Slate and its employees or that of Zippia.
Welsh Slate may also be known as or be related to Welsh Slate and Welsh Slate Ltd.