Votty And Bowydd Quarry
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Votty and Bowydd Quarry was one of the major slate quarries connected to the Festiniog Railway.
[edit]History
Votty Quarry operated from the 1830s. It never had any direct rail access, the slate being brought out via Bowydd.
In 1854 direct connection was made by incline from Bowydd to the F.R., though in 1863 this was displaced by the number 1 "Bowydd" incline of the newly-constructed Rhiwbach Tramway. However, by 1880 most slate was going out by a connection made part-way down the Diffwys incline.
Bowydd, sometime called Lords, was a late eighteenth century working, substantially developed from the 1820s onwards. In 1870 the neighbouring Votty and Bowydd quarries merged for form the jointly-owned Votty And Bowydd Quarry. By 1882 it was producing nearly 12,100 tons of slate and employing nearly 350 men. Its peak output at the end of the nineteenth century was over 17,000 tons anually and employing 500 men. [1]
*Date: February 2007
*Photo: Dan Crow
These quarries were located on the slopes to the North of the present town centre, and to the east of the later-established Llechwedd Quarry.
The Festiniog Railway served the Quarry from its earliest days (the original "branch" serving Holland's quarry at Rhiwbryfdir).
[edit]References
- ^ Richards, Alun John [1999]. The Slate Regions of North and Mid Wales and Their Railways. Wales: Carreg Gwalch. ISBN 0863815529. OCLC 59415611.