The Penrhyn quarry is a slatequarry located near Bethesda, North Wales. At the end of the nineteenth century it was the world's largest slate quarry; the main pit is nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 1,200 feet (370 metres) deep, and it was worked by nearly 3,000 quarrymen. It has since been superseded in size by slate quarries in China, Spain and the USA. Penrhyn is still Britain's largest slate quarry but its workforce is now nearer 200.
History
The first reference to slate extraction at Penrhyn is from 1570, when the quarry is mentioned in a Welsh poem.[1] The quarry was developed in the 1770s by Richard Pennant, later Baron Penrhyn. Much of his early working was for local use only as no large scale transport infrastructure was developed until Pennant's involvement. From then on, slates from the quarry were transported to the sea at Port Penrhyn on the narrow gaugePenrhyn Quarry Railway built in 1798, one of the earliest railway lines. In the 19th century the Penrhyn Quarry, along with the Dinorwic quarry, dominated the Welsh slate industry.
In 1868 eighty workers were sacked for failing to vote for George Douglas-Pennant, the son of the owner, in the general election.[2]
The "Great Strike"
Penrhyn slate quarry, ca. 1900
The quarry is significant in the history of the British Labour Movement as the site of two prolonged strikes by workers demanding better pay and safer conditions.[citation needed] The first strike lasted eleven months in 1896. The second began on 22 November 1900 and lasted for three years. Known as "The Great Strike of Penrhyn", this was the longest dispute in British industrial history. During the strike, the community was divided between those who laid down their tools and those who crossed the picket line. Many locals wrote "Nid oes bradwr yn y tŷ hwn" or "There is no traitor in this house" in their front windows.[3]
William John Parry, one of the founders of the North Wales Quarrymen's Union, and an alderman in Bethesda, organised a co-operative to take over several other local quarries and employ locked-out Penrhyn quarrymen. He eventually included Pantdreiniog, Moel Faban and Tanybwlch quarries in his operation, all on the north side of the town.[4]
Historically, most accounts of the strike have mainly looked at its effects on male workers, owners, management, economy, and trade unions. However, modern historians are working to broaden this focus. They aim to shed light on the wider community's experiences during the strike, paying special attention to the often ignored roles and perspectives of women.[5]
In the longer term the strike lessened confidence in the Welsh slate industry, leading to declining orders and greater unemployment.[6]
From 1963 until 2007 the quarry was owned and operated by Alfred McAlpine.[7]
In 2007 it was purchased by Kevin Lagan (an Irish businessman who is the owner and chairman of the Lagan Group) and renamed Welsh Slate Ltd. Kevin Lagan and his son Peter (MD of Lagan Building Solutions Ltd) are now directors of Welsh Slate Ltd which also includes Oakeley quarry and Cwt y Bugail quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog, and Pen-yr-Orsedd quarry in the Nantlle Valley. The Lagan Group was itself acquired by the Leicestershire-based Breedon Group in 2018.[8]
A part of the site no longer in use for slate extraction is the site of a new adventure tourism facility operated by Zip World. The zip line Velocity 2 flies over an abandoned and partially flooded part of the quarry.[9]
^Cregier, Don M. (1976). "Knickerbockers and Red Stockings, 1863-1884". Bounder from Wales: Lloyd George's Career before the First World War. Columbia & London: University of Missouri Press. p. 12. ISBN0-8262-0203-9.
^"Chwarel Pantdreiniog". Baner ac Amserau Cymru. 24 April 1901. hdl:10107/3837192.
^Owen, Teleri (2019–2020). ""Yn Ddirgel ac yn Gyhoeddus: Rôl, Effaith, a Phortreadaeth Merched yn ystod Streic Fawr y Penrhyn, 1900–1903"". Llafur. 12 (4): 146–166.
^Quine, Dan (December 2022). The Hendre Ddu Tramway: Blue Stones and Green Trees. Lightmoor Press. ISBN9781915069153.
