Nuffield Primary History ⢠Slate Mining In Victorian Times ⢠The ...
Nuffield Primary History • Slate mining in Victorian times • the magazine frame
Underground With Siôn Dolgarregddu
We worked all day long, and a long day it was too. And it always seemed
I have many fond and frightening memories of the slate caverns at
a shame to me that we worked in daytime. I mean, we got up in the
Llechwedd. I remember the many friends I had in the mine.
dark, except for summer, and worked in the dark in the cave while it
was daylight outside. Then when we had finished work we went home
I was born in 1844 in Blaenau Ffestiniog at home. My family lived in
in … Yes, you've guessed it … the dark! But I suppose if we had
the Dolgarreddu Terrace. These were a neat row of terraced cottages
worked in the night then we would have gone home to sleep in the
built for the workers at the slate mines. Everybody around us worked
daytime and we still would not have seen the sunlight!
at the mine. In fact most of the village worked at the mine, the men,
I said we worked all day, didn't I? Well, that is not entirely true. We
that is.
stopped for a half-an-hour lunch at midday. Everybody in each cavern
would stop for lunch and we would go into a specially built little cabanau
I remember how excited I was when I first went to the mine. It was in
for our meal. We weren't allowed to talk while we eat. But after we had
1856 when I was just a lad of 12. I was fearful. I had heard so many
eaten we would have discussions on topics of the day. This helped to
stories. My father was a bit of a storyteller and he exaggerated a lot.
exercise our minds. I learnt a lot from these times. Sometimes some-
A right scary place he made it out to be. I thought it must be some-
one might read a pamphlet to us or we might even sing. We all loved to
thing like Hell, going so deep underground. l was always frightened
Splitting and dressing the slates in the mill.
learn and sing. Most of us could read. We leamt to read at Sabbath
my Dad might dig right through and break into the Devil's Kingdom
school.
and drag him inside. But I was also pleased to be going into the mine.
But when I got inside I felt so small. All the other men were so big,
I could earn some money for my mother. I could start to pay my way.
strong and tall. I was just a puny lad, but those years that followed
Nearly everyone went to chapel on Sunday. Three times on Sunday we
I was going to work in a man's world. I felt six feet tall already. l felt
soon put beef on my bones. And the caverns were so large. Not that it
went and twice in the week. We were taught how to read and write so
like a man!
was easy to see. But there were candles burning everywhere. Some
that we could read the Bible. You see there were no schools for us. So
low down where we entered our cave and others so high up where I
if it hadn't been for the chapels we would not have learnt. We also
could hear men tapping in the dark. I looked everywhere to see if
learnt to sing. We sung great hymns and learnt to sing in parts. And
devils would appear out of the cracks in the rock. But did they ap-
when we men got to sing together, oh what a sound! Why, I would not
pear? No, of course not! I can tell you it was not even warm in that
be surprised if the angels in Heaven didn't put down their harps to
cave. It certainly did not have the terrible scorching heat of Hell that I
listen when we sang. And on a Sabbath they must have had a lot to
had heard about from the preacher at chapel on Sabbath days.
listen to in Blaenau Ffestiniog, because we had 37 chapels. In fact we
had more chapels than pubs!
I went to work with my father and uncle. All the men worked in groups
That all seems so long ago now. After thirty years in the mine I had to
of four. Two worked on the cavern, digging out the slate, while two
stop work because of ill health. That's the way it is for all miners. But
worked on the surface cutting the slate into mainly roof tiles. My fa-
at least I can now enjoy the daylight hours in the sun!
ther and uncle showed me first to take the slate they had dug and put
Ffestiniog
a mark on it. I then had to put the slate on a truck that was taken up to
Railway
the surface. Two of my cousins would recognise our marks, take off
At Llechwedd the mines go down to a depth of more than 305 metres.
the slate and slice it and cut it. And very good work they did too. They
There are 16 floors, the chambers being one above each other. The
could slice an inch block of slate into 35 to 38 tiles. You look at that
Mining at Llechwedd
miners have to be very careful when digging out each chamber. They
on a ruler. You will see that was really clever work, that was.
In 1801, 732 people lived in the village of Ffestiniog. The slate was
must leave pillars to support the chambers above them. In fact, the
first discovered at Llechwedd in 1849, and soon a new town was built
supporting pillars have to be directly beneath the pillars above or the
to house all the men and their families who came to work at the mines.
roof would collapse.
This was the village of Blaenau Ffestiniog. By 1901, the population of
As the beds slope downwards it has been necessary to mine deep un-
the area had risen to 11,433. In 1991 that population had dropped to
derground. The chert was used to form natural roofs above each work-
The mines were worked by teams of four men, two men extracting the
5,349. At its peak, in 1895, 4,802 people worked in the 14 mines and
ing area (chambers). The miners would make a tunnel immediately
slate underground and sending their marked blocks to the surface for
quarries of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
beneath the chert to the full width of the bed of slate. Working at right
splitting and dressing. Slate is a word that comes from the Old French
angles to the tunnel they then followed the angle of the chert to make
word ‘esclater’ meaning ‘‘to split’ because slate is rock that can be
The Llechwedd slate beds do not lie flat, nor are they vertical. They lie
opening shafts at 20 metre intervals. Each shaft was then widened, by
split.
at an angle of 30° from the horizontal. There are five beds (veins) and
removing the slate, to a width of 11 metres; leaving intervening sup-
each is sandwiched between layers of hard chert. Chert is hard rock
porting pillars 9 metres wide. Where the chert was very thick two or
The slate was then transported by narrow guage Ffestiniog Railway to
rather like granite.
three chambers would be worked as one.
Porthmadog, where it was put on ships and sent all over the world.
Nuffield Primary History • Slate mining in Victorian times • the completed magazine
