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Moelwynion

BeddgelertBro MachnoCapel CurigDolwyddelanFfestiniog
LlanfrothenMountains and hills of Conwy County BoroughMountains and hills of GwyneddMountains and hills of Snowdonia
Moelwynion, geograph
Moelwynion, geograph

The Moelwynion (a Welsh plural, sometimes anglicised to Moelwyns) are a group of mountains in central Snowdonia. They extend from the north-east of Porthmadog to Moel Siabod, the highest of the group. The name derives from the names of two of the largest mountains in the group, Moelwyn Mawr (great white hill) and Moelwyn Bach (little white hill), 770m and 710m, respectively. Moel Siabod, to the north, is the highest at 872m. The group includes the following summits: Moel Siabod Moelwyn Mawr Moelwyn Bach Allt-fawr Cnicht Craigysgafn Cnicht North Top Moel Druman Ysgafell Wen Ysgafell Wen North Top Manod Mawr Manod Mawr North Top Ysgafell Wen Far North Top Moel-yr-hydd Moelwyn Mawr North Ridge Top Moel Penamnen Moel Meirch Y Ro Wen

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Moelwynion (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 53.036 ° E -3.98 °
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Address

Cwm Edno


LL55 4NW , Dolwyddelan
Wales, United Kingdom
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Moelwynion, geograph
Moelwynion, geograph
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Rhosydd quarry
Rhosydd quarry

Rhosydd quarry was a slate quarry in the Moelwyn mountains, northeast of Porthmadog in North Wales. Small-scale working of the site began in the 1830s, but was hampered by the remote location, and the lack of a transport system to carry the slates to markets. The Rhosydd Slate Company was formed in 1853, and became a limited company in 1856. Transport was made more difficult by the attitude of the Cwmorthin quarry, through whose land the most obvious route to the Ffestiniog Railway ran. A solution was found in 1864, with the opening of the Croesor Tramway, to which the quarry was connected by one of the longest single-pitch cable-hauled inclines in Wales. Huge amounts of money were spent on development work, and the company, unable to make adequate returns, went into voluntary liquidation in 1873. The quarry was auctioned in 1874, and the New Rhosydd Slate Quarry Company Ltd. was formed. Unlike its predecessor, the directors were all Welsh, and three-quarters of the shareholders were also from the local area. The quarry prospered for a while, but then profitability declined, and in 1900, a large section of the underground workings collapsed. The job of opening up new areas was spearheaded by Evan Jones, who nearly succeeded, but was hampered by a slump in the slate industry and the onset of the First World War, when the quarry was "non-essential" and was mothballed. It reopened in 1919, but was in a poor financial position, and was bought by members of the Colman family, better known for producing mustard. They kept it running until 1930, but failed to find markets for the finished product. It was mothballed until 1947, when it was sold, but new plans to reopen it failed, and the pumps were turned off in 1948, after scrapmen had removed much of the machinery. Of the five slate veins in the region of Blaenau Ffestiniog, most of Rhosydd's output was extracted from the Old Vein. The workings started at the West Twll, where the rock outcropped, but the quarry soon developed into underground workings. A series of adits were constructed, to provide access as the mine got deeper, with the lowest at level 9. Trucks moved along this adit by attaching them to an endless chain, driven by a waterwheel. The mine eventually reached level 14, with rock raised by an internal incline to the level 9 adit. At its peak the quarry was one of the largest underground workings outside of Blaenau Ffestiniog, with 170 chambers.