Llechwedd Slate Quarry Collection

Records of Llechwedd Slate Quarries, 1834-1974, consisting of financial records, 1884-1974, including company accounts, 1900-1968; cash books, 1884-1968; reports and correspondence, 1914-1956; bank and cheque books, 1894-1974; production records, 1846-1966, including Llechwedd Quarry account books, 1846-1934; Tal-y-Weunydd Quarry account books, 1883-1934; Ffridd Quarry account books, 1883-1934; general account books, 1875-1950; monthly statements books and analyses, 1891-1960; make, value and stock accounts and records, 1868-1966; quarry slips, 1946-1965; summaries of general accounts sheets, 1934-1957; output records, 1898-1958; contract ticket books, 1905-1920; locomotives and rolling stock records, 1920-1946; miscellaneous production records, 1891-1965; sales records, 1862-1969; including orders, 1893-1969; ledgers, invoices, accounts and dispatch records, 1872-1969; price lists, 1862-1967; correspondence relating to orders, 1926-1968; miscellaneous sales records, 1907-1958; slate shipment records, 1898-1970; wages records, 1861-1950, including time books, 1861-1915; monthly pay account sheets and earnings books, 1876-1949; miscellaneous wages records, 1890-1950; accident and safety records, 1855-1952, including Oakeley Hospital, 1855-1904; records relating to accidents and compensation, 1898-1948; report and inspections of quarry plant and equipment, 1915-1952; records relating to silicosis and dust suppression, 1930-1952; letter books, 1895-1957; deeds and agreements, 1834-1955; records of purchases, 1900-1963, including accounts, orders and invoices, 1900-1963; records relating to machinery and equipment, 1925-1963; employee records, 1878-1952; papers relating to the J. W. Greaves & Sons and Oakeley Co., 1930-1936; records of unions and associations, 1892-1968; publications relating to the slate industry and mining, 1886-1954; records relating to other Merionethshire quarries, 1845-1959; miscellaneous, 1883-1970; rules and notices, 1888-1945; photographs, [19th century-20th century]; and plans, 1883-1932.

Llechwedd Slate Quarries, Blaeanau Ffestiniog, Merionethshire, was owned by J. W. Greaves & Sons during the 19th and 20th centuries. The mostly underground quarry was opened in 1846. Tal-y-Weunydd is the western part of the quarry. Highly mechanised mills were established in 1852 and extensive use was made of water power for mill driving, pumping and haulage. By 1882, the quarry employed 553 men. By 1917, this figure had dropped to 110, due to the decline in the slate industry. In 1934, an attempted amalgamation between Llechwedd and Oakeley Slate Quarries, who owned the Rhiwbryfdir, Cesail and Gloddfa Ganol Quarries, Blaenau Ffestiniog, failed, as the Llechwedd Quarry was undervalued by the bank. Llechwedd Quarry used the London and North Western Railway at a loading point at Pant yr Arfon from 1879 to transport its slate and later the Great Western Railway from 1889. Production is now concentrated in a mill built in the 1950s.

Arranged into the following: Financial; Production; Sales; Slate shipments; Wages; Accident and safety records; Letter books; Deeds and agreements; Purchases; Employees; Papers relating to the amalgamation of Greaves/Oakeley; Unions and associations; Notes, reports,etc; Other quarries; Miscellaneous; Rules and notices; Photographs; and Plans.

No restrictions

Compiled by Richard Burman for the ANW project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Archifdy Meirionnydd Archives, Casgliad Chwarel Llechwedd/ Llechwedd Slate Quarry Collection, catalogue; Richards, Alun John, Slate Quarrying in Wales (Llanwrst, 1995); Richards, Alun John, A Gazeteer of the Welsh Slate Industry (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 1991).

Hard copies of the catalogue are available in Meirionnydd Archives and the National Library of Wales. The catalogue is available online.

Usual copyright regulations apply.

All records deposited at Meirionnydd Archives have been retained.

Accruals are not expected

Further material is Caernarfon Record Office, Papers of R. M. Greaves, XD/96 and Meirionnydd Archives, Llechwedd Quarry records, Z/M/720.