Cefn Du Manuscripts

This collection contains accounts, ledgers, report books, correspondence and miscellaneous papers relating to the Cefn Du Slate Quarry in the parishes of Llanrug and Llanbeblig, Caernarvonshire.

Until 1928 the Cefn Du Slate Quarry, situated in the parishes of Llanrug and Llanbeblig, was one of the most important of the minor quarries of Caernarvonshire. From 1878 onwards the quarry was one of the three worked by the Llanberis Slate Company Ltd. It pursued its activities until the Company went into liquidation in 1928. Two years later the quarry plant was dismantled and sold by auction and it was at this juncture that an opportunity offered itself to secure the contents of the quarry office (August 1930).

Previous to the formation of the Llanberis Slate Company, Cefn Du was in the hands of a Glasgow merchant, James Wotherspoon. He claimed to have spent D18,000 upon it since taking over the quarry from the Messrs Stephens in 1875 and to have increased the royalties accruing to the Crown from D105 per annum to D900 per annum in two years. It is to be gathered that this effort had exhausted his capital resources, and it was this fact together with the bad days that then befell the industry generally which led Wotherspoon to seek amalgamation with two adjoining smaller quarries. These - the Goodman and the Cambrian - were worked by T. H. Goodwin Newton of Barrell's Park, Henley in Arden. From the point of view of Cefn Du, amalgamation with these two quarries offered very desirable shipment facilities in the form of access to the siding on the Caernarvon to Llanberis railway. A renewal of the Cefn Du lease was obtained from the Crown and the two parties agreed to merge their interests under the title of the Llanberis Slate Company Ltd. In addition to Wotherspoon and Newton, who became secretary and chairman respectively, John Menzies and W. B. Jeffrey, both of Caernarvon joined the company, one as a managing director and the other as work's manager.

Though the registered office of the Company was at Coed y Ddol, Llanberis, it appears as if the greater part of its business for the first ten years or so was transacted at the Cefn Du Quarry office, for the documents cover nearly every aspect of company activities up to 1889. Afterwards, however, the documents and ledgers are such as would naturally be expected in a works office, dealing with production only. It is also difficult to discover how the amalgamation affected the two smaller quarries. The fact that the Cambrian and Goodman are seldom mentioned in this collection seems to indicate that they ceased working and that the Company concentrated its resources on Cefn Du. On the other hand it is possible that they retained their independence as working units each with its own works office apart from Cefn Du.

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Presented by Mr Owen Parry M.A.

Usual copyright conditions apply. Reprographics made at the discretion of the archivist.

Porth yr Aur Manuscripts 27069-27200