Corris Slate Quarry Wales
The line was initially built as a horse and gravity worked tramroad to carry slate from the quarries of corris uchaf and aberllefenni in southern merionethshire to the nearest navigable point on the afon dyfi river dovey where it was loaded into ships and carried to its diverse destinations.
Corris slate quarry wales. Welcome to wincilate welsh slate. One of wales oldest narrow gauge railways the 2ft 3in gauge corris railway was built to carry slate from several quarries in the dulas valley to wharves on the river dyfi. For pre booked groups of 6 or more we also offer an additional exclusive mine expedition half a day. The corris railway is a narrow gauge 2 foot 3 inch railway whose origins date back to the 1850 s.
Underground explorers inspecting a winch in the slate mine in mid wales at corris mine explorers in mid wales there s a choice of adventurous trips to choose from. At first forbidden to use steam locomotives or to carry passengers it overcame these obstacles and became an essential part of the community that it served. At their peak they employed 800 but today only a handful remain. At this time slate from the quarries was hauled by horse drawn carts and sledges to transport their output to the river.
The history of the welsh slate industry as seen at two centres dinorwic quarry at llanberis and the quarries at corris in mid wales. Most of the surface workings of the quarry were removed as part of a road widening and landscaping scheme in 1983. Wincilate prefabricates a variety of slates. A mini mine explorer trip 1 hour and a maxi mine explorer trip 2 hours.
Braichgoch slate mine often called braich goch quarry was a large slate mine located in corris uchaf north wales it was worked continuously from 1787 until closure in 1970 some sources give 1971 apart from a hiatus in the 1900s. The first proposal to construct a railway to connect the slate quarries in the district around corris corris uchaf and aberllefenni with wharves on the estuary of the afon dyfi west of machynlleth was made in november 1850 with arthur causton as engineer. Quarry hunslets working at llanberis and corris s new 2005 built no. Covers the welsh slate museum today s llanberis lake railway the corris railway and modern slate production at the wincilate co.
The existence of a slate industry in wales is attested since the roman period when slate was used to roof the fort at segontium now caernarfon the slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century then expanded rapidly until the late 19th century at which time the most important slate producing areas were in northwest wales including the penrhyn quarry near bethesda the dinorwic. The corris quarries are the most southerly of the north wales slate quarries. The numerous quarries were at their most productive between 1850 and 1900.