{{Short description|Slate quarries in Denbighshire, Wales}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Use British English|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox mine | name = Deeside and Moelfferna | image = An overpass leading to a waste tip at deeside Quarry - geograph.org.uk - 484997.jpg | width = 250px | caption = Tipping tramway in Deeside quarry | pushpin_map = Wales Denbighshire | pushpin_mapsize = 250px | pushpin_map_alt = Map of Denbighshire showing the position of the quarry | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Denbighshire | coordinates = {{Coord|52|57|08|N|3|17|30|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}<br />{{gbmappingsmall|SJ 132 402}} | place = near Glyndyfrdwy | subdivision_type = County | state/province = Merionethshire (now Denbighshire) | country = Wales | products = Slate | amount = <!--include units--> | financial year = | type = Quarry | greatest depth = | discovery year = | opening year = {{start date|1870}} (Deeside quarry)<br />1876 (Moelfferna quarry) | active years = | closing year = {{end date|1947}} | module = {{Infobox rail line | embed = yes | name = Railways | open = | close = | gauge = {{Track gauge|2ft}} (in quarries);<ref name=Boyd-MidWales>{{Boyd-MidWales}}</ref><br />{{Track gauge|2ft7in}} (main)<ref name=Boyd-MidWales/> }} }} The '''Deeside and Moelfferna quarries''' were neighbouring slate quarries, near Glyndyfrdwy in North Wales. They were both operated by the same company throughout their history, and were both connected by the Deeside Tramway to the Llangollen and Corwen Railway.
== History == === Early working: 1870–1900 === The original owner of the Deeside quarry was the 1870 '''Dee Side Slate and Slab Quarry Ltd.'''<ref>{{cite book |title=The Railway News |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYQqAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA671 |year=1870 |page=671}}</ref> The company was sold in 1875.<ref>{{cite news |title=Advertising |work=Llangollen Advertiser Denbighshire Merionethshire and North Wales Journal |date=1875-09-10 |hdl = 10107/3288230}}</ref>
In 1876, the '''Moelferna and Dee Side Slate and Slab Quarries Company''' was formed to purchase both the Deeside quarry and the Moelfferna quarry.<ref>{{cite news |title=Local Items |work=The Aberystwith Observer |date=1876-06-03 |hdl = 10107/3040819}}</ref>
In 1885, the quarries supplied a large slab cistern to the Guinness Brewery in Dublin. The tank measured {{convert|50|ft|m}} by {{convert|8|ft|m}} by {{convert|5|ft|m}} and was believed to be one of the largest stone tank built at the time.<ref>{{cite news |title=ST ASAPH |work=Llangollen Advertiser Denbighshire Merionethshire and North Wales Journal |date=1885-01-23 |hdl = 10107/3290629}}</ref>
=== Accidents: 1900–1915 === In 1907 there was a serious accident at the quarry. Edward Rowlands was riding on a loaded slate wagon that was sent down from the Deeside quarry to the head of the incline down to Glyndyfrdwy. Rowlands was on the first wagon of a sequence of four, with the quarry manager Richard Roberts following in a second loaded wagon. The brake failed on the fourth wagon and it gathered speed; the quarryman leapt from the wagon and shouted a warning to the men ahead. The quarryman on the third wagon also jumped free, and the two out-of-control wagons collided with Robert's wagon. He jumped, but sustained serious injuries. The three wagons then hit Rowlands' wagon, derailing all four wagons and causing Rowlands fatal injuries to the lower body.<ref>{{cite news |title=Quarry Fatality |newspaper=Llangollen Advertiser Denbighshire Merionethshire and North Wales Journal|date=1907-08-16 |hdl = 10107/3178020}}</ref>
In 1915, two men, Robert Jones and John Lloyd, were crushed by an unexpected rockfall, weighing 100 tons, in the quarry.<ref>{{cite news |title=Corwen |work=The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard |date=1915-01-15 |hdl = 10107/3412644}}</ref>
=== Decline and closure: 1918–1947 === After the First World War, the chairman of the company was Percy Dean, who was the MP for Blackburn.<ref>{{cite book |title=Annual Register |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cyldAAAAIAAJ |year=1940 |publisher=J. Dodsley.}}</ref>
The Deeside quarry ceased working in the 1920s, but the Deeside slate works continued in production using slate from Moelfferna quarry. The enterprise closed in 1947.<ref name=coflein>{{Coflein|num=308670|desc=Deeside Slab Quarry;deeside Slate Quarry|access-date=10 February 2020}}</ref><ref name=ajr>{{cite book| author=Richards, Alun John|title=The Slate Railways of Wales| publisher=Gwasg Carreg Gwalch| year=2001|isbn=0-86381-689-4 |page=182}}</ref>
== Transport == {{main|Deeside Tramway}} The {{TrackGauge|2ft6in}} gauge Deeside Tramway connected the two quarries to the Deeside Slate Works and on down to the transhipment wharf at Glyndyfrdwy. The tramway originally ran between the slate works and Deeside quarry, before being extended in the late 1870s down to the wharf.
== Geology == Several beds of Ordovician shales and mudstones run across Mid Wales, from Tywyn in the south-west to Chirk in the north-east. At various points along this band, these sedimentary rocks have undergone compression and metamorphosis into slate.
The Pen-y-glog slate veins on the southern slopes of the Dee valley are worked by the quarries.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Field Work |pages=10–11 |publisher=Geological Survey of Great Britain, and Museum of Practical Geology (Great Britain) |journal=Summary of Progress of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and the Museum of Practical Geology |location=London |date=1912}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{commons cat inline}}
{{Welsh Slate Quarries}}
Category:Corwen Category:Slate mines in Denbighshire Category:1870 establishments in Wales Category:1947 disestablishments in Wales Category:Industrial railways in Wales Category:Railway inclines in Wales Category:2 ft gauge railways in Wales Category:2 ft 6 in gauge railways in Wales