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Home » Physical Environment/Landscape » Landscape views » Quarries (other than slate)

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  • The present workings at Penmaenmawr continue a tradition of stone-quarrying which begins in the third millennium BC, when Graiglwyd was worked for stone suitable for axe-making. It was the third most productive of the Prehistoric axe-making sites in Britain, after the factories of Great Langdale and Scafell in the Lake District and around St Ives in Cornwall, whose products vied with each other in Neolithic markets throughout the island. The first leases which indicate modern exploitation of the Penmaenmawr outcrop for stone are dated 1833. In the first instance operations amounted to extracting suitable material from the unconsolidated scree slopes, flaking them into setts, and transporting them as ballast on ships bound for Liverpool. Within a decade two independent quarries had been developed, one on the Eastern flank (Graiglwyd) and the other occupying the western extremity (Penmaen). Both quarries concentrated on sett production although loose stone for ballast was of increasing importance. Crushing mills were therefore established from the 1890s onwards and production increasingly concentrated on this commodity thus expanding at the expense of the sett making enterprises. The two quarries were amalgamated under the same management in the early part of the twentieth century and the joint operations linked by a quarry railway. In the late 1930s the Graiglwyd quarry ceased as a sett production unit and the eastern workings were accordingly abandoned. The present quarry at Penmaenmawr occupies the western part of the outcrop and concentrates on producing aggregate for road construction and for railway ballast. A new crushing plant was installed in 1983 and the present output of the quarry is 600, 000 tonnes per annum. The planned reserve of the quarry concession is approximately 40 million tonnes, giving an estimated life span for the whole operation of sixty years. Source: Gwynedd Archaeological Trust
Aerial photograph of Penmaen-mawr Granite Quarry, 1990
Aerial photograph of Darren Limestone Quarry, Llangattock, 1992
Aerial photograph of Trefil Limestone Quarry, Tredegar, 1993
  • The present workings at Penmaenmawr continue a tradition of stone-quarrying which begins in the third millennium BC, when Graiglwyd was worked for stone suitable for axe-making. It was the third most productive of the Prehistoric axe-making sites in Britain, after the factories of Great Langdale and Scafell in the Lake District and around St Ives in Cornwall, whose products vied with each other in Neolithic markets throughout the island. The first leases which indicate modern exploitation of the Penmaenmawr outcrop for stone are dated 1833. In the first instance operations amounted to extracting suitable material from the unconsolidated scree slopes, flaking them into setts, and transporting them as ballast on ships bound for Liverpool. Within a decade two independent quarries had been developed, one on the Eastern flank (Graiglwyd) and the other occupying the western extremity (Penmaen). Both quarries concentrated on sett production although loose stone for ballast was of increasing importance. Crushing mills were therefore established from the 1890s onwards and production increasingly concentrated on this commodity thus expanding at the expense of the sett making enterprises. The two quarries were amalgamated under the same management in the early part of this century and the joint operations linked by a quarry railway. In the late 1930s the Graiglwyd quarry ceased as a sett production unit and the eastern workings were accordingly abandoned. The present quarry at Penmaenmawr occupies the western part of the outcrop and concentrates on producing aggregate for road construction and for railway ballast. A new crushing plant was installed in 1983 and the present output of the quarry is 600, 000 tonnes per annum. The planned reserve of the quarry concession is approximately 40 million tonnes, giving an estimated life span for the whole operation of sixty years. Source: Gwynedd Archaeological Trust
Aerial photograph of Penmaen-mawr Granite Quarry, 1994
Aerial photograph of Gore Quarry, Old Radnor Hill, Walton, near Presteigne, 1996
  • The present workings at Penmaenmawr continue a tradition of stone-quarrying which began in the third millennium BC, when Graiglwyd was worked for stone suitable for axe-making. It was the third most productive of the Prehistoric axe-making sites in Britain, after the factories of Great Langdale and Scafell in the Lake District and around St Ives in Cornwall, whose products vied with each other in Neolithic markets throughout the island. The first leases which indicate modern exploitation of the Penmaen-mawr outcrop for stone are dated 1833. In the first instance operations amounted to extracting suitable material from the unconsolidated scree slopes, flaking them into setts, and transporting them as ballast on ships bound for Liverpool. Within a decade two independent quarries had been developed, one on the Eastern flank (Graiglwyd) and the other occupying the western extremity (Penmaen). Both quarries concentrated on sett production although loose stone for ballast was of increasing importance. Crushing mills were therefore established from the 1890s onwards and production increasingly concentrated on this commodity thus expanding at the expense of the sett making enterprises. The two quarries were amalgamated under the same management in the early part of this century and the joint operations linked by a quarry railway. In the late 1930s the Graiglwyd quarry ceased as a sett production unit and the eastern workings were accordingly abandoned. The present quarry at Penmaenmawr occupies the western part of the outcrop and concentrates on producing aggregate for road construction and for railway ballast. A new crushing plant was installed in 1983 and the present output of the quarry is 600, 000 tonnes per annum. The planned reserve of the quarry concession is approximately 40 million tonnes, giving an estimated life span for the whole operation of sixty years. Source: Gwynedd Archaeological Trust
Aerial photograph of Penmaen-mawr granite quarry, 1994