Bryn Eglwys quarry

In 1844 John Pugh or Pughe obtained a quarrying lease from Lewis Morris, the owner of the Bryneglwys Estate, for a term of 50 years.[1] Pugh was a local miner from Aberdyfi, who already owned other mines in the locality, including the notable Dylife lead mine, which he owned, in association with Hugh Williams,[2] from 1809 until 1858.[3] In 1846 Pugh obtained another lease, for the Cantrybedd land on the opposite side of the valley.[1] Pugh began commercial-scale quarrying in 1847 (this is recorded on a stone plaque in the quarry).[4] He sank a shaft into the Narrow Vein, which is now known as the Daylight Adit, and built a small mill nearby, which he connected to the foot of the shaft by a level.[1] He transported the finished slates by pack horses for onward transport by ship, originally over the mountain ridge to the port of Pennal, and later to the port of Aberdyfi via the Fathew Valley and along the coast.[5][6][7]

In 1863 a group of mill owners from Manchester, led by William McConnel, leased the quarry. Cotton shortages, caused by the American Civil War, had reduced the production of the mills and they were looking for other profitable enterprises. They formed the Aberdovey Slate Company Limited, to operate and manage the quarry, and planned to increase production at Bryn Eglwys. The main barriers to the quarry's expansion at the time were the transportation arrangements for finished slates, and the lack of a workforce near Bryn Eglwys. The new owners overcame the former difficulty by building the Talyllyn Railway, a narrow gauge railway which was designed by James Swinton Spooner. The railway ran from the Cantrybedd incline, which marked the edge of Bryn Eglwys, along the Galltymoelfre Tramway to the Alltwyllt incline, and thence down the Fathew valley to Tywyn, before turning south to reach Aberdyfi. The company built the village of Abergynolwyn to house their workers.[6][8][9] In total, the new owners invested around £160,000, equivalent to £16,700,000 in 2021, in developing the quarry, building houses for quarrymen in the village of Abergynolwyn and building the railway from the quarry to Tywyn.[9]

When the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway was opened between Aberdyfi and Tywyn in 1863, the Aberdovey Slate Company decided to terminate their own railway at Tywyn Wharf, a transshipment point to the coastal railway.[6][8][9]

The Aberdovey Slate Co. Ltd. was renamed the Abergynolwyn Slate Company Limited in 1867.[2]

Neither the quarry nor its associated railway were great commercial successes, and by 1879 the company had run out of funds. Both quarry and railway were put up for auction on 9 October 1879.[10] After this and a subsequent auction failed to find a bidder, William McConnel personally bought both.[10] In August 1880 a major storm burst the quarry's reservoir and required major capital to repair.[11] Nevertheless, McConnel re-organised the quarry's finances, and there was then an upturn in the slate market which allowed the quarry to expand further.[10]

McConnel died in 1902 and the quarry became the property of his son, W. H. McConnel. However, the leases on the land occupied by the quarry were close to running out, and the quarry was closed on 18 December 1909; the workers received only one day's notice of the closure. The remaining stocks at the quarry were sent down the railway, and the quarry's machinery began to be dismantled.[10]

In 1911 the local Liberal Member of Parliament, Henry Haydn Jones, purchased the quarry for equivalent to £595,887 in 2021, along with the Talyllyn Railway and the village of Abergynolwyn. He formed the Abergynolwyn Slate & Slab Company Limited, to operate the quarry, much like its predecessor, the Aberdovey Slate Company Limited. New leases were signed with the landowners and the quarry resumed production.[12]

Haydn Jones’ leases on the quarry land expired in 1941, but he continued to own and operate the quarry, with an annual tenancy.[12]

The quarry remained in production until a serious collapse on 26 December 1946; it had been unsafe for some time. The stocks were sent to Tywyn by rail, and had all cleared by 1948.[12]

Despite the closure of the quarry, Haydn Jones kept a passenger service operating on the railway until his death in 1950. The railway was taken over by a preservation group, becoming the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.

Bryn Eglwys was sold to the Forestry Commission, and the surviving quarry buildings were demolished in the early 1980s.[7] Some slates had already been removed from buildings in 1975–1976, and these were used as platform edging for extending the platform at Abergynolwyn.[13] A series of footpaths was created from Nant Gwernol[14] starting from the Alltwylt Incline and along the Galltymoelfre Tramway, though the path diverges from the Cantrybedd Incline due to a missing bridge.