Slate Gwaliau at Felin Fawr, Penrhyn

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument consists of an exceptionally well preserved group of gwaliau or slate-makers' booths which were used in conjunction with the important Felin Fawr slate mills of Penrhyn Quarry. There are six booths in a curving row, with mono-pitched roofs, open-fronted to the east. An unusual awning survives to the fronts of some of the booths. A stock of slate slabs is left at the north end. The mill complex produced slabs and most roofing slates were made at the quarries themselves. The gwaliau here may have trimmed slates broken in transit or remainders from the slab mills, but it is likely that they operated as a 'showcase' for visitors to the quarries.

Penrhyn was the largest slate quarry in the world by the early nineteenth century. It was connected to Port Penrhyn by a railway built in 1801, and the Felin Fawr mills were established by 1803 where the railway crossed a river.

The monument is an exceptionally well-preserved and prestigious example of these key slate quarry structures and is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of construction practices. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.