Oakeley Quarry

Oakeley Quarry is a slate quarry in the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, north Wales. It was the largest underground slate mine in the world, and had 26 floors spanning a vertical height of nearly 1500 ft.

The first slate quarry on the site of what was to become Oakeley Quarry, was begun in 1818 when Samuel Holland, a Liverpool merchant, leased land near Rhiwbryfdir farm. The landlords, the Oakeley family of Tan y Bwlch took a 10% royalty for the three-year lease. In 1821, at the end of the initial three years, Holland took a further 21-year lease on the site, but he sold this in 1825 to the Welsh Slate Company which considerably extended the quarry. The Welsh Slate Co.'s undertaking was the lowest on the mountain it became known as Lower Quarry - also known as Lord Palmerston's Quarry.

Holland opened a new quarry above Lower Quarry at Cesail. In 1827, Holland gave over control of this company to his son, also called Samuel Holland. This quarry was variously known as Hollands Quarry, Gloddfa'r Gesail and finally Upper Quarry. In 1839 Holland's Upper Quarry became one of the first to send slate on the newly opened Ffestiniog Railway. In 1842 as the original 21-year lease expired, Holland and the Welsh Slate Company negotiated a new lease from the Oakeley family. The new lease was granted provided some land was given up by both enterprises to allow a third quarry to be opened. This was Middle Quarry also known as Gloddfa Ganol and was operated by the Rhiwbryfdir Slate Company.

The younger Holland was known as a reasonable employer, although in the early years he frequently had trouble with the workforce. But he managed to avoid the significant industrial action that was interrupting production at other Welsh slate quarries in this period.

By 1840 the slate that could be easily accessed by surface quarrying with contemporary methods was exhausted, so the quarries began underground mining. Complex arrangements were written into the leases to ensure that the underground workings did not conflict. Production at all three quarries continued to expand and during the early 1870s the production and profits hit their peaks.

The leaseholds for the Upper and Middle quarries expired in 1878 and the landowner, W.E. Oakeley refused to renew them, instead consolidating the two quarries into a single operation, the Oakeley Quarry. The Welsh Slate Company had negotiated a lease extension some years before expiry, so it continued to work Lower Quarry as a separate operation.

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