Wrysgan Quarry
| Wrysgan Quarry | |
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The ruined Wrysgan mill with the slate stacking yard beyond
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 Wrysgan Quarry
 Wrysgan Quarry shown within Gwynedd |
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| OS grid reference | SH677455 |
| Coordinates | 52°59′28″N 3°58′16″W / 52.9911°N 3.9712°WCoordinates: 52°59′28″N 3°58′16″W / 52.9911°N 3.9712°W |
Wrysgan Quarry was a slate quarry near the village of Tanygrisiau, north Wales.
Wrysgan sits high on the flank of Moel-yr-hydd, to the south of Cwm Orthin. It was separated from Cwm Ystradau by a sharp ridge, through which the quarry bored an inclined tunnel in order to connect to the Festiniog Railway.
On the north side of the tunnel a tramway led to the mill and stacking area, which stood on a small area of flat ground high above Cwm Orthin. To the south of the mill an incline led up to the main floor 3 adit which led west into the chambers underneath Moel-yr-hydd. Further adits lay to the south, accessing other levels.
Wrysgan Quarry was an underground slate quarry, which was located on a small inaccessible site, some 1,390 feet (420 m) above sea level, to the west of Cwm Orthin. Extraction began in the 1830s, and finished slates were carried down a steep, zigzag path to Cwm Orthin. Like many small quarries in the area, details are often obscure and complex, and there is little evidence of continuous working. Initially, land was leased from the Cwm Orthin and Ormesby-Gore estates, and royalties had to be paid to Cwm Orthin for slates extracted from that part of the quarry. William Roberts of Coed-y-Bleddiau opened it and then sold it, but the new owner lost money, and the venture failed. Methusalem Jones from Llandegai, Caernarvon tried to reopen it, but again lost a lot of money, although he did not become bankrupt. After some years of closure, a new group bought it in 1844, but were bankrupted by the high cost of the incline which they started to build.
Around 1850, a new company, the Wrysgan Slate and Slab Quarries Co Ltd was incorporated, and completed an incline soon afterwards. Boyd suggests that this was the incline that connects to the Ffestiniog Railway, and was built at a cost of £5,000. Richards suggests that it was down into Cwm Orthin, and that it was a balanced incline, with a pack horse track running from the bottom, for which there is clear archaeological evidence. A mill for the processing of the rock was constructed in 1854, and in 1865 a second mill was built at a lower level. It was equipped with 18 saws, 20 dressers and 2 planers. The feature for which the quarry is best known, a spectacular incline which descended 600 feet (180 m) down to the Ffestiniog Railway, and which passed through a tunnel towards the top, was completed in 1872. The shape of the incline was a catenary, the same shape as a rope suspended between the end points would take, as was the main incline at the nearby Rhosydd Quarry, but the foot of the incline was too shallow to allow it to be fully self-acting, and a stationary steam engine was installed to raise the empty wagons up to the quarry.
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