[edit]
The Old Market Hall, 2015
Looking down towards Blaenau Ffestiniog town in summer, 2013
Farming (before 1750)[edit]
Before the slate industry grew, Blaenau Ffestiniog was a farming region, with scattered farms working the uplands below the cliffs of Dolgaregddu and Nyth-y-Gigfran. A few of the historic farmhouses survive, at Cwm Bowydd, Neuadd Ddu, Gelli, Pen y Bryn and Cefn Bychan. Much of the land was owned by large estates.
Slate (1750–1850)[edit]
Blaenau Ffestiniog town arose to support workers in the local slate mines. At its peak, it was the largest in Merioneth. In 1765, two men from the long-established Cilgwyn quarry near Nantlle began quarrying in Ceunant y Diphwys, to the north-east of the present town. The valley had long been known for slate beds worked on a small scale. The original quarry was absorbed by subsequent mining, but it was probably at or near Diphwys Casson Quarry. Led by Methusalem Jones, eight Cilgwyn partners took a lease on Gelli Farm for their quarry. In 1800, William Turner and William Casson from the Lake District bought the lease and expanded production. Turner also owned Dorothea quarry in the Nantlle Valley, adjacent to Cilgwyn.
In 1819, quarrying began on slopes at Allt-fawr near Rhiwbryfdir Farm, on land owned by the Oakeley family from Tan y Bwlch. Within a decade, three slate quarries were operating on Allt-fawr. These amalgamated to form Oakeley Quarry, which became the largest underground slate mine in the world.
Quarrying grew fast in the earlier 19th century. Notable quarries opened at Llechwedd, Maenofferen and Votty & Bowydd, while Turner and Casson's Diphwys Casson flourished. Further off, Cwmorthin and Wrysgan quarries were dug to the south of the town, while at the head of Cwm Penmachno to the north-east, a series of quarries started at Rhiwbach, Cwt y Bugail and Blaen y Cwm. To the south-east another cluster worked the slopes of Manod Mawr. The workforce for these was drawn initially from nearby towns and villages such as Ffestiniog and Maentwrog. Before the arrival of railways, travel to the quarries was difficult and workers' houses were built nearby. These typically grew up round existing farms and roads between them. An early settlement was at Rhiwbryfdir, for the Oakeley and Llechwedd quarries. As early as 1801, new roads were built specifically for the quarries. By 1851, there were 3,460 people living in the new town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Urbanisation (1851–1900)[edit]
A view of Blaenau Ffestiniog from Graig Ddu, c. 1875; NLW3361243
During the 1860s and 1870s, the boom in the slate industry fed the nascent town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. It gained its first church and first school and saw much ribbon development along its roads. The Old Market Hall, which also served as the town hall, was completed in 1864. By 1881, its population had reached 11,274. In the 1890s, the slate industry experienced a sharp decline. A number of quarries lost money for the first time, and several failed entirely, including Cwmorthin and Nyth-y-Gigfran.
Blaenau Ffestiniog hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1898.
Slate decline (1901–1950)[edit]
The slate industry recovered only partly from the recession of the 1890s. Many quarrymen joined the armed force in World War I and production fell. There was a short post-war boom, but the long-term trend was towards mass-produced tiles and cheaper slate sourced from Spain. Oakeley Quarry took over Cwmorthin, Votty & Bowydd and Diphwys Casson, while Llechwedd acquired Maenofferen. Despite that consolidation, the decline continued. World War II brought a further loss of workforce. In 1946, the Ffestiniog Railway closed.
Since 1945[edit]
In August 1945, the secluded farmhouse of Bwlch Ocyn at Manod, belonging to Clough Williams-Ellis, became the home of the writer Arthur Koestler and his wife Mamaine for three years. While there, Koestler became a close friend of his fellow writer George Orwell.
Blaenau Ffestiniog, 1959
Blaenau Ffestiniog in the autumn, 2014
The remaining quarries served by the Rhiwbach Tramway closed in the 1950s and 1960s. Oakeley closed in 1970, with the loss of many jobs. The quarry re-opened in 1974 on a much smaller scale and continued to be worked until 2010. Maenofferen and Llechwedd continued, but Maenofferen finally closed in 1998. Llechwedd is still a working quarry, working the David Jones part of Maenofferen (level two-and-a-half).
As the slate industry shrank, so did the population of the community of Ffestiniog, which fell to 4,875 in 2011. Tourism became the town's largest employer, with the development of Gloddfa Ganol in the Oakeley quarry and the slate caverns at Llechwedd quarry. The revived Ffestiniog Railway and the slate caverns remain popular attractions, as does the Antur Stiniog downhill mountain-biking centre and, more recently, the Zip World Titan zip-line site, which includes the Bounce Below slate-mine activity centre.
