Cilgwyn quarry
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 The main pit at Cilgwyn in 2006 | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
  Cilgwyn Location in Gwynedd | |
| Location | Near Nantlle |
| County | Carnarvonshire (now Gwynedd) |
| Country | Wales |
| Coordinates | 53°3′41″N 4°14′19″W / 53.06139°N 4.23861°W SH 500 539 |
| Production | |
| Products | Slate |
| Type | Quarry |
| History | |
| Opened | 12th century |
| Closed | 1956 |
Cilgwyn quarry is a slate quarry located on the north edge of the Nantlle Valley, in North Wales. It is one of the earliest slate quarries in Great Britain, having been worked as early as the 12th century.[1][2] King Edward I of England was reputed to have stayed in a house roofed by Cilgwyn slates during his conquest of Wales.[3] It is one of the major slate quarries in the Nantlle Valley area.
Quarrying at Cilgwyn dates back to the 12th century.[4] By the end of the 18th century a large number of small pits had grown into a substantial working.[5]
The Cilgwyn Quarry Company was formed in 1800 by the Caernarfon solicitor John Evans. By the 1820s it had been taken over by the Cilgwyn and Cefn Du Slate Company, though this company collapsed in 1831. It was then taken over by George Alfred Muskett, a banker from St Albans who served as MP for that city from 1837 to 1841. Muskett's tenure was not successful, and by 1840 the quarry was failing. Many of the quarrymen went unpaid and they resorted to selling slates directly instead of through the company. Muskett fled the country in 1842, leaving behind debts of £10,000 (equivalent to £1,071,932 in 2016); he died in exile a year later.[6]
Quarrying later resumed at Cilgwyn but it failed again between 1843 and 1844, closing with debts of around £20,000. Cilgwyn was operating again by the 1850s and developed four main pits. In 1882, 7,430 tons of finished slate were produced.[5] Between 1864 and 1895 between 200 and 304 workers were employed at Cilgwyn; this had dropped to 51 to 102 between 1918 and 1937. Quarrying continued at Cilgwyn until 1956.[1]
In the early 2000s, the quarry was used as a waste dump by the local council, but landfill activity ceased in January 2009.[7]
