Oakeley Slate
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OAKELEY SLATE The History of The Oakeley Slate Quarries Blaenau Ffestiniog PART THREE 1920 – 1968 From Peace to War and Back again Graham Isherwood - 2 - The History of The Oakeley Slate Quarries Blaenau Ffestiniog PART THREE 1920-1968 From Peace to War and Back again Continued from:- PART ONE 1800-1889 From Beginnings And PART TWO 1889 – 1920 From Amalgamation to the Great War to the Great Fall - 3 - 26 DEVELOPMENT AND DISASTER I, 1920 - 39 In the years following the First World war, the Oakeley Quarries faced many problems. Some were familiar - that big fall in 1912 having affected the western workings from floor 1 down to M within the area of walls 22 to 30. The Back Vein, mostly in the Upper and Middle Quarry was either cut off or worked out. The North Vein, apart from the isolated section on G floor, was not in work at all. The main workings were in the New Vein, these being developed both east and west from various points of access on all floors from G downwards. While most of the rather narrow New Vein in the Middle and Upper Quarries had been worked out, there were still isolated parts which were available. A summary of chambers at this time reveals that there were 47 chambers in work in the New Vein compared to 3 in work and 2 nearly ready in the Old Vein - a vast change in the state of things. The main areas available for development were: i) The New Vein in the Lower Quarry on the existing floors to east and west. This was limited to the east by the old L.&.N.W.R. tunnel. ii) The Old and New Veins in the Lower Quarry to the west of chamber 31 under Cwmorthin, assuming access could be obtained. There were possible problems here due to the flooded Cwmorthin workings and the danger of any heading striking an unsuspected fault and letting in the water. There was also the problem of the long haulage to the eastern inclines. iii) Any Back or North Vein which might be found on the lower floors, provided again that access could be found through the collapsed Old Vein workings. iv) The Glan y Pwll or "Olive Vein" which had been proved in the trial chamber on Lefel Fawr. The main bulk of this lay to the south of and on a level with the top floors of the Upper Quarry and would require access. This would open up the Architectural side of the business, allowing Oakeley to compete with the Lake District Slate trade - or so it was thought. v) The Old and New Veins below floor O, as yet unworked, the quality of the rock being unknown, requiring costly sinking driving and pumping to make viable. The fact that the quality of the veins seemed to decrease as they went deeper was also a worrying concern here. vi) The New Vein from floor DE upwards in the west beneath Cwmorthin. This had been worked up to floor 5 from floor 3 in the Middle Quarry for several chambers width and the prospects were being investigated by a long southward level from Chamber 32 Old Vein. The state of these various areas in 1920 was as follows: i) In progress, as the normal course of development. ii) This was to be accessed by the new incline in chamber 34 Old Vein on DE, but this was in temporary abeyance. iii) Required driving to access. iv) This was apparently the most promising, as we shall see. v) These were considered to be costly and put on one side. vi) This trial continued until 1924 when it reached the "Lingula Flags" which underlay the slate deposits, thus proving there was no workable New Vein under Cwmorthin. The level had been driven a total of 430 feet without proving any worthwhile slate veins. In the open quarry there were four possibilities: i) The Peak Quarry in the Old Vein, this was limited in scope to the east by the surface tramways and the huge deposits of waste linking Bonc Siafft and Bonc Goedan. ii) The removal of the "Pen Balance" rock mass between the Holland Old and Back Vein sinks. This would enable the untopping(!) to proceed west from floor 8 down to DE and enable both Old and Back Vein walls to be recovered fairly cheaply. This was the only apparent development area open to the Middle and Upper Quarries, apart from the Glan y Pwll vein. iii) The removal of the fall and untopping to the west of the Upper Quarry sinks. iv) The opening out of the old Glan y Pwll workings. Of these, only iii) was not in actual consideration or operation, the Upper Quarry in particular working almost exclusively on blocks from the fall of the western bon, with some additional work in the isolated wedge of Old Vein which had originally connected Pen Balance with the main ridge running up to Carreg Blaenllym, and which was being accessed by a short air worked incline from the tramway connection between the floor 8 Old Vein and Floor 8 Back Vein. Glan y Pwll - The Olive Green Dream and the Upper Quarry. The old Glanypwll Quarry lay among the crags of Craig Nyth y Gigfran, high above the Barlwyd and just below the tips of the three high floors, 14, 15 and 16 of the Upper Quarry. It had had a chequered history, but had always been a minor concern. The land was disputed, at one time working of the quarry was reputedly stopped by injunction, as it was thought to be on the Tan y Bwlch Estate. - 4 - Oakeley Slate – 26. Development & Disaster I, 1920-1939 The quarry had begun in the 1840's and by the late 1860's an incline had been built connecting the quarry with the F.R. at the old Dinas Junction. The drum house of this incline was built close to the mountainside, about half way up. What evidence remains and what little can be seen on old photographs suggests that a second incline rose from this point at a very steep angle indeed to a drumhouse which was much higher up. This incline, if incline it was, served several slab built platforms. It seems possible that some form of aerial ropeway was used to lower the blocks to the lower incline. Slate making was carried out at a slab mill at Glan-Dwr. There were at least two small open quarries, from which several chambers were opened. The northernmost of the open workings being buried by the Oakeley floor 14 tip. Robert Roberts noted in 1901 that "£15,000 had been spent by the late Glan Y Pwll Company in testing the vein for 500 yards further to the west than the open quarry main level." The "Olive" designation of the Glan Y Pwll Vein (it was also referred to at times as the "South Vein" - but this was confusing as that was also the name given at times to the New Vein) came about because of its colour, and it was this colour which was to tempt the Oakeley Company to try to work it from the Upper Quarry. This would provide work for the Upper Quarry and also give additional entry to the architectural market. It must be said that the "green" colour is not particularly evident today, indeed, it is far less "green" than the veins of Nantlle or Dinorwic. Operations began in the middle of 1922 with a belief in a "good substantial bed of slate." To prove this a trial was made on floor 10 for both New Vein and was to be extended to reach the Glan y Pwll vein beyond it. Thomas Jones and his son both concurred that "there is the prospect of a considerable Quarry being opened out here. The old underground workings of the Glan y Pwll Co. were stopped in consequence of an injunction obtained against the old Glan y Pwll Co. for carrying their workings into the Oakeley property. There is no prospect of increasing the output from the Upper Quarry unless an until the Glan y Pwll Vein can be brought into a yielding condition." The Upper Quarry fall working was suffering interruptions due to the "falling of the overhanging top layers" from the western bon. The output from the Middle Quarry was "steadily diminishing - but for the blocks derived from the Lower Quarry it would scarcely be worth running the Middle Quarry Mills at all. The removal of Pen Balance etc. westward is a necessity." The Joneses inspected the old workings during the autumn and made a plan. They referred to a "great thickness" of a "Valuable and Workable Deposit of rock." The Manager too "traversed most if not all of this property with Assistant Evans." He had, "Not the slightest doubt, that here remains a fine pocket of Slate deposit of good quality but so situated that it is most difficult to operate upon, owing to the fact of the configuratively nature of the surface ground - strongly advise the driving of the proposed level on floor 11 to get a working connection between the quarries." He proposed using the miners from the test level on floor 10, which by this time had proved unsatisfactory, and also working from the Oakeley side so that compressed air could be used. Some work was done on the Glan y Pwll side. One of the old tunnels on approximately floor 12 was cleared and a tramway laid in it, but as nothing effective could be done until the floor 11 tunnel was driven through from Oakeley, the men were withdrawn in May 1923.