Oakeley Slate Quarries

Holland's 1839 incline connecting his Cesail Quarry with the Festiniog Railway at Dinas

The Oakeley Quarries were a collection of quarries in Blaenau Ffestiniog owned by the Oakeley Family. They were an important customer of the Festiniog Railway.

History

Spion Kop incline of Oakeley Quarries in 1934. Photo: William Low

Oakeley Quarry originated in 1818 when Samuel Holland leased a small quarry at Rhiwbryfdir farm. This venture was successful and was sold in 1825 to the Welsh Slate Company. Holland then opened a new quarry at Gesail, above Rhiwbryfdir. In 1839 Holland's Gesail quarry (also know as the Upper Quarry) became one of the first users of the Ffestiniog Railway to send slates to the wharves at Porthmadog. By 1840 underground working had begun and a large steam-driven cutting mill was opened around 1860. By the mid-1870s over 14,000 tons of finished slate was being produced annually.

During the same period, Nathaniel Mathew had leased land between Gesail and Rhiwbryfdir and opened up Gloddfa Ganol (in English: Middle Quarry). Gloddfa Ganol, also known as Mathew's Quarry was a pioneer of the use of slate dressing machines and was an early user of steam powered mills and inclines. By the mid-1870s Gloddfa Ganol was producing more than 10,000 tons of finished slate annually.

There was a third major quarry nearby. The Lord Palmerston Quarry was located below and south of Gloddfa Ganol. Its extensive underground workings were connected to the Ffestiniog Railway by 1838 and it opened the first steam-driven cutting mill in the district around 1840. By the 1870s annual production was around 50,000 tons of finished slates.

The leaseholds for both Gesail and Gloddfa Ganol expired in 1878 and the landowner, W.E. Oakeley consolidated the Upper and Middle quarries into a single operation.

The Lord Palmerston Quarry continued as an independent quarry, but had been pursuing aggressive and dangerous mining methods. A number of underground collapses culminated in several significant rock falls in 1882 and 1883 which threatened to destablize the two Oakeley-owned quarries above. Oakeley sued to owners of the Lord Palmerston Quarry and took ownership of it, amalgamating all three into a single operation known as the Oakeley Quarry.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Oakeley acquired the adjacent Nyth y Gigfran and the nearby Cwm Orthin Quarry. At their peak these combined quarries produced 60,000 tons of slate annually and were the third largest in the United Kingdom.

Extensive use was made of stationary steam engines to run the cutting mills, dressing sheds and inclines in the quarry, although from 1906 hydro-electric power was introduced.

Oakeley continued to produce significant tonnages of slate through World War Two, but experienced a rapid decline in the 1960s, along with the remainder of the British slate industry. The quarry closed in 1971.

The quarry re-opened as a working quarry and tourist attraction in the mid 1970s under the name Gloddfa Ganol. This enterprise was sold to McAlpines in 1997 and the tourist side of the business was closed. The quarry continues to operate in 2007.

Locomotives

Name	Type	Builder	Date	Works Number	Origin	Disposal	Notes
Mary Oakeley	0-4-0VBT	Falcon	1884			scrapped about 1920
William	0-4-0T	Adamson	1885			scrapped
Mary Caroline	0-4-0T	Adamson	1888			scrapped about 1931
Edward	0-4-0T	Adamson	1888			scrapped
Algernon	0-4-0GT	Wilson & co.	before 1873			Scrapped	Probably Welsh Slate Co.'s "Mole"
Charles	0-4-0T	Adamson	1890			scrapped about 1931
Snowdon	0-4-0ST	Bagnall	1899	1569
Diana	0-4-0T	Kerr Stuart	1917	1158	ex Home Grown Timber committee, Kerry Tramway. Bought 1925.	Sold in 45 to Pen-yr-Orsedd Quarry where it worked until the boiler was condemned in 1950. Sold to G Mullis in the Midlands before returning to Wales when purchased by Tony Hills of Hills & Bailey. Moved with Tony Hills to his new base at the Brecon Railway. Sold to Lloyd and Dennis Davies of Clydach near Swansea in April 1978. New boiler built by Bartletts, Bottom end overhaul and new tanks and bunkers built by Keefes. After the passing of the brothers bought by Phil Mason in Feb 2014 and final assembly and completion by the V of R. Returned to steam after 65 years on 14th Sept 2015. Now operating at the Bala Lake Railway	6 tons 6x10 24" 140lb/sq.in.
Algernon	0-4-0WT	Hudson	before 1916			Scrapped
Clifford	0-4-0WT	Hudswell Clarke	1915	1142.	ex Nottingham 1924.	Scrapped
Kidbrooke	0-4-0ST	Bagnall	1917	2043	ex R.A.S.C Kidbrooke depot.	Out of use by 1939. Sold in 1961 to Mr. R. Hilton; stored at Minfordd Yard on the FR until 1970 when it moved to Didcot. By 2000 was owned by Paul Hemnell and fully restored, from 2004 has been at the Yaxham Light Railway.
Clifford	0-4-0PM	Baguley	1917	774	ex Machynlleth.	Out of use 1939. Sold in 1966 to Rodney Weaver. Moved to Brian Goodchild's railway at Leamington Spa in 1968. Sold to R.P. Morris in 1970 and moved to Bampton, Oxfordshire in 1973, and then to Longfield, Kent. Returned to Wales in 1977 as part of the Narrow Gauge Railway Centre display at Gloddfa Ganol. In February 1998 she was purchased by the NGRM Trust of the Talyllyn Railway at Tywyn. Now undergoing cosmetic restoration at the Amerton Railway.
Rosa	0-4-0PM	Baguley	1919	779	ex Kerry Tramway.	Destroyed by fire, 1937
	4wDM	Deutz				Scrapped 1964
	4wDM	Bagnall	1933	2499		to Votty & Bowydd
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1935	174139
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1935	174540
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1935	175405
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1935	175986
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1935	177598	ex Egypt, via Robert Hudson
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1936	177638		to Votty & Bowydd
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1936	182137
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1959	432652
	4wDM	Ruston Hornsby	1952	264252	acquired from Votty & Bowydd around 1962

• 
  A Deutz type locomotive seen in 1934. Photo: William Low
• 
  Diana under restoration at Alan Keef Ltd.

References

• Boyd, James I.C. (1975) [1959]. The Festiniog Railway 1800 - 1974; Vol. 2 Locomotive and Rolling Stock and Quarry Feeders. Blandford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 085361-168-8.

See also

• For further information on the development of the quarries concerned see Slate and the Festiniog Railway
• For further reading and pictures, see Dave Sallery's site here
• Oakeley
• Quarries served by the Festiniog Railway