Learning About The Upland Heritage of Gwynedd

Delegates ascending the magnificent incline at Gorseddau slate quarry to inspect its upper workings.

The Archaeology in the Uplands event held on 10th-11th May in Snowdonia was a resounding success for all concerned. Organised jointly between the Royal Commission, the Snowdonia National Park Authority and the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, the event featured a packed dayschool on Friday 10th May at Plas Tanybwlch followed by a guided walk to the slate quarrying landscape of Gorseddau on the Saturday.

On Friday over 60 delegates joined Royal Commission staff at Plas Tanybwlch for a dayschool opened by Councillor Caerwyn Roberts OBE, Chairman of the Snowdonia National Park Authority, followed by an address by Dr David Gwyn. The day began with reports of the most recent surveys completed for the Uplands Archaeology Initiative in north, mid and south Wales, before a series of afternoon talks from specialists from Wales, England and Scotland about various aspects of the archaeology, history, paleoenvironment and management of the upland heritage of north-west Wales.

On the following day, two minibuses of delegates accompanied Royal Commission archaeologists to the slate quarrying landscape around Gorseddau quarry above Porthmadog, in the expert company of Dr David Gwyn of Govannon Consultancy who lead the tour. Despite a few rain showers there was plenty of sunshine and an excellent day was enjoyed by all learning about the history, worker’s lives, transport networks and fluctuating business fortunes of Gorseddau quarry, the abandoned industrial village of nearby Treforys, and the unique Ynysypandy slate mill.

David Gwyn explaining the archaeology and history of Ynysypandy slate mill.

The massive corbelled wall protecting the line of the slate tramway at Gorseddau from the slate tips above.

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