Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co.

Cover of a Company brochure from the 1920s

The Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co. owned and operated a major granite quarry on the north Wales coast located between Conwy and Llanfairfechan. Granite axe-heads and other implements from Neolithic quarries at Penmaenmawr have been found throughout Britain.

Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co.
Locale Wales
Dates of operation 1830s1960s
Track gauge 3 ft (914 mm)
Headquarters Penmaenmawr

In the 1830s commercial granite quarries were opened on Penmaenmawr to meet the growing demand for granite setts. The granite was lowered from the quarry by self-acting inclines to the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge tramway which ran to jetties from where the setts were loaded into ships. The standard gauge Chester to Holyhead railway reached Penmaenmawr in 1848, after which the majority of the quarry output was sent by rail.

The quarry and its internal narrow gauge railway continued to thrive during the nineteenth century. Production at the quarry continues in 2006, though the railway was replaced by trucks in the 1960s.

Locomotives

Name Builder Type Date Works number Notes
Penmaen De Winton 0-4-0VB 1878 The remains of the locomotive remain at the quarry
Llanfair De Winton 0-4-0VB 1895 Preserved at the Welsh Highland Railway
Louisa De Winton 0-4-0VB Scrapped
Watkin De Winton 0-4-0VB Preserved at Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
Stephen Hunslet 0-4-0ST 1902 771 Scrapped by 1951
Hunslet 0-4-0ST 1903 798 Scrapped

References

    See also

    Coordinates: 53°15′36″N 3°56′56″W / 53.260°N 3.949°W / 53.260; -3.949


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