Penmaenmawr: Rails of Granite (IR139)
Product No.: IR139
Title: Penmaenmawr: Rails of Granite
Author(s): Hitches, Mike
Illustrator(s): N/A
Publisher: Irwell Press
ISBN: 1871608139
Condition: New
Binding: Softcover
Dust Jacket: None
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Year: 1997
Features: 32 Pages with Black/White Photos.
The industrial quarrying of granite at Penmaenan began in the early 19th century with the forming of the Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co.. As the industry grew workers and their families flocked to Penmaenmawr from all over north-west Wales and beyond. The link was especially strong with Trefor, also the home of a significant granite quarry on the slopes of Yr Eifl. The community which sprang up in the present day wards of Penmaenan and Pant-yr-afon was close-knit and almost entirely Welsh-speaking.
By the early years of the 20th century about 1,000 men worked in the quarry and its associated workshops. Neighbouring Llanfairfechan was an integral part of this process. The granite was lowered from the quarry by self-acting inclines to the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge tramway which ran to jetties from where the setts were loaded into ships. After 1848 the majority of the quarry output was sent by main-line rail, although the quarry and its internal narrow gauge railway continued to thrive through the nineteenth century. Life was far from easy for the quarrymen, especially those who worked on the higher slopes.
They were expected to walk up to the summit area in all weather and faced losing pay if unable to reach the top. Naturally a strong spirit of camaraderie developed and this was reflected in the town's chapels, pubs and cultural societies. Granite was exported by rail to ports like Liverpool and the cities of England and by sea from the two quarrying jetties to Liverpool and also to a number of European ports such as Hamburg. The town grew in popularity as a seaside resort for the well-to-do in the second half of the 19th century, in part due to the enthusiasm shown by statesman and Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone who holidayed 11 times in Penmaenmawr between 1855 and 1896