Abercwmeiddaw Quarry

The Abercwmeiddaw quarry was a slate quarry that operated between the 1840s and 1938. It was located at Corris Uchaf about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Machynlleth, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The quarry was connected to the Corris Railway via the Upper Corris Tramway which carried its products to the Cambrian Railways at Machynlleth for distribution.

Quarrying at Abercwmeiddaw probably started in the 1840s. Certainly it was a large enterprise when it was recorded employing 80 workers in 1849. In 1869, a lease was granted for the property and there is an 1871 report by John Imray on the quarry which describes a well-developed concern, although it was not then connected to the Upper Corris Tramway. In 1876, the Abercwmeiddaw Slate Quarry Company was formed, with William Bright as the manager, and acquired the lease to the quarry. By March 1877, all the equipment for the new quarry was installed and a large number of men were being hired to work there. The company quickly established the quarry and by 1883 was producing 2,875 tons of finished slate. The company was well capitalised, but struggled to make a profit. In 1885, they wrote to the manager of the Corris Railway asking for forgiveness on payment of an overdue bill. In February 1886, the quarry closed. In 1893, the quarry and its associated tramways and equipment were put up for sale. The quarry resumed production in the late 1890s. In 1899 it was closed for a month while a new steam engine was installed, and 200 men are recorded at work at the turn of the century. But the company struggled financially and was formally wound up in 1905. In 1906, the quarry and its equipment was again put up for sale, and the equipment was sold to Maden McKnee of Liverpool. A new company, the Abercwmeiddaw Slate Quarry Company was formed in 1911, but did no better, being wound up in early 1917. The liquidator attempted to sell the quarry as a going concern after the end of the First World War. Between 1920 and 1923 the quarry changed hands several times, but was likely not working. Some quarrying took place in 1924, producing slabs for "cisterns, billiard tables and electrical switchboards", though details of the ownership w

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