23687

 

II  

Designated  

21/07/2000  

21/07/2000  

South-western aerial ropeway revetment, incline and associated buildings  

 

Gwynedd  

Llanllyfni  

 

Nantlle  

249826  

353107  

 

Located above the south side of the North Dorothea Slate Quarry, between the Cornish beam engine house to the west and the ruins of the former slate mill to the east.  

Industrial  

 

The Dorothea Quarry in the centre of the Nantlle vale was opened in 1829 by William Turner and John Morgan. From 1853 it was owned by the Williams family until its closure in 1970. The existing incline is shown on an Ordnance Survey map of 1889, although at that date the site of the ropeway structure was occupied by a further incline. The purpose of the revetment was to house engines which drove chain or cable inclines at an angle of about 45 degrees, enabling quarry wagons to be pulled up and let down using further cables.  

Large ziggurat-like structure built of sawn slate blocks, aligned roughly north-south. The sides are strongly battered with distinctive offsets; remains of slate-built structures on top. Projecting from the east end, in a north-easterly direction, is a slate-built inclined plane.  

 

Included as one of a pair of large and unique aerial ropeway revetments, impressive for the scale of their engineering and having strong group value with the Cornish beam engine house at this important C19 slate quarry. Scheduled Ancient Monument (No.199).