Ynys Y Pandy Slate Mill, and Treforys Village, Cwmystradllyn, Porthmadog

About four miles north of Porthmadog, in the county of Gwynedd, both Ynys y Pandy Slate Mill and Treforys village date from the mid nineteenth century, and are intimately connected by the failed Gorseddau Quarry.

 

Both mill and village were built during a flurry of optimism when the Gorseddau Quarry, operating since 1807, was developed by a Bavarian mining engineer, Henry Tobias Tschudy von Uster (misspelled 'Ulster' on the Coflein website) in the 1850s. Perhaps it was a bad omen that von Uster was brought before the court at Lincoln's Inn Fields for insolvency in 1847. In this newspaper report he is mentioned as being 'Professor of the German Language and Literature at the College of Civil Engineers, Putney, Surrey, and Civil  Engineer.' There isn't a mention in the short entry of why he became insolvent.

 The Ynys y Pandy Slate Mill stands proudly on a rise of ground not far from Porthmadog.

 

 

Although developed by von Uster the quarry had been recently taken over two men from Yorkshire, Robert Gill and John Harris, who rented the quarry from the owner, Richard Morris Griffith. Coflein succinctly describes the Gorseddau Quarry as 'a complete commercial failure,' and goes on to say that 'Despite massive capitalisation and investment in milling, water courses and reservoir, workers' housing and railway to Porthmadog, returns were derisory. By 1859, its 200 men were producing less than 1400 tons per annum - seven tons per man year. Output peaked at 2140 tons in 1860.'

  

By 1867 the quarry had closed. It must have changed hands by that point, since a Gwynedd Archives document containing records from Messrs. Carter, Vincent & Co., Solicitors, Bangor holds an entry from May 27th, 1862 which reads:

 

DRAFT NOTICE to Robert Gill and John Harris, esq., that Gorsedda Quarry and a farm called Cefnbifor, pa. Llanfihangel y Pennant, leased to them by Richard Morris Griffith of Bangor, has now been mortgaged to Samuel Dew of Llangefni, with instructions to R.G. and J.H. to make no further payments to R.M.G. during the continuation of the mortgage.

Presumably Richard Morris Griffith no longer wanted this white elephant, and Samuel Dew managed no better owning the quarry.

 

Seen from near the quarry manager's house at Plas Llyn, the Gorseddau Quarry shows tiers of levels and tips under the side of the hill at the north end of the lake. Visiting the quarry will have to wait for another day.

 

 

The first part of this entry will cover Ynys y Pandy Slate Mill, an amazing structure to come across, compared to many quarry ruins which are simple, slab built, utilitarian buildings. The mill more closely resembles an abandoned church - indeed, it was apparently used for religious services after it closed as a mill and before the nearby chapel was built, and for eisteddfodau until the roof was removed in 1906. The mill, according to Coflein, was 'built in 1856-7 by Evan Jones of Garndolbenmaen and probably designed by James Brunlees.' Sir James Brunlees was a Scottish civil engineer who mainly worked on railways, and it was he who designed the quarry railway.

The second part of the entry explores Treforys village, to the west of Llyn Cwmystradllyn, and some of the nearby buildings. Although Treforys is badly ruined, it is startling in its own way: a series of widely spaced semi-detatched houses spread along straight streets, which would look more at home in the lowlands than on the rough, high terrain around the lake, and makes modern housing developments appear hopelessly cramped together.

 

Despite the quick decline of the quarry there's a wonderful feeling of Victorian optimism about the buildings for this place, reminiscent of other Victorian attempts to lift industry out of the dirt and make it better for all concerned. The grand appearance of the slate mill and the widely spaced, semi-detached houses of Treforys both speak of an idealistic concern for living spaces to be more pleasant and industrial buildings to reflect the aesthetics of churches and galleries. Undoubtedly living in Treforys was harsh, but in the same era whole families were living in cellars in Manchester slums and barely seeing the light of day.

 

Ynys y Pandy Slate Mill

The Ynys y Pandy Slate Mill can be found at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 5499 4337, not far north-west of Porthmadog. It almost seems to have been built to look imposing, atop this rise of land amid rolling fields. Perhaps there was a mill there previously. 'Ynys y Pandy' means 'island of the mill,' but a pandy is specifically a fulling mill, used in the making of wool cloth.

The British Listed Buildings site has quite comprehensive details of the building's history and functions.

This little building is very close to the mill, and looks as if it's undergoing some kind of restoration.

Numbers have been painted on the stones, perhaps to keep track of where they should be if the wall were being rebuilt.

 

The river from Llyn Cwmystradllyn, the lake which provides water for Ynys y Pandy, runs past the mill, with a lovely old stone bridge crossing it.

The path up to the mill is only a little steep, with steps made of wood and chipped slate. It can be approached on the flat from the other side.

Looking down the genteel slate chipping path.

In the side of the building is the waterwheel pit, built to accommodate an overshot water wheel of 26 feet in diameter, fed by water from Llyn Cwmystradllyn about half a mile away.

Looking up through the wheel pit to the building above. 

The side of the building resembles something from the Roman era, incredibly grand compared to its contemporary mill structures.

Everything about this building speaks of industry clothed in swagger. At this east end is a false chimney - obviously only decorative because of the window directly below - with a recess to hold a clock in the 'chimney breast.' The mill cost some £50,000 to build, which is the equivalent of over four million pounds today.

To the left of the building, under the tramway, a covered passage runs along the wall into the building. 

The level, curving tramway runs to the first floor, or second floor depending on how you count the levels, which is a little confusing because of the way it's built into the hill. Coflein describes this as bringing 'branches of the tramway from Gorseddau Quarry into the mill at two different levels, serving the middle and upper floors.' The ramp provides a smooth walk along to the upper floor windows for anyone unable to access up the slate steps, although it isn't deliberately made for disabled access and it's necessary to walk down the small but steep slope off the tramway to gain access to the building.

A footpath runs along this lane and joins another which cuts past the end of the curving tramway, so there is public access from this side. 

I'm not sure what this central pit was for, but it runs to the wheel pit. It looks similar, if more grand, to pits I've seen in other mills. My uneducated guess is either that it's the channel through which the water was brought to the wheel, or that it's something to do with the cutting that would be powered by the water wheel. There is a plan of the mill in the images on the Coflein site, but the diagram is not labelled and is quite hard to work out. The British Listed Buildings site says 'A deep cross trench at the centre contained the leet driving the main drive water wheel, the water conducted in from the parallel channel on the S side.' Perhaps that is this trench.
 

The wheel pit is directly ahead at the bottom of the photo, with another lower floor visible to the north west end of the building. This is the only example of a multi-storey slate mill. Although roofing slate was where the money lay, the Gorseddau slate wasn't high enough quality for this, and the Ynys y Pandy mill dealt in thicker slabs for purposes such as urinals, floors, dairies, and pool tables.

Looking into the wheel pit from above.

The wall could be part of the Coliseum. Coflein describes it as resembling a Roman aquaduct. 

Inside the east end, joist holes can be seen for two floors, along with rusted metal running down either side of the blocked central window. I don't know the purpose of this metal. 

If someone were to say this were a Methodist cathedral it would almost be believable. Instead, it's a cathedral to Victorian optimism in industry. 

These windows must have let in a lot of light for those working in the building. 

A tree is trying its best to grow high above the ground. I imagine Cadw will take it down before it gets too big and endangers the building. 

I don't know what this metal lined recess is, but I assume something to do with machinery.

On the road near the mill is a very picturesque old style telephone box, and a helpful sign saying 'Ruin.'

Opposite the phone box is a post box and a sign saying 'Private Road.' I suspect the owners of the house at this junction suffer from tourists thinking access is up their drive. In fact, you have to drive just past the mill to find the entrance just before the bridge over the river.

Up on the hill to the right is a small ruin, but I don't know if this is associated with the mill.

From the road the west end of the mill is an imposing sight, on its stone plinth. From this end the mill seems to have gained an extra floor.

The tightly built ramp for the tramway can be seen to the right.

To the west of the mill the land stretches serenely away towards the Llyn Peninsula and the sea.

Treforys Abandoned Village, and Other Houses

 

Half a mile from Ynys y Pandy Slate Mill lies Llyn Cwmystradllyn, now a reservoir, but apparently a natural lake during the days of quarrying. It was dammed as late as 1959, and some of the tracks associated with the quarry, and a couple of boathouses, have been lost to the waters. According to the Welsh Wicipedia page linked above, the lake is the site of a legend involving a girl who marries a shepherd, but is caused to disappear when she is hit on the arm with an iron sickle left in a sheaf during harvest.

It was water from this lake which powered the wheel at Ynys y Pandy Slate Mill, but the area is even more intimately connected with the mill. At the head of the lake sits the ill-fated Gorseddau Quarry, of which it was said in a newspaper, 'everything that could facilitate the works was produced, nothing being wanted but the slate vein.' (This quote is taken from a photograph of an information panel here.) It was this quarry which supplied slate to the mill.

To the west side of the lake is Treforys village, created in the mid 1850s as a place for the quarry workers to live, with three rows of semidetached houses comprising 36 dwellings in all along three straight streets connected by a fourth. A methodist chapel and school are marked on the 1888-1913 map near the Tyddyn Mawr farmhouse, about half a mile from the village. Both now appear to be private dwellings, but the date on the chapel is 1888, some thirty years after the construction of the village and twenty one years after the closure of the quarry.

 

It is extremely surprising that there isn't a chapel associated with the village. Given the fact mentioned earlier, that the abandoned mill was used for religious services until the 1888 chapel was built, it sounds as if this isn't the case. In that case, where did the inhabitants of Treforys worship? This site has some fascinating detail on the schism between Methodist chapel and traditional Church in Wales worship, but says only that there was no chapel near the village. This seems a remarkable, almost unbelievable, oversight for a quarry village of this era. Is it possible that one of the unoccupied houses, or one of the other buildings nearby, might have been used as a chapel?

 

There is a small car park down at the south end of the reservoir. To access Treforys village you need to walk back up the road to the corner, and walk past the Tyddyn Mawr farmhouse - also a tea room! - along the footpath heading north, at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 5550 4427. 

 

 

Tal y Llyn Farmhouse and Plas Llyn

 

The ruined buildings in the photo above are associated with Tyddyn Mawr farm.

The track towards Treforys is a good one in places, probably due to its origins as a quarry road.

In places the ground is quite wet, but it makes for pretty images with the sky reflected in the water and the tawny autumnal colours of the land around.

The first buildings you come across are associated with Tal y Llyn farmhouse. 

The farmhouse sits up above the lake, with beautiful views, at SH 5593 4484. 

Even when the lake was smaller, this must have been an idyllic place on summer days. 

The first two buildings are a hundred feet or so south west of the farmhouse, at SH 5587 4480, but they seem associated with the farmhouse track rather than the slightly higher tramway. The land between the farmhouse and the lake is open access and a few other buildings are shown, but I didn't have time to explore in that area.

These are probably outbuildings rather than dwellings. They don't appear to have fireplaces, and have few windows.

Both buildings are built into the hill. I didn't have time, unfortunately, to go down and explore them.

This little un-rendered building is attached to the main farmhouse. With the stairs leading up on the outside to a floor under the roof, it seems typical of farm outbuildings.

This is a very neat little house, and looks dwarfed by the larger farmhouse beside it. Although the righthand end of the building looks like it's separate from the main house, in fact it's accessible through the main house and not through the left side of the smaller building.

In contrast to this little building, the farmhouse is still fully rendered on the outside, and makes quite an imposing structure.

Inside the left side of the smaller building are these low slate shelves or benches, partially collapsed. I wondered if the space might be a dairy, if only because the shelf reminds me of pictures of dairies.

The shelf once ran the length of the back wall.

Under the window at the front is this curious little slate-sided stall. This is the kind of slate that the mill would have produced.

There are still beams present, but this one has fallen.

Thick ironwork is still in the wood.

The gateposts still stand outside the front door of the farmhouse, even though there's no longer a wall or a fence through which to pass.

The ground level must have risen a certain amount. This downstairs fireplace is very short, with a bedroom fireplace directly above.

Joist holes can be seen for the first floor, but no joists survive.

The interior walls are in a very bad condition, tumbled into the house.

This looks like a space for a large fireplace downstairs, with a small brick fireplace directly above.

This doorway leads from the main farmhouse through into the right end of the building that I thought might be a dairy.

From this right-hand end of the dairy a door leads to the outside, but there's no door into the left side of this little house.

A few slates remain above where a roof butted up against the taller farmhouse wall.

The view from the front windows over the lake is beautiful, and must have been just as lovely when the house was lived in.

Here a large stone has fallen out of the wall complete with mortar and other bits of slate that were part of the wall around it.

This door out to the back of the house much have once had steps up to it. It's a mystery why it's so high.

The render is still very neat around the edge of the window at the front. Perhaps the unplastered gap is where the wooden windowframe sat.

In front of the house the field runs smoothly down to the lake, which would have been a little smaller in the era of the quarry. There would have been a boathouse down there, but the reservoir has flooded that part of the shoreline.

The view of the house from the front, a little asymmetric, with the homely looking possible-dairy on one end and the ruin of a lean-to on the other.

At the north, righthand, end of the house is this lean-to, but also evidence on the wall of more than one extension of different heights at different times. Two roof lines can be seen, one much lower than the other.

Unfortunately the sun is obscuring the photo a little, but the two rooflines can be clearly seen. I think this extension is shown as present on the 1888-1913 map.

The outline of a square structure is clear here, at the end of the house.

The house is in an L shape, quite common with farmhouses like this, with another door to outside at the back.

The view of the lean-to at the north end of the house, from behind.

From behind, the L shape of the house can be seen, as well as some of the damage to the first floor walls.

The end of the back of the house, with the elevated door. It's uncertain why the door is raised up like this since it has steps up to it on the outside and also seemed significantly high on the inside.

At the side of the house were walls and possibly pigsties very like those further south at Tyddyn Mawr. I wonder if Tyddyn Mawr resembles what Tal y Llyn would have looked like when it was inhabited.

Looking back along the walled enclosure towards Tal y Llyn farmhouse.

I actually took the wrong path for the easy route to the Treforys Village, walking along the lower track rather than the higher, but this turned out to be fortuitous for exploring the area's ruins. This lower track, the old tramway, takes you on towards Plas Llyn and, eventually, to the Gorseddau Quarry.

Here, the track is walled and assumes a more formal air.

This row of buildings, at SH 5613 4511, is at the entrance to the enclosure where Plas Llyn was built, and looks almost as if it forms the function of a gatehouse, or, at least, a functional building placed at the entry in relation to the big house. On another site these buildings are described as stables. The photo at the link was taken fourteen years ago, and much more of the joists and plasterwork survive, along with one of the big doors in the centre doorway.

Some of the joists have fallen to the floor. Perhaps the building was relatively recently roofed, for the joists to survive so long. The apparent window high up in the end wall suggests a first floor level above the stable area.

Inside the left end cell is a small fireplace, more like something to heat a workspace than a home. The entrance to this end cell is through a doorway in the centre cell.

The indications are that this end cell had two floors, with a large upstairs window for letting in light. I'm not sure if the downstairs opening was a door or a window.

This large cast iron pipe lies on the other side of the trackway, near the building.

The area around Plas Llyn, comprising an acre of two of land, shows as wooded on the 1888-1913 map, even though these trees are slim and look rather young. Perhaps the area was planted with trees when the house was built.

At first I thought this mound of rubble at SH 5616 4515 was a slate tip. Then I realised that this was Plas Llyn, the impressive quarry manager's house, completely demolished.

 

This rather interesting listing of all youth hostels in England and Wales has a little information on the place. The house is described as a 'farmhouse or small country house,' which opened as a youth hostel in April of 1949 and closed after only a few years, in September 1951. The document states that 'after YHA closure the building was demolished when the lake was extended to form a reservoir, though the footings are well clear of the waterline. Plas Uwch Llyn (mansion above the lake) was the home of John Evans, the Welsh-speaking manager of Gorseddau Quarry, who left to manage the Hendre-ddu Quarry (SH5144) after the failure of the Gorseddau Quarry in 1867. The last use of the house was as a youth hostel, but it was by then so badly haunted that the last warden abandoned it one wild and windy night and refused ever to set foot in it again.' It does note that the story may be apocryphal.

 

The above story had been taken by the youth hostel page from another page, which adds 'song birds are said to avoid the site.' I have to admit, although I'm often sensitive to such things, to noticing neither any 'sense of foreboding' nor whether or not song birds were in evidence, but they, and any ghosts, might have been frightened away by the dog. She's enough to scare anything away.

Another note on the Youth Hostel site mentions, 'Small equipment was delivered on a service bus and carried up to the hostel. The warden was a woman who came from Scotland each year [Max Kirby, recalled in 2009].'

The house has been so completely demolished one can barely make out the original wall lines. It does seem odd to have demolished it for the creation of the reservoir, since the other building on the site has been left untouched. It would seem more likely it was demolished around the same time as the reservoir creation because of structural unsoundness, although the fact the house was in use less than ten years earlier would make you think it had been better looked after. Perhaps, though, this is also the reason why it was used as a youth hostel for such a short time. That, or the threat of ghosts. I wonder, with a relatively modern house which had a lifespan of only about one hundred years, what might have happened there to prompt tales of haunting.

I haven't been able to find any images online of what the house looked like, and its footprint is relatively small. Perhaps this long slate was a lintel, and a small amount of wall survives at the centre back of this photo. 

It looks as if the house was built of relatively thin pieces of slate. Could this have contributed to a fundamental unsoundness? 

At the back of a house, a wall had been built to hold back the soil behind, and perhaps provide for better drainage.

Another apparent lintel lies on the ground.

From in front, the footprint of the building looks very small, although this is often the case with building footprints. They seem much larger when seen in three dimensions.

 

 

Treforys Village

I left the Plas Llyn enclosure and struck out over rough land to get to Treforys village. I would wholeheartedly recommend not taking this route, which involved a lot of stumbling and falling over clumps of grass, and quite a lot of marsh. The track to Treforys diverges from the tramway at Tal y Llyn farmhouse.

 

 

A ruined wall, and the remains of some of the Treforys houses on the hillside beyond. The village centres on SH 5610 4540. It was apparently named Treforys (Morris's Town) after Robert Morris Griffith of Bangor, who owned the land and the quarry.

The view, at least, was beautiful. The Plas Llyn enclosure can be seen, covered by trees, on the right.

The houses at Treforys are in a very bad condition, with not much surviving at all. 

Looking along the middle row, with the straight street behind it. 

The layout of the buildings seems to speak of a certain amount of idealism already evidenced in the grand mill building at Ynys y Pandy. The street, more likely to be full of mud and clamour, runs behind the houses, and the houses themselves are semidetached rather than terraces, looking out from this elevated position over the beautiful lake below. The houses were said to have each had a quarter of an acre of land, and Coflein mentions evidence of gardens. This was probably essential to supplement the poor quarry workers' pay with food that didn't have to be paid for.

The remains of these buildings are like a mouthful of rotting teeth, with only some parts still sticking up jaggedly, waiting to fall.

From the front of one of these pairs of houses doorways and windows can still be seen, but it's hard to get a sense of the houses as they would have looked.

The doorway almost looks as if its toppling before the eyes.

Inside one of the houses, the dividing wall is crumbled almost to the ground. 

The stone is so scattered it's very hard to visualise how these houses may have looked when they were complete.

Another of the houses, looking serene under the autumn sun. According to the 1861 census, this site records, there were nine families resident in Treforys at that time. By the 1871 census the village was empty. Since the village was built after 1854, its lifespan was not long. I wonder if all the houses were ever occupied.

A very small fireplace, probably somewhat buried at its base, and a little mortar still on the walls. 

Joist holes are still evident in this wall. Coflein mentions that the buildings were single storey, but elsewhere says that they had unheated lofts.

Beyond the walls of one of the houses the quarry can be seen, reaching up the side of the hill.

A closer view of the quarry beyond the houses. In some of these places the workers' houses are crammed up against the works, so it must have been pleasant to have a little distance from the noise and activity.

A glimpse of the lake through one of the doorways. It's easy to imagine lives here as being idyllic, but it would have been very hard for quarry workers and women at home alike. This page has a little about life as a quarry worker in Lancashire. The Llechi Cymru site is even more damning, outlining the wretched pay, working, and living conditions, and a life expectancy of around fifty years. Still, I wonder if the extravagant slate mill and the widely spaced, semi-detatched workers' houses speak of a Victorian optimism and philanthropy in industry that was absent in a lot of places.

These straight streets dip down into mud and foul smelling bog water. Since the whole slope is very boggy, I assume - or hope - that better drainage was in place when it was lived on.

Looking along the row of houses, with the street behind.

The houses are in such bad condition that I don't think any of the big fireplaces have survived intact. This is one of them, so collapsed it's impossible to see how it might have looked.

A closer view of the collapsed fireplace.

The perfectly straight street seems at odds with the ruins of the houses and the contours of the land it runs across.

A longer view up to the top terrace shows just how much space there was between these pairs of houses.

The houses, of course, are made of the hills; or, at least, made of the stuff that the hills are made of.

There's a sense that the houses never belonged here, and they're slipping back into the chaotic jumble of stone that makes up the bones of the hills.

A little mortar survives on the end wall, and one of the rear windows is also visible.

Another fireplace, very small and low.

A close up of the render still on the walls.

The view to the lake from one of the houses.

This straight road links the three streets of houses. The lower street can be seen to the top left of the photograph.

The top street continues a little past the cross-street, with a couple of houses on it.

These were the only roofing slates that I saw. Perhaps most were taken away and reused. Broken ones are probably buried under the ground.

Looking back at the layout of the joining road and two of the streets. They look so at odds with the wild hillside.

The lowest street has fewest houses on it; only four buildings with eight dwellings. If I read the 1888-1913 map correctly - assuming that shaded in buildings are roofed and unshaded are not - then one of these pairs of houses may have been roofed at that time, although all the others are shown unshaded.

Leaving Treforys village.

Other Buildings

This little unnamed building is not far past the gateway, at SH 5599 4513.

Although roofless, the walls are in relatively good condition, with the gable ends standing to their full height. The absence of a chimney suggests it wasn't a dwelling. Could this have been pressed into service as a chapel?

The building from the south end, with a substantial lintel over the doorway.

Walking back down the track that I should have come up in the first place, and Tal y Llyn farmhouse is visible to the left.

Another little ruin stands on the hill above the track, at SH 5576 4482.

A slate pavement still survives outside the front of the building.

Some of the door frame survives, as well as slate flags in the doorway.

A terracotta ridge tile lies on the ground.

A joist is rotting on the ground inside.

A small square window looks onto the hill behind. Structurally this building is almost identical to the previous one.

Looking back towards the door, with the lake showing through the dooway.

A piece of wood built into the walls. These seem to occur relatively frequently, but I'm not sure of their purpose.

The building has 'arrow slit' windows in the side walls.

On the other side is another 'arrow slit' window.

A close up of the remains of the doorframe.

On the top of the wall a lot of slates are still present, although they look thick and roughly split.

Behind the building is a small walled yard.

At the other side of the building more slates are visible.

The view past the building to the lake beyond.

Looking back over the lake towards the dam built in 1959, which was heightened in 1976 and 1981.

The final part of the walk back to the road. I hope I will be able to explore Gorseddau Quarry one day, when the Covid restrictions are lifted again.