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Latitude: 53.1234 / 53°7'24"N
Longitude: -4.1153 / 4°6'54"W
OS Eastings: 258550
OS Northings: 360562
OS Grid: SH585605
Mapcode National: GBR 5Q.78TH
Mapcode Global: WH54M.RRJD
Plus Code: 9C5Q4VFM+9V
Entry Name: Incline and Drumhouses
Listing Date: 4 November 1999
Last Amended: 4 November 1999
Grade: II
Source: Cadw
Source ID: 22661
Building Class: Industrial
ID on this website: 300022661
Location: Incline and drumhouses rising from the old floor (now car park of the Welsh Slate Museum) to the top level of the former Vivian Slate Quarry; massive slate retaining wall located immediately to the no
County: Gwynedd
Town: Caernarfon
Community: Llanddeiniolen
Community: Llanddeiniolen
Locality: Gilfach Ddu
Traditional County: Caernarfonshire
Tagged with: Architectural structure
The Vivian Quarry, an open hillside quarry worked on 6 levels, formed part of the Dinorwic Quarry, first established in 1787, taking over existing workings in the area, the first incline being built in 1789. By the 1830s there was a tramway system on each terrace of the quarry, steam locomotives being introduced in the 1870s. The eventual scale of the quarry was such that its output of c100,000 tons p.a. in the late 1890s put in on a par with Penrhyn, representing almost a quarter of the total production of Welsh slate. The quarry finally closed in 1969. The first drumhouse and lowest pitch of the incline above the former Padarn Railway has been restored to full working order (based on the form of the incline in 1910) by the Welsh Slate Museum and is not included on this List.
Incline runs in 5 tandem pitches, the lower 3 (including the section reconstructed by the Slate Museum) with much of the track and gear intact. The 4 unrestored drumhouses are of rubblestone and slate slab construction with gable-ended slate roofs. All retain their brake-drums and cabling, the brake mechanisms to the lower inclines being of massive cast-iron construction, operated via spur gears and "ship's wheel" controls with elaborate remote control crimp sprags. Double drumhouse on top level.
Included as a remarkably well-preserved incline with drumhouses and counter balances forming an integral part of the former Vivian Slate Quarry and particularly important for the impressive physical evidence it provides for the distribution of slate away from the quarry.
Scheduled Ancient Monument (198).
External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.
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