Llanberis Slate Museum & Lake Railway: Holiday June
2018/19 - page 2
Llanberis is a major tourist village at the foot of
Snowdon and is considered to be the centre for outdoor activities in
Snowdonia, North Wales. Lying within the Snowdonia National Park
with its breathtaking scenery, Llanberis has many tourist attractions
of its own. Let's take a look around the fascinating National
Slate Museum at the historic Dinorwig slate quarry, enjoy a ride
alongside scenic Lake Padarn on the quaint Llanberis Lake Railway and
visit the stunning Ceunant Mawr Waterfall and Dolbadarn Castle ruins.
This is page two of five.
Snowdon
| Llanberis | Snowdonia Mines | Snowdonia Railways | Aberglaslyn Pass Walk + Tramway
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Yes you saw that right, it is indeed free entry at the National Slate
Museum in Llanberis! The museum's in Padarn Country Park and is
at the site of the...
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...former Dinorwig slate quarry. Within are workshops and
buildings set-up as if the quarrymen and engineers have just left for
home...
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...including the courtyard with wagons loaded with slate
boulders. Slate has been quarried and mined for hundreds of years
in North Wales, at its peak producing some half-million tons a year -
that's...
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...four fifths of the country's slate production. Next up was the
slate splitting demonstration. The craftsman here expertly
demonstrated how slate is neatly split, sized and dressed for use as
roofing and in...
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...other applications such as cosmetics. Now to the vast iron and
brass foundry where figurines were hard at work. You can just see
the drive shaft that powered Dinorwig; it runs for ⅛ mile through...
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...the spacious workshops where the quarry machinery was
maintained. The large wheels at roof level transferred power to
the machinery at Dinorwig quarry slate works. On next...
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...to the row of quarrymen's cottages, each furnished from different
eras. Mike showed his age when he related to many of the fixtures
in the 1969...
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...one! Our pic above shows the living quarters of a typical
Snowdonia slate quarry worker of 1861; each cottage had an upstairs and
backyard to view. Now...
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...this is the massive Victorian waterwheel that powered the machinery
to produce roof slates, the largest in Britain at 15.4 metres
diameter. Water was piped down cast iron pipes from Snowdon's
slopes.
There's more slate facts and a trip down
a slate mine on our Llechwedd Slate Caverns page.
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The slate was transported from Dinorwig slate quarry by railway, and
right next door to the slate museum is the Llanberis Lake Railway at
Gilfach Ddu.
At its peak 3000 men worked at Dinorwig quarry, which
closed in 1969. We found Snowdonia's National Slate Museum in
Llanberis a very worthwhile visit. We haven't shown everything at
the museum; be sure to view Una, the 1905 industrial steam engine, the
works canteen and even the visitors café! Entry is free but the
adjacent car park was £4 a day on our 2018 visit.
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The Llanberis Lake Railway, seen here at Llanberis Station, steams
along a very scenic five-mile (return) route to Penllyn taking around
an hour...
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...through Padarn Country Park and passing the ruins of Dolbadarn
Castle along the way. The lake railway then joins the 1845 slate
railway route...
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...running along the shores of Lake Padarn from which we enjoyed some
simply stunning views of Snowdon. At Penllyn the Llanberis Lake
Railway...
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...returns to stop at Cei Llydan alongside this lakeside picnic area at
which we, er, ate our picnic. It looks like there were some
sidings here in past times. We...
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...explored the area at Cei Llydan, further admired the wonderful
Snowdonia views across Llyn Padarn and did a short woodland walk
before...
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...catching the next train back to Llanberis. The Llanberis Lake
Railway cost £9. Please see our UK tourist resources for more
on Llanberis.
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Back in Llanberis here's the base of the Snowdon Mountain Railway and
Visitor Centre; nearby the most popular walking route up Snowdon, the
Llanberis Path, begins.
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A short walk away is the scenic Llanberis waterfall at Ceunant Mawr so
we took the short stroll there, spotting the steam train starting its
mountain ascent along the way. After...
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...following a mountain stream we arrived at the impressive Ceunant
Mawr Waterfall cascading down 30m (100 ft) into a small dammed plunge
pool.
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Our final visit in Llanberis was to the ruins of Dolbadarn Castle,
standing high above the village. The 13th century fortress was
built by...
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...Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) to guard the Llanberis
Pass, a major Welsh route and the castle was important both militarily
and as a symbol of Llywelyn's power and authority. The mighty
tower...
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...is 15m tall with walls 2.5m thick and was used to imprison Owain ap
Gruffydd (Llywelyn's grandson's brother) on the upper floor for 20
years during the family's power struggles; at least he had some...
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...wonderful views across the castle's courtyard towards Llyn
Padarn. It's easy to see why the landscape at Dolbadarn Castle
has inspired writers and artists.
Currently owned by Cadw and managed as a tourist
attraction, Dolbadarn Castle is protected as a grade I listed building
and is free to visit.
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So as you can see Llanberis has plenty of attractions; another to
consider is the Electric Mountain with tours of Dinorwig Power Station
and there's watersports activities on Lake Padarn.
Now please follow us to our next Snowdonia holiday page
where we visit Snowdonia's rich slate
and copper mining heritage >>>
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Snowdon
| Llanberis | Snowdonia Mines | Snowdonia Railways | Aberglaslyn Pass Walk + Tramway
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