Historical background
An area in which the Vaynol estate owned much of the land.
Previously entirely rural in character, it was developed for
slate quarrying after the opening of the North Wales Narrow
Gauge Railway in 1878-81.
Key historic landscape characteristics
Large farms, slate quarries, woodland
This large, open area is characterised by substantial tenant
farms of nineteenth-century construction, built at the break
of slope, with stone-built field barns and other agricultural
structures on the lower parts of the holdings. The slopes are
dominated by the well-preserved landscape of the Glanrafon
Slate Quarry and its extensive tips; there is also a smaller
slate quarry at Clogwyn y Gwin. The course of the railway,
particularly the substantial dry-stone embankments, is a noticeable
feature. Remarkably, there is little relict archaeology (either
prehistoric or medieval) known in the area, which would otherwise
seem to have good potential for their preservation, although
no systematic fieldwork has been undertaken.
Back to Caernarfon-Nantlle
Landscape Character Map
