Allt Ddu - Page 2

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* [Pic 4] Allt Ddu Quarry - view towards the quarry (Aug 1982) *

[Pic 4] Allt Ddu Quarry - view towards the quarry (Aug 1987)

Looking back from the weighbridge (seen in pic 3) towards the main workings with, on the right, the village tramway joining the tip, while in the middle distance the top of the big embankment can be seen - distinguished by its white railings. Note the sheer size of the Dinorwig tips in the background. Imagine the amount of waste truck journeys needed to dump all the waste slate on view in this photograph !

[Pic 5] Allt Ddu Quarry - Connections to Chwarel Fawr (Aug 1982)

Pic 5 (above) shows the connections to Chwarel Fawr with the Bonc bach tramway (and embankment) running across the foreground (it started - out of view - from a point midway up the transporter incline up to Allt Ddu) and heading more or less north into trees where it met a tunnel into the main pit. The lower tramway, which connected to the base of the same incline, ran to the right of the black end faced house (along the line of trees) to meet another tunnel through into the pit.

[Pic 6] Allt Ddu Quarry - Where the waste tips once stood (Aug 1987)

Allt Ddu (and its close neighbour Chwarel Fawr) date back to the earliest days of quarrying at Dinorwig. They once featured in the original 1824 railway route* to Port Dinorwig (which ran through the site) and contained many unique remains that are now lost forever under the 1980's (bland) landscaping project that was designed to improve the area. Pic 5 (above) shows the scene (in 1987) of what was once the tips featured in Pic 3.

* Forerunner of the Padarn Railway, and closed 1843, this was an unsuccessful route and required uphaulage to its level within the lower sections of Dinorwig.

[Pic 7] Allt Ddu Quarry - Site of Allt Ddu pit (Sept 1987)

As for the remains of Allt Ddu pit, Pic 6 (above) shows the scene after landscaping - totally filled in except for its eastern walls jutting out of the plain landscaped terrain. This deepens my regret at not visiting Allt Ddu more often, having always believed there was no rush as it was tucked away and surely going to be there for sometime to come. Returning to the site in 1987 had me wondering if i'd taken a wrong turn somewhere on the way up, as i barely recognised the place.

For reference, to take the photo for Pic 6, i was stood roughly on top of the site of the big embankment seen in Pic 1 - which is also completely gone.