|
celtes
  
location:
Wales, UK
Gender: Female
 |  | Slate Kingdom
< on 11/11/2010 9:12 PM >
|  | | | I'd heard about an old ruined mansion in the Nantlle Vale in Snowdonia which I really fancied visiting- called Plas Dorothea. I had a look to see where the place was and saw that there was a circular walk that seemed to go past. My friend and I set out with the two dogs. It turned out to be a treasure trove! I haven't actually included any pictures of the house in this thread because I took so many during the afternoon. I can't find any information about Plas Dorothea itself, but I'm assuming that it was the home of the owners of the Dorothea Quarry. This thread is purely for the abandoned quarry and it's workings.
The Dorothea Quarry specialised in the production of blue and purple slates, mostly for roofing. The quarry officially opened in 1829 though illegal quarrying in and around Nantlle had been active throughout the 18th century. Further investment was made in 1835 but production did not really get underway until the building boom of the latter 19th century. The quarry closed in 1970.
The Dorothea Quarry is 500 feet deep and the last 400 are in water. Around 1900 the company experimented with electric pumps to keep the quarry dewatered but was dissatisfied with them. Accordingly, in 1906 they installed a Cornish engine by Holman Brothers of Camborne, said to be the last ever built.
The engine pumped 10 gallons/second from 500 feet working in a shaft of 465 feet depth. Its two coal-fired Lancashire boilers fed steam to a sixty-inch diameter single cylinder that rocked a cast-steel beam of 23 tons. The engine worked until 1951 when it was replaced by a 60 horse-power electric pump. It did brief duty in 1956.
The engine and its house remain intact though the pump assembly has decayed and the boilers have been vandalised by copper thieves. Demonstrational steam is now raised by what looks like a small propane steam generator in an attached shed. The structure is Grade One Listed, the same as Caernarvon Castle, but its future remains in doubt.
In recent years the deep and frigid waters of the now flooded Dorothea Quarry have become the locus of illegal sport diving and there have been many fatalities, perhaps amounting to 3 a year. The nearest decompression chamber is in Liverpool and the only thing to do with a victim of narcosis is to send him back down if there is air enough, possibly to die of hypothermia. There are one or two moving memorials around the lake.
1. Setting off on our walk.
2. Dorothea Quarry with the engine house in the background.
3.
4. The engine house.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13. Graffiti from 1957. When does it stop being graffiti and start being history I wonder?
14.
15. Hogia Tal: Welsh for tall lads. Random.
16.
17.
18. I'd like to think there was a competition going on here to see who was brave enough to graffiti the highest.
[last edit 11/12/2010 1:53 PM by celtes - edited 1 times]
|
|
dsankt
  
location:
live and in the fresh
| |  |  | Re: Slate Kingdom
<Reply # 1 on 11/11/2010 9:33 PM >
| | | | Spent a bit of time up there (did the sick Croeser-R Through Trip) but shame I missed the building you've got in 5-7, it's much more intact than pretty much all the topside stuff I saw in the area. Nice!
sleepycity.net: watch out for the third rail baby, that shit is high voltage. urbex and urban exploration photography |
|
celtes
location:
Wales, UK
Gender: Female
| | Re: Slate Kingdom
<Reply # 2 on 11/12/2010 8:15 AM >
| | | | It's an amazing area isn't it. I've not really spent much time up there, even though I live only 1/2 hr away! I was really surprised by how much stuff there was.
I know the man who owns the engine building (pics 5- 7). I might ask if he'll let me go inside!
|
|
Jim Gillette
location:
Manchester, UK
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Slate Kingdom
<Reply # 3 on 11/12/2010 1:48 PM >
| | | | I love it round there.
I like the graffiti on pic 15. For the benefit of those who don't speak Welsh, "Hogia tal" means "Tall lads".
Hello, I used to sing for the awesome heavy metal band Nitro. These days I do UrbEx!
My Manchester | My Photos |
|
Powered by AvBoard AvBoard version 1.5 alpha
Page Generated In: 46 ms
|
|
Ethics