Pen-y-Bryn quarry cottages, Nantlle

Link to Welsh translationPen-y-Bryn quarry cottages, Nantlle

These ruined quarrymen’s cottages (sometimes known as Pen-y-Bryn barracks) are unusual because they started off as farm buildings, long before quarrying became a major industry here. Please view the old buildings from the footpath but do not enter the ruins.

Pen-y-Bryn farmhouse, now an unstable ruin west of the path, dates from the late 17th century. It was owned by the wealthy Garnons family. The nearby Dorothea slate quarry was named after Dorothea Garnons, who died in 1853.

Photo of Mr and Mrs Williams at Pen-y-Bryn farm in 1949Opposite the farmhouse are four buildings where quarrymen and their families lived. There are arched doorways in the oldest buildings, which probably date from around the same time as the farmhouse. You can see one of those openings in the gable wall on your right as you climb the path from the farmhouse. That row was known locally as Alexandra Terrace.

Former farmyard outbuildings were adapted and enlarged in the 1860s for their new role as barracks or cottages, using slate from the quarry instead of the rough stones visible in the earlier walls. Windows, partitions and fireplaces were installed, along with crog lofts – a first floor which extended only part way along the interior.

Each cottage had two rooms on the ground floor. Most had a fireplace in the larger room but not the smaller. Kitchen extensions were added to some cottages in the late 19th century. Some residents created small garden plots.

By 1871 seven quarrymen lived in the four converted outbuildings with their families. Widowed farmer Richard Owen continued to farm the land where the quarry had not yet encroached, but supplemented his income with quarry work. Although the cottages were small, one couple lived here with eight children! Another couple here had their grandson and five children with them on census day 1871, when one cottage was home to a widow and two daughters.

In the late 1920s the last residents left the cottages, which became farm outbuildings again. Betty Williams, later MP for Aberconwy, grew up in the farmhouse with her three siblings. The photo shows her parents, Griffith (“Guto”) and Elizabeth, with their pony Polly at Pen-y-Bryn in 1949. See below for Betty’s recollections of living here.

In 2019 Gwynedd Archaeological Trust led excavations of some of the cottages and the ‘rock cannon’ beyond the buildings which features 14 holes, up to 11cm deep, along with carved initials from the late 19th century. Rock cannon – known as ‘wedding stones’ in this area – consisted of holes bored into rock outcrops at various places in North Wales. Gunpowder in the holes was fired to celebrate special occasions.

With thanks to David Hopewell of Gwynedd Archaeological Trust and Betty Williams. Her autobiography ‘O Ben Bryn i Dŷ’r Cyffredin’ was published by Gawsg y Bwthyn in 2010.

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Footnotes: Personal reminscences

Betty Williams recalled in 2022: “My father worked full-time as a quarryman until the quarry closed in 1969. His wage was low so he took on the tenancy of Pen-y-Bryn farm. We children did more to help on the farm as we grew up. We were self-sufficient. We had cows and chickens. We made butter, buttermilk and cheese.

“There was no electricity at the farm. We used candles and paraffin lamps. We fetched water from a tap outside. When it rained heavily, the water came into the house and we children used a bucket and spade to try to get rid of it. The foundations were damp and there was always a fire burning, day and night.”