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Tour Options at Llechwedd |
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Except for a few privileged outsiders such as Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who had used Blaenau Ffestiniog as his first political platform, the slate caverns which had roofed Europe's Industrial Revolution were a mystery to all but the miners who made them, until 1972, when a half-mile level section of the Miners' Tramway was opened to the world. The revelation of these vast workings was immediately given the top awards of both the British Tourist Authority and the Wales Tourist Board. Boarding a train in a corner of the original slate slabbing mill of 1852, visitors now ride into an 1846 tunnel, hauled by battery-electric locomotive. Entering through the side of the mountain this journey into the early Victorian past remains on the level, and traverses some spectacular caverns. Passengers alight at various points to learn something of the strange skills needed to extract the slate - conveniently bedded between layers of granite-like chert, which gave integral strength and roofs for the mine's 16 floors, aligned through a vertical distance of 1,000ft (305m) underground. There is a sound and light tableaux deep underground and guides describe other chambers. Why not visit the Deep Mine while you are here? |
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