National Slate Museum
N 53° 07.283 W 004° 06.899
30U E 425384 N 5886354
Shadowed by towering slate mountains, the Museum is housed in the industrial Victorian workshops that once serviced and maintained the enormous Dinorwig slate quarry above it. Located in Llanberis, Snowdonia, North Wales.
Waymark Code: WMP1VK
Location: North Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/12/2015
Views: 4
Step back in time at the National Slate Museum, and uncover the secrets of slate and the people who quarried it here from the 1800s to 1969 at Dinorwig Quarry, Llanberis, Snowdonia.
"Commercial Quarrying began at Dinorwig in the early 19th century. Railways worked by dozens of small steam locomotives transport the slate from Dinorwig to the sea at a harbour known as Port Dinorwic. The quarry closed in 1969 and is now a major tourist attraction.
The National Slate Museum ensures the 3000 men who once worked the quarries are remembered as do the quarry workings which have laid open the side of the Elidir mountain nearby.
The National Slate Museum holds one of the largest water wheels built by Victorian industrialists. The De Winton company of Caernarfon built the 15.4 metre diameter wheel, in 1870. Water to power the wheel was piped down from the slopes of Snowdon in cast iron pipes and its power drove the machinery to produce slates for roof all over Industrial Britain. It remained in operation until 1925, when a smaller, more efficient model substituted it. Such is progress!" Text Source: (
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Address:
National Slate Museum, Llanberis, Gwynedd, LL55 4TY
Museum website: (
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Hours of Operation:
Easter–October: Open 10am-5pm daily.
November–Easter: Open 10am-4pm Sunday-Friday.