Dinorwig Slate Quarry Mountain Landscape © Crown copyright RCAHMW
A NEW LANDSCAPE
Earlier this year the slate landscape of north-west Wales was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List – making it the third World Heritage Site in North Wales…
For the small country of Wales to have no less than four World Heritage Sites is somewhat impressive – for three of those four to be up here in the North is nothing less than mind blowing. The slate landscape of north-west Wales now joins the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, Vatican City and the Great Wall of China on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list. It might seem like a surprising addition, but story of Welsh Slate is everlasting.
AN EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLE OF AN INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE WHICH WAS PROFOUNDLY SHAPED BY QUARRYING AND MINING SLATE, AND TRANSPORTING IT FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
“The quarrying and mining of slate has left a unique legacy in Gwynedd, which the communities are rightly proud of,” commented First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford. “This
Six areas together complete the site as they represent “an
worldwide recognition by UNESCO will help preserve that
exceptional example of an industrial landscape which was
legacy and history in those communities for generations to
profoundly shaped by quarrying and mining slate, and
come and help them with future regeneration.”
transporting it for national and international markets”.
UNESCO chose the slate landscape of north-west Wales
UNESCO has found that the landscape has “Outstanding
as it illustrates the transformation that industrial slate
Universal Value”, as the slate industry dominated world
quarrying and mining brought about in the traditional
production of roofing slates from 1780 to 1940, transforming
rural environment of the mountains and valleys of the
both the environment and the communities who lived and
Snowdon massif.
worked here. The quarries and mines are monumental in
NWM 2021 Page 17
