Roofing the world! Welsh slate is latest World Heritage Site

[IN JULY the World Heritage Committee – which selects the sites to be listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites – approved the inscription of the Slate Landscape of north west Wales on the World Heritage List, bringing the number of World Heritage Sites in Wales to four.

The Slate Landscape World Heritage Site celebrates the contribution made by the quarry communities of Gwynedd to the

industrial transformation of society.

At its heyday during the 19th century slate from the quarries of north Wales was

carried around the world and can be found covering the roofs of buildings on nearly every continent. It can be truly said that ‘Wales roofed the world’!

Led by Gwynedd Council, the inscription as a World Heritage Site is the culmination of over 15 years of hard work by partners to record, safeguard and recognise the living legacy of the slate landscape of Gwynedd.

The new World Heritage Site is a serial property in six parts, including spectacular quarry landscapes such as Penrhyn,

Dinorwig, the Nantlle Valley and Ffestiniog. It also includes the National Slate Museum in Llanberis (pictured), Penrhyn Castle and the famous Ffestiniog and Talyllyn Railways, built to transport the slate from quarry to

markets around the world and both later transformed through the dedication of volunteers into heritage railways.

Full details of the World Heritage Site can be viewed on its dedicated website at www.llechi.cymru. q