, 2015
Farming (before 1750) Before the slate industry grew, Blaenau Ffestiniog was a farming region, with scattered farms working the uplands below the cliffs of Dolgaregddu and Nyth-y-Gigfran. A few of the historic farmhouses survive, at Cwm Bowydd, Neuadd Ddu, Gelli, Pen y Bryn and Cefn Bychan. Much of the land was owned by large estates. In 1765, two men from the long-established
Cilgwyn quarry near
Nantlle began quarrying in Ceunant y Diphwys, to the north-east of the present town. The valley had long been known for slate beds worked on a small scale. The original quarry was absorbed by subsequent mining, but it was probably at or near
Diphwys Casson Quarry. Led by Methusalem Jones, eight Cilgwyn partners took a lease on Gelli Farm for their quarry. In 1800, William Turner and William Casson from the
Lake District bought the lease and expanded production. Turner also owned
Dorothea quarry in the
Nantlle Valley, adjacent to Cilgwyn. In 1819, quarrying began on slopes at
Allt-fawr near Rhiwbryfdir Farm, on land owned by the Oakeley family from
Tan y Bwlch. Within a decade, three slate quarries were operating on Allt-fawr. These amalgamated to form
Oakeley Quarry, which became the largest underground slate mine in the world. Quarrying grew fast in the earlier 19th century. Notable quarries opened at
Llechwedd,
Maenofferen and
Votty & Bowydd, while Turner and Casson's Diphwys Casson flourished. By 1881, its population had reached 11,274. In the 1890s, the slate industry experienced a sharp decline. A number of quarries lost money for the first time, and several failed entirely, including Cwmorthin and Nyth-y-Gigfran. Blaenau Ffestiniog hosted the
National Eisteddfod in 1898.
Slate decline (1901–1950) The slate industry recovered only partly from the recession of the 1890s. Many quarrymen joined the armed force in
World War I and production fell. There was a short post-war boom, but the long-term trend was towards mass-produced tiles and
cheaper slate sourced from Spain. Oakeley Quarry took over Cwmorthin, Votty & Bowydd and Diphwys Casson, while Llechwedd acquired Maenofferen. Despite that consolidation, the decline continued.
World War II brought a further loss of workforce. In 1946, the Ffestiniog Railway closed. The remaining quarries served by the
Rhiwbach Tramway closed in the 1950s and 1960s. Oakeley closed in 1970, with the loss of many jobs. The quarry re-opened in 1974 on a much smaller scale and continued to be worked until 2010. Maenofferen and Llechwedd continued, but Maenofferen finally closed in 1998. Llechwedd is still a working quarry, working the David Jones part of Maenofferen (level two-and-a-half). As the slate industry shrank, so did the population of the community of
Ffestiniog, which fell to 4,875 in 2011. Tourism became the town's largest employer, with the development of
Gloddfa Ganol in the Oakeley quarry and the
slate caverns at Llechwedd quarry. The revived Ffestiniog Railway and the slate caverns remain popular attractions, as does the
Antur Stiniog downhill mountain-biking centre and, more recently, the
Zip World Titan zip-line site, which includes the
Bounce Below slate-mine activity centre. ==Geography==