National Slate Museum, Industrial museum in Llanberis, Wales
The National Slate Museum occupies Victorian-era workshops beside Dinorwig quarry, displaying the machines, hand tools, and equipment that workers used to extract and split slate. The buildings retain their original working layout and house the complete range of tools from the quarry's operations.
The museum complex opened in 1972 but houses mechanical workshops built in 1870 that originally served the Dinorwig quarry during its working years. These structures document how slate extraction techniques evolved and shaped the region's industrial development.
The reconstructed miners' cottages reveal how families lived during different periods of Welsh slate work, with furnishings and belongings spanning many decades. Visitors see the modest domestic conditions that workers experienced alongside their laboring life.
Daily demonstrations show skilled workers splitting slate and explain how production worked from start to finish. The site is easily navigated on foot with clear pathways through the workshops and around the quarry area.
A waterwheel measuring 50 feet (15 meters) across, built in 1870, remains on site and was once the largest working wheel on mainland Britain. This massive engineering achievement powered the workshops and visitors can still observe its scale and construction today.
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