In 1969, Dinorwig Quarry closed. Many men lost their livelihoods and a community changed forever.

We'll be remembering this important date throughout the year, in this exhibition as well as with a range of events.

Opening on 1 July 2009, Dinorwig ’69 - The End of of the Line reflects upon the reasons for and consequences of closing the quarry on the village of Llanberis, and the surrounding communities. 

 

Not only did 350 men lose their jobs, but a quarrying community and a way of life that had existed since the 1780’s changed forever.

 

Putting the closure into context, the exhibition looks at this most important part of history, and more closely at the impact on this community and its people.

 

A century earlier, closure would have been inconceivable.

Dinorwig was one of the two largest slate quarries in the world and, along with its neighbour at Penrhyn, Bethesda, could produce more roofing slates in a year than all other combined slate mines and quarries world-wide.

 

The strange silence that came to Dinorwig in August 1969 had a profound and long-lasting effect on this area.

 

Features of the exhibition include a wall of 350 tallies, representative of the plaques that the quarrymen used to show they were in work, as well as the original auction catalogue for the Quarry and the workshops at Gilfach Ddu.

 

There is also ‘The End of the Line’, a BBC film made in 1969 at the time of the auction which shows the selling off of the artefacts and a range of digital stories, produced by local people about their memories of the time and assisted by pupils from Ysgol Brynrefail.