The first major stop is at the National Slate Museum, a World Heritage Site linked to mining. Mining was a big industry in Wales, making the country rich before the mines closed and the people become unemployed. In this case the focus in on the mining of slate, which we wasn’t even aware is mined on such a huge scale as we see here. From the parking lot we can see signs of mining everywhere with trains or trams connecting the mining pits with the huge factory that is now a museum.
The entrance is free and soon we are inside the large former factory yard. It now looks almost quaint but likely it was loud and dirty when the trains were running here full of slate to be processed.
Now you can buy the slate and it really isn’t that expensive but what can we do with it? It likely will break till we get home so we decide against it.
Some of the rooms are now full of exhibits explaining how the processing of the slate worked. We are most scared of the huge hammers, it looks like something from a medieval fantasy tale.
There is an entire workshop dedicated to the cutting of trees. Likely they were part of the process of slate production of maybe used to built the workshops themselves.
Nearby is a small preserved row of houses were workers or their supervisors were housed. They are quite small and even now can be entered only by one or two groups before they start blocking each other leading to queue in front the houses.
Somehow most queue at one of the houses so we enter the other ones which are furnished and quite interesting to see. Especially climbing to the second floor is an experience if someone is coming the other way…as it happens to us.
One of the attractions is the large water wheel that you can climb to or as we learn from the top take an elevator to. It is huge and still working and during the active times of the factory was powering a full row of workshops, quite impressive.
In fact as we make our way towards the entrance we pass through these workshops. They give us a good impression how the workers toiled at the time in the various workshops as they processed the slate.
We especially enjoy seeing from room to room the turning of the wheels powered by the waterwheel. They are not connected to any machinery anymore but we can see how connecting them to wheels on other machines would power all of them across all workshops. it is the first time we have seen this and it is quite cool.
Before leaving we explore the gift shop and the area around the parking. There are some nice views here and buildings that seem, and are, from a different era. And then it is time to drive the short distance to the first castle of the day, Caernarfon Castle.
