page_title: Fron-Boeth and Pant Mawr quarries
section_title: Fron-Boeth
hierarchical_section_title: Fron-Boeth and Pant Mawr quarries / History / Fron-Boeth
caption_attribution_description: English: A composite map of the Pant Mawr and Fron-Boeth quarries in Gwynedd, North Wales. The Pant Mawr section dates from 1889, and the Fron-Boeth section dates from 1900.
context_page_description: Fron-Boeth and Pant Mawr quarries were two closely related and interconnected quarries on the western slopes of Moelwyn Mawr in Gwynedd, North Wales. Pant Mawr operated from around 1850 to 1879, and was partly re-opened in 1886 when it was amalgamated with Fron-Boeth. Both quarries closed during the First World War. Finished product was transported to the slate quays of Porthmadog by the Croesor Tramway.
context_section_description: Fron-Boeth was an ambitious attempt, begun in 1886, to extend the Pant Mawr workings, starting from a new mill site at a lower level. It was never particularly successful, but employed around 50 men initially, with production decreasing in the early 1900s. The tramway from the top of the first incline to Pant Mawr had looped northwards in an 'S' shape to reach the foot of the second incline. This route was abandoned, and the first incline was extended upwards, through the drumhouse, to a ledge a little further up the hillside. It followed this ledge towards the south west, and then made a right-angle bend to enter a tunnel, which took it through the ridge between Cwm Croesor and Cwm Maesgwyn. The tunnel was around 500 yards (460 m) long, and was the only significant example of a tunnel created for an access tramway, rather than as part of a mine, in North Wales. There are several spoil tips near the far end to the tunnel, but these are formed of granite waste, as the quarry buildings were constructed from granite, rather than slate. The tramway turned back on itself to reach a second incline, from the head of which a further tramway followed the general direction of the one to Pant Mawr, but at a lower level. The tramway to Pant Mawr had been laid in bridge rails, but that to Fron-Boeth used conventional flat-bottomed rail.
  The main mill was steam powered, and above it, a single acting table incline was used to connect to a number of chambers which had been created below the original Pant Mawr workings. The levels were numbered downwards, in a continuation of the numbering scheme adopted by Moelwyn and Pant Mawr, and the mill was on level 18. The building was quite large, and housed at least three saw tables and three dressing machines, although there was room for several more. Beside the mill is a large Lancashire boiler, which was used to store water. A second mill was built near to the exit tunnel in the 1890s, and was designated as level 22. Its purpose may have been to serve lower levels, as the quarry extended down the hillside, or it may have been to process output from the Cefn-y-braich quarry. This consisted of two open terraces, which employed about 20 men between 1877 and 1883. It was subsequently absorbed into the Fron-Boeth operation, and the terraces became levels 19 and 20 in the Fron-Boeth numbering scheme.
  Like so many enterprises, precise details are often a little contradictory. There are entries in the Croesor Tramway accounts for Pant Mawr from September 1877 until May 1892. Separate entries for Fron-Boeth begin in 1886. Boyd states that Pant Mawr had been abandoned by 1916, and the tramway lifted by 1920, although large scale Ordnance Survey maps show no rails in 1900. Working of Fron-Boeth quarry ceased during the First World War, although the rails on the tramway remained in situ for many years.
caption: A composite map of the Pant Mawr and Fron-Boeth quarries dating from 1899 and 1900
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