National Slate Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1972 |
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| Location | Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales |
| Type | Mining museum |
The National Slate Museum is a cool place to visit in Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales. It used to be called the Welsh Slate Museum. This museum is built inside the old workshops of the Dinorwic quarry.
The quarry is no longer used today. The museum helps us learn about the amazing Slate industry in Wales. It shows how important slate was to Wales. This museum is also part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also part of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.
Contents
Discovering the Museum's Past
The workshops at the museum were built in 1870. They were made for the quarry and its trains. Before this, there were just simple sheds. The new workshops were built on land made from quarry waste.
Trains could reach the workshops easily. There were two types of train tracks. One was a narrow gauge track for the quarry trains. The other was a wider track for the Padarn Railway. This railway carried slate from the quarry to Port Dinorwic.
From Quarry to Museum
The Dinorwic quarry stopped working in 1969. A few years later, on May 25, 1972, the site opened as a museum. It was first called the North Wales Quarrying Museum.
Today, you can ride a train from the museum. The Llanberis Lake Railway connects it to Llanberis village. Part of the museum building is even used as the railway's workshops.
Exciting New Displays
The museum got a big grant to make it even better. It reopened with new and interesting exhibits. You can now see real Victorian era slateworkers' cottages. These houses were carefully moved from Tanygrisiau and rebuilt here.
There's also a special multi-media show. It's called To Steal a Mountain. This show tells the stories of the men who worked in the slate quarry. It shows their lives and their hard work.
The Giant Waterwheel
The museum has something really special. It has the biggest working waterwheel in mainland Britain. You can walk around it and see it up close. This huge waterwheel was built in 1870.
It is about 50 feet (15 meters) tall and 5 feet (1.5 meters) wide. It helped power the quarry's machinery. Near the museum, you can also see the Vivian incline. This was a special railway that used gravity to move slate wagons. Loaded wagons would pull empty ones back up the hill.
Locomotives at the Museum
The museum has several old trains. These locomotives once worked in Welsh quarries. They are an important part of the museum's collection.
- Una: This train was built in 1905. It worked at the Pen-yr-Orsedd Quarry.
- Motorcycle Train: This is a unique train. It was made from a converted motorcycle. It was built at the Oakeley Slate Quarry. Workers used it to ride on the quarry tracks.
These trains help visitors imagine what it was like to work in the slate industry.
