Wendy, When you hear the lives they lived, how hard they work, and what they received in return, it makes you angry. My grandfather and several uncles, started working at Penrhyn Quarry as 8 year olds. They pulled the carts that took the slate up to the rail cars. The rail line is still in Llandegai. Everyone should really try and find a copy of 'The North Wales Quarryman'. Our ancestors worked very, very hard, for very little. They were like slaves. Little boys working beside their fathers, brothers and uncles. I have a cousin that drives a truck at the quarry now. Thank you for relating your father's story. It's wonderful to be able to share first hand knowledge. I lost many relatives to quarry deaths and then lung disease. One just died this year after many years of suffering. Again, thanks for sharing. Arlene On Sep 7, 2004, at 1:16 AM, Wendy Jones wrote: > It's been interesting to hear the views of those to the 3 year strike > at > Penrhyn. My father was a quarryman before and after the Second World > War for > a few years. He's still alive at 82, a veteran of the Second World War. > > His description of the working conditions at Dorothea and Maenofferen > and > Llechwedd was that they were like slaves. Somebody was killed almost > every > week. A comparison was made in a local article in the local newspaper > fairly > recently on the plight of the then quarrymen and the plight of slaves > in > America. > > I went to watch a fragment of film about quarrymen 'Men against Death' > in > Dorothea with my father, that was shown in Neuadd Goffa Penygroes. He > knew > some of the individuals. The film is being reviewed in a book about the > history of Welsh films. I was shocked at what I saw. Men working at the > bottom of a deep hole. Men clinging to the sides and blasting, A > makeshift > corrugated shelter at the bottom. Men looking out for each other with > the > blasts as lumps of slate were blasted from the sides and railed down on > those below. Men running for cover into the corrugated shelter. One or > more > killed every week. Men walking silently home in respect for the dead. > The > supervisors still wanting them to work. > > At the same time Plas Newydd, Plas Penrhyn are models of advanced > architecture and design. There was no lack of know how to design safer > working conditions. Why this know how was not extended to the > introduction > of safer working conditions I do not know. > > A friend of mine who knows the relatives of the quarry owners, was > visiting > the quarry hospital at Llanberis with them (now a museum), and they, > looking > at the history and artefacts of the workers' former lives said....'no > wonder > they hated us'. The discrepancy between the standard of living of the > quarry > owners and the quarry workers was immense. > > Prior to the acquisition of the quarries by the 'owners', against the > backdrop of industrial revolution, the quarries were small scale > concerns, > quarried in conjunction with the running of small holdings. The local > small > scale quarrymen lost control of their own livelihoods through their > different approach to land ownership. They were the 'indians' and they > lost > their land through what has become modern 'law'. Mass, labour > intensive, > extraction of slate became the order of the day. The intensification > and > expansion of production led to a dislocation of agriculture and a > source of > subsidence and an over dependence, for the quarrymen on quarrying as > their > sole source of income. > > Seems still to touch a nerve! Wendy > > > > > ==== WLS-CAERNARFONSHIRE Mailing List ==== > http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/inst/uwbangor.shtml > Bangor University Archives > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > >

Hi all, If you are keen to get your own copy of this book check out Amazon Books who have a few on the list (for varying prices!). Sue Australia

Hi Sue and All I lost track of the discussion about the book above. Did someone say it was in Welsh? Lorna. -----Original Message----- From: sue adam [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, 10 September 2004 7:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CAE] Re: The North Wales Quarryman Hi all, If you are keen to get your own copy of this book check out Amazon Books who have a few on the list (for varying prices!). Sue Australia ==== WLS-CAERNARFONSHIRE Mailing List ==== Rhagorol - online Gwynedd Archive http://www.gwynedd.gov.uk/adrannau/addysg/archifau/Rhagorol/cgi-bin/brow se_archive.pl ============================== You can manage your RootsWeb-Review subscription from http://newsletters.rootsweb.com/

Dear Arlene, Thanks for your response. The worst thing was when we went to see the film we thought he'd see some of his contemporaries, at least one or two, but there was no one, mostly sixty somethings and people with academic interest. I knew my father was close to tears and I felt like crying for him too. To think he went through all that age 14 years to 16, then throughhout the second world war, I think the world of him! I've got a copy of the The North Wales Quarryman and another book too on my heaving bookshelves. I'll have a browse when I get a chance. I'm sorry you've lost so many relatives in that way. All the best, Wendy -----Original Message----- From: Arlene Berta [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 08 September 2004 05:43 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CAE] Re: debate on strikes at Penrhyn and other quarries Wendy, When you hear the lives they lived, how hard they work, and what they received in return, it makes you angry. My grandfather and several uncles, started working at Penrhyn Quarry as 8 year olds. They pulled the carts that took the slate up to the rail cars. The rail line is still in Llandegai. Everyone should really try and find a copy of 'The North Wales Quarryman'. Our ancestors worked very, very hard, for very little. They were like slaves. Little boys working beside their fathers, brothers and uncles. I have a cousin that drives a truck at the quarry now. Thank you for relating your father's story. It's wonderful to be able to share first hand knowledge. I lost many relatives to quarry deaths and then lung disease. One just died this year after many years of suffering. Again, thanks for sharing. Arlene On Sep 7, 2004, at 1:16 AM, Wendy Jones wrote: > It's been interesting to hear the views of those to the 3 year strike > at Penrhyn. My father was a quarryman before and after the Second > World War for a few years. He's still alive at 82, a veteran of the > Second World War. > > His description of the working conditions at Dorothea and Maenofferen > and Llechwedd was that they were like slaves. Somebody was killed > almost every week. A comparison was made in a local article in the > local newspaper fairly recently on the plight of the then quarrymen > and the plight of slaves in America. > > I went to watch a fragment of film about quarrymen 'Men against Death' > in > Dorothea with my father, that was shown in Neuadd Goffa Penygroes. He > knew some of the individuals. The film is being reviewed in a book > about the history of Welsh films. I was shocked at what I saw. Men > working at the bottom of a deep hole. Men clinging to the sides and > blasting, A makeshift corrugated shelter at the bottom. Men looking > out for each other with the blasts as lumps of slate were blasted from > the sides and railed down on those below. Men running for cover into > the corrugated shelter. One or more killed every week. Men walking > silently home in respect for the dead. > The > supervisors still wanting them to work. > > At the same time Plas Newydd, Plas Penrhyn are models of advanced > architecture and design. There was no lack of know how to design safer > working conditions. Why this know how was not extended to the > introduction of safer working conditions I do not know. > > A friend of mine who knows the relatives of the quarry owners, was > visiting the quarry hospital at Llanberis with them (now a museum), > and they, looking at the history and artefacts of the workers' former > lives said....'no wonder they hated us'. The discrepancy between the > standard of living of the quarry owners and the quarry workers was > immense. > > Prior to the acquisition of the quarries by the 'owners', against the > backdrop of industrial revolution, the quarries were small scale > concerns, quarried in conjunction with the running of small holdings. > The local small scale quarrymen lost control of their own livelihoods > through their different approach to land ownership. They were the > 'indians' and they lost their land through what has become modern > 'law'. Mass, labour intensive, extraction of slate became the order of > the day. The intensification and expansion of production led to a > dislocation of agriculture and a source of subsidence and an over > dependence, for the quarrymen on quarrying as their sole source of > income. > > Seems still to touch a nerve! Wendy > > > > > ==== WLS-CAERNARFONSHIRE Mailing List ==== > http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/inst/uwbangor.shtml > Bangor University Archives > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > > ==== WLS-CAERNARFONSHIRE Mailing List ==== http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/inst/uwbangor.shtml Bangor University Archives ============================== Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237