Slate Quarrying in Pembrokeshire[continued] ########### The evidence for a north west Wales link The port facilities at Porth-gain, between Fishguard and St Davids were constructed initially to deal with exports of slate from that area. The Maenclochog Railway, constructed in the southern foothills of the Preseli mountains was for the purpose of carrying away slates from the Rosebush quarry. However, most of the quarries were little more than scratchings on the surface of the land and worked only for a few months at a time when demand was high. Neither did the villages which depended, to varying degrees, on quarrying, really ever begin to compare with their counterparts in north west Wales. Porth-gain, Cilgerran and Rosebush were small by comparison with northern villages such as Rhosgadfan, Penmachno, or Aberllefenni. Whilst the slate industry in Pembrokeshire must have had some significance locally , evidence in the shape of formal archive sources is slim. Pem Archives holds very little such material, neither does the NLW. Snippets of information can be gleaned from local newspapers, notably the quaintly named Dewsland and Kemes Guardian, and from port books. The Museum of Welsh Life has an useful collection of taped interviews with former Pembrokeshire slate quarrymen.It also has documents containing extracts of correspondence, written in 1894, between John G.Roberts of Blaenau Ffestiniog, and his brother in Pembrokeshire. Apart from family matters, these letters embrace a slate quarry operated by the brother ; a letter of commendation relating to the Trwynllwyd quarry, prepared by a Robert Richards ; a memo regarding a quarry in Scotland ; again addressed to Robert Richards; a memo from a Haverfordwest slate merchant about slates produced by Robert Richards ; and finally, a price list relating to the Cilgwyn slate quarry Caernarfon. It was this apparent link to north west Wales which became the author's eventual main pre-occupation, and his findings which form the basis for this article. [The Pembrokeshire Slate Quarrymen by Dafydd Roberts, in Llafur [Journal of Welsh Labour History] Vol 5/1, 1988. Gareth, 19 Jan 2001 D/P] ############### Gareth List Administrator for Dyfed, CGN & PEM. Lookup Exchange http://www.johngareth.freeserve.co.uk/lookup.html Help Page http://www.johngareth.freeserve.co.uk/hicks.html