Aberllefeninear
Corris – 23, 20, 50 & 2
Cannon Holes
This is the second in what I hope to be a
series of caches near to rock cannon in Meirionydd.
Rock cannon can be found all over north-west
Wales, especially near mines and quarries. The cannon were created for firing
on celebrations & holidays and were used from the end of the
1700’s until black powder stopped being used in the slate
industry. The
introduction of sticks of gelignite led to a different style of
cannon being devised that didn’t need any holes in the
rock.
Making a rock
cannon was hard work.
All of the holes and grooves for fuses had to be cut with hand
tools (please remember this if what you find doesn’t look
that impressive!). The
cannon were cut into the tops of cliffs, slabs of rock or large
boulders, the biggest having nearly 200 holes and the smallest
having just 2. Each
hole was about 5” deep and 1” in diameter. The later cannon had grooves
connecting the holes which were filled with black powder to make
the fuse. The channels
had to make a long enough fuse for each separate bang to be heard
and each flash to be seen.
The Bluemaris
cannon were cut into shale like slate slabs. They can be found on left of the
Public Footpath, after it has passed through the quarry remains,
starting from Aberllefeni. Some of the explosions have
shattered the rock, possibly because too much explosive was used in
them or the powder was rammed too tight into the holes before
firing. The cannon are
a bit hard to spot. If
you get to Bluemaris house and
haven’t seen them, you’ve gone too far! I first found these cannon after a
day’s “adventure industrial archaeology” in the
nearby Cwm Ratgoed. This valley has some beautiful
walks too.
This cache lies just outside the boundary of
the Snowdonia National Park. When the boundaries were drawn up,
many of the slate quarries in Gwynedd were still working and the
easiest solution for the people planning the National Park was to
draw the line around them and ignore them! You can also see this effect on
the map around Llanberis and especially
around Blaenau Ffestiniog
too. The Snowdonia
National Park a.k.a. “Parc y
Polo” the only national park with a hole in the middle (but
no minty flavouring…).
The best approach to the cache is to park in
Aberllefeni, near the still operational
Wincilate slate works and next to the
old quarry office.
You’ll know you’re in the right place, because this
still has the bell on one end of the roof that was used to signal
the start and finish of the working day, and emergencies at the
quarry too. Behind the
old office is a bi-lingual information board with details of the
walk which passes the cache and some other walks
nearby. Follow the
Public Footpath on a good, wide track through the spoil
tips. Eventually you
will pass the head of an unusual water-balance incline which was
used for hauling rock up to the level that you are standing
on. The drum, brakes,
rails, cable and water tank are all still there – it’s
worth a look. On the
footpath, just beyond the water balance, you might feel a cold
blast of air. This is
coming out of an adit, buried under
spoil. Can you spot
it? Keep following the
Public Footpath to find the rock cannon, which are not as
spectacular as at Carreg yr Ogof
(sorry!). To get to the
cache, keep following the Public Footpath up the cwm.
You will need to climb a rock stile and cross a stream on the
way.
The plantations surrounding the old quarries
are owned by the Forestry Commission and are designated Access Land
under the CROW act. The old quarries and mines here are
definitely not for exploring. They are the property of the
Wincilate slate company and although
they are currently inactive, they may become active again in the
future. Please stay on
the Public Right of Way in the quarries.
Once you’ve found the cache
there’s lots to do nearby. There are facilities (café) in
Corris Isaf, there’s a mine you can go down at Arthur’s
Labyrinth (and a café & shops), there’s the short steam
railway at Corris and the Centre for
Alternative Technology (which has a shop and a café
too). Thinking of all
these cafes makes me feel like a cup of tea. I’m off the put the kettle
on: enjoy the cache!
Books (Industrial
Archaeology)
“The Rock Cannon of Gwynedd” by
Griff R. Jones ISBN 0-9533692-1-8
“Slate Quarrying at Corris” by Alun
John Richards ISBN 0-86381-279-1