World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

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Mike Sales
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Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm

World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Mike Sales »

The slate quarrying landscape of Gwynedd has been given World Heritage Status.
The huge holes are certainly monumental and striking.
It is noticeable on a map that the National Park's boundaries carefully skirt round the quarries of Ogwen, Llanberis, Blaenau and Nantlle.
I find this interesting and it tells of different attitudes to "landscape" and "scenery".
Presumably this status will not stop the quarrying which created them.
penrhyn quarry.jpg
penrhyn quarry.jpg (12.14 KiB) Viewed 453 times
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
Jdsk
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Jdsk »

No-one recognised it here:
viewtopic.php?p=1625423#p1625423

: - (

Jonathan
roubaixtuesday
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by roubaixtuesday »

Jdsk wrote: 28 Jul 2021, 7:49pm No-one recognised it here:
viewtopic.php?p=1625423#p1625423

: - (

Jonathan
I did actually, but thought you'd posted the pic by mistake!
Jdsk
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Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Jdsk »

: - )

I was wondering how the ad hominem critics of UNESCO would react...

Jonathan
Oldjohnw
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Oldjohnw »

I guessed but was thinking through a response then forgot!
John
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al_yrpal
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by al_yrpal »

I visited this site many years ago with my kids when they were infants. We went into the caverns and I remember the children, particularly my daughter were a bit frightened. I suppose the slate from this site went all over Europe. Reading UNESCOs criteria I guess this is where this site fits in? It seemed to be a blighted wasteland and very unattractive. Cant imagine that this designation will encourage more tourists. It seemed to be a dismal place on a cold wet day. Much better to head for Liverpool where tourists would discover a rich tapestry of historical trade industry and enterprise, all the things it seems to me have been rejected and forgotten by much of the establishment.

Slate mine or world leading historic trading port? - No brainer!

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Jdsk
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Jdsk »

al_yrpal wrote: 29 Jul 2021, 9:03amMuch better to head for Liverpool where tourists would discover a rich tapestry of historical trade industry and enterprise, all the things it seems to me have been rejected and forgotten by much of the establishment.

Slate mine or worlds leading historic trading port? - No brainer!
"The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales, which runs through Gwynedd, became the world leader for the production and export of slate in the 1800s. Slate has been quarried in the area for over 1,800 years and had been used to build parts of the Roman fort in Segontium in Caernarfon and Edward I’s castle in Conwy, however it wasn’t until the industrial revolution that demand surged as cities across the world expanded with slate from the mines at Gwynedd being widely used to roof workers’ homes, public buildings, places of worship and factories.

By the 1890s the Welsh slate industry employed approximately 17,000 workers and produced almost 500,000 tonnes of slate a year, around a third of all roofing slate used in the world in the late 19th century. The industry had a huge impact on global architecture with Welsh slate used on a number of buildings, terraces and palaces across the globe including Westminster Hall in London’s Houses of Parliament, the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia and Copenhagen City Hall, Denmark. In 1830, half the buildings in New York had roofs made of Welsh slate.

Centuries of mining in the area transformed the landscape on a monumental scale with the inscription reflecting the important role this region played in ‘roofing the 19th century world’"


https://www.gov.uk/government/news/wels ... itage-site

Jonathan
Oldjohnw
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Oldjohnw »

As has been pointed out, the UNESCO criteria is not limited to beautiful landscapes or fine buildings. Slate mining in Wales was a world leading industry, however much we now consider it blights the land.
John
Mike Sales
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Mike Sales »

As well as the very obvious quarries and spoil heaps, the industry also left the ports and the railbeds and their bridges which lead to them.
These are of interest and still in use as cycle tracks and as ports, and tourist railways.
The villages which grew up have their own cultural heritage, and not just in the many chapels.
The quarry holes are used for diving and for climbing and for a zip wire which every celebrity making a travel programme is obliged to use.
I find the harbours, with their history of shipbuilding and local capitalism interesting. Schooners which brought fruit from Iberia were built at Porthmadog.
Another local extractive industry which has left scars is the copper mining at Parys Mountain and its port at Amlwch. Again, not beautiful perhaps, but full of history.
The prehistoric mines on the Great Orme and the neolithic axe factory at Penmaenmawr can be fitted into this narrative too.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
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al_yrpal
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by al_yrpal »

Lets hope that the site and the surrounding communities are mobbed by eager big spending tourists. We did buy a very nice Slate clock there thats occupying pride of place on our mantelpiece. So I did my bit about 43 years ago.

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
thirdcrank
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by thirdcrank »

Perhaps they were a bit slow off the mark in the Yorkshire coalfield.
Jdsk
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Jdsk »

"Coalfield? You were lucky to 'ave coalfield... "

Jonathan

PS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaenavon ... _Landscape
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltaire
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Hellhound
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Hellhound »

I kind of like the old slate mines and spoil heaps in Wales.Blennau is both ugly and pretty at the same time.Most of our countryside is man made,or at least man managed to a certain extent and I think these sights are important.Are these quarries etc any uglier than the wind turbines that seems to be cropping up everywhere?
I don't think so.
Everywhere you go in the UK there is some form of nod to our past.Abandoned tin mines in Cornwall,Lime kilns dotted all over the Yorkshire Dales,converted cotton mills in Lancashire etc,etc.They all tell a story if not on the scale of the Welsh slate quarries.
Sadly nearly all traces of Coal mining have all but disappeared,many replaced by retail parks etc.
Oldjohnw
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by Oldjohnw »

When the Lake District received this particular status there were as many people delighted as there were those who were disgusted.

The LD needed more tourists like I need a hole in the head.

The LD is as man made an environment as any industrial landscape.
John
thirdcrank
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Re: World Heritage Landscape Gwynedd.

Post by thirdcrank »

There is a National Coal Mining Museum

https://www.ncm.org.uk/
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