National Slate Museum
Dinorwig Quarry closed in 1969. Today – rather than fashioning wagons and forging rails – the workshops tell a very special story: the story of the Welsh slate industry.
The Workshops and Buildings are designed as though quarrymen and engineers have just put down their tools and left the courtyard for home.
The National Slate Museum at Llanberis invested a £1.6 million lottery grant into bringing back to life the inheritance of the north Wales slate industry, which roofed the industrial revolution. Now, with imaginative interpretation, the remarkable relics of the slate industry can be understood and enjoyed by the many thousands of visitors to this stunning countryside, on the flanks of Snowdon.
The Museum originally opened to the public in 1972. Many of the sites former quarrymen and engineers were employed to present their craft, while equipment was collected from other Welsh quarries. In later years the quarry’s incline was restore to its former glory, and the Museum re-opened in 1999 with new unique features and facilities. In 2005, the National Slate Museum scooped the Wales Tourist Board’s prestigious ‘Sense of Place Award’.
History of Slate
Harnessing the latest 21st century technology, it tells the story of the quarry’s development as pictures, words and music combine in a fascinating introduction to the quarryman’s world. People have been quarrying slate in north Wales for over 1,800 years. Slates were used to build parts of the Roman fort in Segontium in Caernarfon, and in Edward I’s castle at Conwy. But it was with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century that the slate industry really took off.
As small villages such as Manchester exploded into large towns and then cities with the coming of mills and factories, there was an enormous demand for slates to roof the long terraces of houses built as homes for the workers – as well as the foundries and factories themselves. In 1787 the ‘Great New Quarry’ of Dinorwig was opened on the slopes between the present village of Dinorwig and Llyn Peris. By the 1870s Dinorwig quarry employed over 3,000 men. Slate had become one of Wales’s most important industries
Wales produced over four-fifths of all British slates in this period, with Caernarfonshire the biggest producer among all Welsh counties. In 1882 the county’s quarries produced over 280,000 tons of finished roofing slates, and in 1898 the slate trade in Wales as a whole reached its peak with 17,000 men producing 485,000 tons of slate.
It’s a story full of hope and magic as well as sadness and poverty. There are regular showings of the To Steal a Mountain presentation in Welsh, French and German as well as English.
Nikon D300
HDR 5 shots, handheld on rail
Photmatix Pro3
18-200mm lens
PP in PS SC3
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Svetlana Sewell
Please view larger for details:))))
Steven Agius
Fantastic !
walela
A great shot! love all those textures.
Bob Culshaw
Svetlana this is superb and has to be one of your best. An instant favourite for me. Love the other two shots as well. You have processed these beautifully to maintain the textures and colours.
Ryan Davison
excellent tone to this
LudaNayvelt
obaldeno sdelala, naushi!
Kate Adams
Fantastic Lana!!!! your right larger is better – one of your best shots, it tells a visual story – your colours are fabulous – I love it inst fave!!
JonRussell
Brilliant Svetlana!!
LYN EVANS
Excellent work Lana…very well done indeed.
Ellen
How beautiful this image! Excellent colors!
RajeevKashyap
Beautiful Work!
Gouzelka
This is one of the best!!!
Lynette1
This is a wonderful shot !!
Jigsawman
Very Cool! Great work and nice choice for HDR!
Trudy Wilkerson
Very impressive shot Lana and such history you provided us with… you did your homework on this one…. great job. Love the effects.
harmeet
Great image here.Loved the simplicity ,colors and textures..
Kim McClain
Awesome!
Luca Renoldi
superb lighting and details very well captured!
Josie Jackson
Wow Lana, this is fabulous, love the textures and colours, you make the place come alive, well done
reflector
An excellent location and capture ! Great treatment.
Tainia Finlay
Beautiful image Svetlana, well done!!
DonDavisUK
Absolutely Brilliant. Love it Svetlana. Don.
Garry Quince
Yes! Lana your becoming a HDR Master, excellent subject and info. I bet you look at the world now and you see how it would look HDR’d hey Lana?
Garry Quince
Yes! Lana your becoming a HDR Master, excellent subject and info. I bet you look at the world now and you see how it would look HDR’d hey Lana? Do you have an Ultra Wide Angle lens?
anisja
Very good treatment . Great mood.
Maureen Maliha
wow, this is amazing work. reminds me of a tapestry in some ways. So Good!
lianne
Ah Svetlana I just knew this had to be your work when I saw it come across the feed. The look of a fine artwork, a true to life painting. Just incredibly good!
David Hibberd
A wonderful slice of the past Lana. Very well captured and presented.
Davo
Jeff Burns
Absolutely Gorgeous
Jason Connolly
flippin brilliant shot Svetlana…
AmandaH
Awesome!!!... :o)
Shaun Whiteman
Wonderful composition and stunning processing…wow this is a great work of art!!
Sandy Stewart
Very nicely taken story depicting capture and the HDR really works well with this! : )
rodeorose
Wonderful image to explore- well done!
Patty Gross
Very interesting photo. Nicely done!
Jeannie Peters
wonderful photo great story thank you for sharing :)
Kelvin Hughes
Svetlana, this is fantastic, hand-held as well!
Trish Woodford
Lana, this is just brilliant!!!!!!!!!! I almost think one of your best yet – fantastic composition and your treatment is superb :))
canonman99
Love it,great edit,super job, wonderful creation!!!!
Vivian Gordon
Wow, this is unbelievable! ;>
armadillozenith
Wow, an awesome view.. lots of detail there to see!
I have visited a slate-mine in Wales myself, and am fascinated by past industries and crafts in general, so this is a treat.
You have used the HDR process to give us these: rich colours, grime, and vibrancy of activity.
If I may say, I could wish that the frame extended just a little higher and lower, to include the full jib of the crane and more foreground items.. linking the scene with the viewer. But I am aware there can be limitations and practical reasons for a given shot; as your caption states that you used a rail to support the camera, I guess that from further back, even if possible, this rail would have cut across the shot, intruding and distracting somewhat.
An view such as this, encompassing so much, does whet the appetite for more; I guess only a 360 degree global panoramic view of all the surroundings here would fully satisfy my aroused curiosity, but that is rather hard to capture and present ! ;-D
Svetlana Sewell replied
WOW, thank you so much for that constructive comment, and yes, there where some limits to include a little bit more into the frame. I was right at the back of the room (the wall behind me) using full zoom out on my lenz (I didn’t have at the time wide-angle lenz) and there was lots of people popping out from the right & left sides, o, yes and my family was screaming “Hurry up!” I have tried to do my best here but I do like your comment a lot, came back again.
PS: I love your Nessie, you are very talanted :)))))))))))
rjcolby
I’d say you’ve left the viewer wanting more… Way better than wanting less, no?