Slate

Slate is a naturally occurring type of stone that is used mainly in the building and construction industries. Areas famous for slate mining include Wales and Spain, with 90% of all European slate coming from the latter. Wales has been producing slate for several centuries, with the oldest evidence of this being a wrecked 16 century ship in the Menai Straits carrying a shipment of slates.

Slate needs to be mined from the earth, with the earliest mines being surface quarries targeting slate lying near the surface. Before long, slate miners had started mining slate deposits under the ground by digging tunnels down from the surface, but the work was incredibly dangerous, not only due to the fairly rudimentary knowledge of the natural world, but also because there was little thought given to the health and safety concerns of the workers concerned. The actual process of mining, i.e. blowing holes out of the wall with explosives, also raises its own obvious safety issues.

The old slate mines of North Wales still today form a large part of the areas tradition and heritage, despite the fact that the industry has been in near terminal decline throughout the whole post war period. The National Slate Museum in Llanberis shows a little bit of what life was like for Welsh miners over the years, and is an excellent place to visit for the slate enthusiast.