The Deep Mine Tour and Narrow Gauge Railway

Llechwedd () is a visitor attraction near

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog () is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,0 ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It details the history of

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

quarrying in the town and specifically the Llechwedd quarry in which it is located. The main aspect of Llechwedd is its Llechwedd Deep Mine Tour which has the steepest narrow gauge railway in the UK and travels over 500 feet underground to the disused slate caverns, and the Quarry Explorer Tour which heads out to the furthest reaches of the Llechwedd site to explore the history of mining in the area. The attraction also incorporates

Mountain biking Mountain biking (MTB) is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability ...

tracks,

Zip-line A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide''Who Really Benefits from Tourism'', Publ. Equations, Karnataka, India, 2010. Working Papers Series. "Canopy Tourism"page 37/ref>Jacques Marais, Lisa De Speville, ''Adventure Racing'', ...

s and giant underground trampolines. Bounce Below is right beside the underground zip wire,

Zip World Zip World is a Welsh outdoor adventure activity company based in Llanrwst, Wales, United Kingdom. The company operates four sites in Wales, primarily focused on zip lines and outdoor adventure activity courses. Since 2025, it is majority owne ...

Caverns and Zip World Titan - the longest zip course in Europe.

History

The

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

Miners' Tramway, opened in 1972 under the name "Quarry Tours", was a railway travelling 800 metres underground. The trains were hauled by battery-electric locomotives and travelled through tunnels and into a series of quarry chambers. The tramway's closure in 2014, as part of a revamp of the caverns, caused some controversy. The Deep Mine, opened in 1979, is accessed by the

Deep Mine Railway, a steep passenger incline railway with a gradient of 1:1.8 or 30°. At the foot of the railway, visitors can walk through several tunnels and chambers of the mine. In 1992 the Deep Mine displays were upgraded using audio-visual technology supplied by Eurodisney. In 2014 the Bounce Below attraction, described as "the world's largest underground trampoline", opened in the mine caverns along with the Zip World wire course outside. As part of the 2014 developments a new guided Victorian Mine Tour opened combining the inclined railway, the tunnels from the two previous tours and some tunnels newly opened to the public. In 2015 the Zip World Caverns wire course opened within the caves. In January 2019 a television crew took over the caverns for a week to film the world's first ever underground games show, ''

Y Siambr The Senedd building (), in Cardiff, houses the debating chamber and three committee rooms of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ; formerly the National Assembly for Wales). The Senedd building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 March 2006, Saint ...

'', broadcast later in the year on

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

Awards

The Caverns were claimed by Ivor Wynne Jones, a director of Llechwedd Slate Caverns, to be "winner of every major tourism award". In 1976, the opening year, Llechwedd won the British Tourist Authority's "Come to Britain" award, their top award. In 1980, the caverns were awarded the "Silver Otter" award from the

British Guild of Travel Writers The British Guild of Travel Writers Limited is described as a community of accredited writers, photographers, and broadcasters; the trusted body for independent editorial comment and expert content on worldwide travel. The organisation was founde ...

. That year, they also won their third award from the British Tourist Authority - the first British tourist attraction to win three of these awards.

References

External links

Official Web siteLlechwedd Slate Caverns at Wales UndergroundLlechwedd Slate Mine at NetWales
{{coord, 53.0046, -3.9403, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Ffestiniog Mining museums in Gwynedd Open-air museums in Wales Museums in Gwynedd Slate mines in Gwynedd

History

Awards

See also

References

External links