Blaenau’s
slate industry is all but gone but its heritage has been preserved to help
project its image into the future. So, if you’re visiting Blaenau to experience
one of the many adventures, such as the Downhill Biking, or if you’re riding a
train or walking the mountains, there is no mistaking Blaenau for anything but
the Victorian slate capital of the world.
The town
centre has been revamped, with a great deal of European money, and in pride of
place are the 4 giant slate splitters’ chisels. Each is made from 15,000
roofing slates laid at an angle of 30⁰
- that’s the angle at which the
slate beds go into the mountains.
Walking
between the giant chisels, each 7 ½ metres tall, you cross the road to the
River of Slate. It’s a pavement mosaic with a river running down the middle and
on either side are the names of the 350 slate quarries in Wales. Each quarry
has its name chiselled into a block of slate which is the same colour as the
slate it produced. I never realised there were so many colourful shades of
slate.
In this film
called Codi Cerrig, the artist Howard Bowcott explains the inspiration behind
the designs and their significance.
what a lovely place
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