GWYNEDD, WALES. A FEMALE urban explorer has captured images of the world’s longest operating slate mine that operated for five-hundred years until it was abandoned twenty years ago.
These images reveal the desolate quarry that is Foel Grochan in Gwynedd, Wales where 169 miners would have removed 4300 tonnes of slate at its peak production in 1879.
The quarry is made up of eight tunnels which are connected to a corresponding chamber. Each tunnel is approximately separated by a depth of 60 feet with chambers contraining between 24 and 30 feet of rock.
In one image we see a ladder into the abyss of the abandoned Welsh quarry that had been operational since 1500.
Another haunting image shows a long-forgotten mining locomotive that is almost unrecognisable under a thick layer of rust.
Gabrielle Watson (32) from Loughborough unearthed the inner workings of this abandoned quarry.