Jacqueline Day

I have been fascinated by the industrial revolution since studying it at school. A fair chunk of it seems to come together in Porthmadog with the surrounding quarries, mines and mills, narrow gauge railways and international shipping in the age of sail.

The Porthmadog in ‘Slate Heart’ is a little different to what you see today, but I’ll claim artistic license (and of course the passing of time). For a start in 1974 it became ‘Porthmadog’, but in the 1860s it was ‘Portmadoc’. Initially it was thought to be named after William Madocks, the English engineer who built the Cob, the mighty embankment across the Dwyryd estuary completed in 1811, the building of which lead to the evolution of the port. Whether its aetiology owes more to the English Madocks or Welsh hero Madog ab Owain Gwynedd is open to debate. I prefer the Welsh, so I’ve opted to use ‘Porthmadog’ in my story. 

Penbach Valley, where the Priddies’ farm sits high on the hillside some two miles north of the town, doesn’t exist in reality. Neither does the Priddie boys’ favourite ale house (The Blod) or Stryd Y Dyffryn, where dressmaker Manon lives. I know exactly where they are in my head though!

The Spooner family were real and several Spooner gentlemen had a great influence on the Ffestiniog Railway, and on narrow gauge railways further afield. Their home, Bron Y Garth, does exist, now privately owned. Whilst I’ve used its location, for the purposes of my story I have imagined the house, its interior and grounds. Interestingly it was also the summer home of actress Dame Sybil Thorndike in the 1930s.

I did not take the photo below but cannot find a credit for it – when I do, I’ll add it.

All other photos © Jack Day unless otherwise credited.