snowdonia
-
Louisa Spooner: A Brief History
Louisa Matilda Spooner was born in 1820, the fifth of ten children, to Elizabeth and railway engineer James. At the time of her birth the family lived in Maentwrog, a village a few miles from Porthmadog. It must’ve been a boisterous household to grow up in, full of games, noise and no doubt arguments amidst Continue reading
-
Slate Heart: what’s it all about?
1863 Victorian north Wales, an evolving port town sits in the lap of the magnificent Eryri mountains, the mighty Yr Wyddfa king of all. In its shadow the Blaenau Ffestiniog mines are at the centre of the burgeoning international demand for slate. It fuels the development of the Ffestiniog Railway from a gravity-run trackway to Continue reading
-
Settings: Porthmadog
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 Continue reading
-
The Welsh Obsession
I grew up in Gloucestershire and a lot of my childhood holidays were spent camping across Wales. Aberporth and Tresaith were initially family favourites before we ventured further north, to Barmouth, into Snowdonia and then: Dad discovered the Ffestiniog Railway. Momentous day! It was the early 1970s, the railway was in a state of ambitious Continue reading
Jacqueline Day 