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Gorseddau Slate Quarry is a post-medieval and modern extraction site in Wales, protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference CN303. The quarry exploits the Caradocian bedrock beneath the site, which comprises undifferentiated Caradoc Rocks composed of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone. These sedimentary strata, deposited during the Ordovician period, provided suitable material for slate extraction when quarrying began in the post-medieval era.
The quarry represents an important phase in Wales's industrial heritage, when demand for roofing slate drove intensive extraction across suitable geological formations. The layered nature of the Caradoc Rocks, though not primarily slate-forming, could be worked and split for constructional purposes. The site's protection reflects its significance as physical evidence of Wales's quarrying industry and the landscape transformation caused by commercial stone extraction.
Today the quarry survives as a monument to post-medieval and modern exploitation of the local geology. The exposed faces and worked stone deposits document the methods and scale of extraction, whilst the surrounding terrain shows the permanent impact of industrial use on the Welsh landscape. The site demonstrates the relationship between local geology and industrial development during this formative period of Wales's economic history.
Gorseddau Slate Quarry is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference CN303. View the official record →
Gorseddau Slate Quarry is a post-medieval and modern extraction site in Wales, protected as a scheduled monument under Cadw reference CN303.
Gorseddau Slate Quarry dates from the post medieval/modern period, and is classified as a quarry. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Gorseddau Slate Quarry is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is CN303.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Fach-goch, standing stone to SSE of (4.1 km), Roman Bath-House, Tremadoc (5.4 km), Ty'n y Berllan Settlement (6.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Gorseddau Slate Quarry's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Gorseddau Slate Quarry stands on Caradoc Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.