For some reason, it has taken me over four years to get round to writing about this place. We even came back twice, although I'll admit that it was the small collection of old, seemingly abandoned Land Rovers around one of the quarries that attracted me most. (They've gone to the scrap man now, by the way.) Flagstaff is a very picturesque range of industrial ruins set along a stunning bit of coastline on the south of Anglesey, facing Penmaenmawr and the backdrop of the Carneddau. Of course, Penmon Priory, that tourist magnet, is literally just next door. Beaumaris is a few kilometres to the east. But I'm glad to say this fascinating place is more or less overlooked by those seeking manicured scenic perfection. Could be something to do with the "Strictly Private" notices here and there, although it is possible to walk down from the Priory. There are actually the remains of several quarries here. The Penmon Park quarry lies 160 m south-west of Penmon Priory- the inclined plane from the quarry to the quay actually runs underneath the road leading to the priory and alerted me to the existence of something interesting when I first visited. There are few traces of the pier nowadays, although the boiler house for the crusher and stone handling conveyors are still in place, albeit ruinous. Inside the quarry itself, a private house has been built from the ruins of one of the buildings. The remains of a powder magazine that was in the vicinity have now been lost. To the north east of the priory lies the larger concern of Flagsaff, which was working eight acres (3.2 ha) at the end of the nineteenth century with offices, buildings and inclined planes taking the stone to a landing stage on the shoreline at Porth Penmon. In 1888 William Baird & Co took over and developed the quarry to supply fluxing stone for their steelworks in Glasgow. Large kilns had been built and the quarry had expanded to 15 acres (6 ha). By the 1920s the quarry had opened 26 acres (10.7 ha). After a period of low activity Dinmore Quarries Ltd commenced working the site, mainly producing kiln burnt lime for agriculture and this continued until 1948 when all production ceased. Further towards Penmon point are one or two small workings- these are probably for agricultural limestone. Thinking about the two quarries, it seems to me that the Park quarry was mainly for constructional stone; it had handling facilities but no lime kiln. Against that, there was a boiler house and an engine house for a crusher. But Flagstaff is on an altogether more industrial scale, with massive storage bins and crusher facilities. I can't see much evidence of construction stone being quarried here, although, as always, if you know better, please let me know!. Trawling the internet for further information, I discovered an article from July 2000 on "Agg-net" . The piece states that Lafarge-Redland, who had inherited Flagstaff quarry due to their various acquisitions, had decided to "restore" the site. Sifting through the usual suspicious language about "agricultural opportunities", "renovating old buildings for new uses" or "improving access" it seems that the scheme involved tipping a lot of topsoil, doing some landscaping to disguise the nature of the site and letting the owners, Baron Hill Estate, have access to stone on site. They could have saved their money (around 500,000 Euros) as mother nature could- and has- done the job much better than anyone else. And now to dumb things down completely, I discovered that Flagstaff was used as the site for a celebrity abseil by competitors on "I'm a celebrity..." in 2020. Is that what Lafarge meant by "re-use"? References
An intriguing drawing of one of the narrow gauge waggons used at Flagstaff. Coflein's reference to Flagstaff |
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