Unique mural to depict Blaenau Ffestiniog’s slate history and heritage

The only woman recorded using the “car gwyllt” (wild car) at the turn of the twentieth century is depicted in a new mural celebrating the history of the slate industry in Blaenau Ffestiniog.

The new mosaic – made entirely of slate – has been installed on the gable end of the Beatons building in the town as part of Cyngor Gwynedd’s Llewyrch o’r Llechi programme and shows Kate Griffiths, schoolmistress of Rhiwbach in the early 1900s.

Kate Griffiths would travel back and forth to school every day in a very unique way – she would hitch a lift in one of the empty wagons to the top of the incline above Maenofferen Quarry and walk to Rhiwbach in the morning; and then in the afternoon she would walk to Graig Ddu quarry and come back down to Blaenau in a car gwyllt.

Stories from the slate industry

The impressive public artwork was commissioned by Cyngor Gwynedd and is one of a number of projects telling the story of the slate industry in northwest Wales, as part of the Slate Landscape World Heritage Site.

Original Roofing Company, a local company from Blaenau Ffestiniog, has created the unique mural using many types of slates of different colours and textures in order to convey several important elements in the history of the slate industry.

In addition to the car gwyllt, we can see the slate layers in the rock, the landscape of the Moelwyn mountains and the slate tips, and musical notes to represent the brass bands and the eisteddfodau.

Councillor Medwyn Hughes, Cyngor Gwynedd’s Cabinet Member for Economy and the Community, said: “Cyngor Gwynedd has benefitted from UK Government funding to celebrate our designation as a World Heritage Site and we are delighted that a local company has collaborated with the community to develop this unique piece of work in Blaenau Ffestiniog.

“Over the coming months we will be seeing new and very diverse pieces of art being installed across some of the towns and villages within the slate landscape and I look forward to seeing the response of our communities to these.

“I am delighted with this new work on the Beatons building – it’s not only a portrait of the area and the slate industry, but also a celebration of Welsh culture and the importance of the Welsh language there too.

“One of the main aims of our world heritage site is to remember and celebrate our contribution in roofing the world to promote economic and social regeneration and take pride in our international story. This project is an important part of achieving that.”

Challenge

The directors of Original Roofing are Sam Buckley and Kaz Bentham, who both hail from Blaenau Ffestiniog and have worked with slates since leaving school.

According to Sam, the design required a great deal of planning and preparation, before starting work on the mural itself.

Sam explained: “It was quite a challenge as to how to convey the story of the Blaenau slate industry by using the slate itself; I think we succeeded in the end.”

According to Kaz, it was necessary to be imaginative when installing materials such as brass and steel to represent different aspects of the design.

Kaz said: “Ordering some of the materials was costly but the brass work, for example, has managed to convey many prominent and important aspects of the town’s story, such as the famous brass bands, in an impressive manner.”

This piece in Blaenau Ffestiniog is one of a number of public artworks commissioned by Cyngor Gwynedd with the aim of raising awareness of the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales World Heritage Site and communicating the story and character of the slate industry in each area. The installations will be seen in Porthmadog, Penygroes, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Bethesda and Llanberis and related work will also be commissioned at Tywyn.

The art installations are funded by the UK Government through the Shared Prosperity Fund and Cyngor Gwynedd’s ‘Llewyrch o’r Llechi’ cultural investment programme. The project was managed by Lafan.