Tens of
thousands of people will visit Blaenau this year and I’m confident that they
will be amazed at what they see. Slate
sculptures and poetry reconnecting the town centre with its industrial heritage;
dramatic and stylish. But there’s even more beyond to be discovered. Apart from
hiring a local guide you may like to consider two classic books.
The first is
titled ‘Worktown: The Drawings of Falcon Hildred’ and provides a designer’s
perspective on the various buildings around the town. Falcon states ‘I believe that Blaenau Ffestiniog and its
landscape are the best and most complete surviving industrial landscape in
Britain’.
Another book
I would recommend is simply titled ‘Blaenau Ffestiniog’. Fantastic photos by
landscape photographer Jeremy Moore and words by Gwyn Thomas, the one time
national poet of Wales, whose poetry is in the sculptures, on the pavement and either
side of the slate river.
