All change at Blaenau

Ffestiniog is not the end of the line but where it all began, with slate heaved out of mountains onto wagons for a thirteen mile descent by gravity to ships at sea. It’s also the top of the Conwy Valley line from Llandudno. A railway mecca; relics of tracks on, down and inside the rock with slate the Victorians reason for it all.

Chisels in the sun

The industry is about 1% of what it used to be and the steam trains are busy with passengers not freight. Stepping off the train your eyes are drawn through twin pillars towards the rocky horizons that frame the town. Each pillar made with 9,000 stacked slates from Llechwedd quarry, a CROESO welcome and directions indicated by the motif of a slate splitter’s chisel. Steps to the street are framed by four huge chisel-shape sculptures with slates stacked at an angle; not any old angle but 30°, the typical lie of a bed of Blaenau slate. 

Bands of single line poetry encircle the pillars and also dissect the town’s pavements. Some, such as ‘a bracelet of a town on the bone of the rock’, by famous poets and others by local schoolchildren.   All carved in Welsh with translations provided online and in booklets. Reading these and their explanations brings a deep insight to the community past and present. Even the bus shelters are a revelation with ‘fat ladies’ on the floors! Most sizes of slate were named after aristocratic women such as ‘duchess’, ‘marchioness’, ‘narrow lady’ and so on. Replicas with their names and dimensions are embedded in the ground. 

Howard working on the river of slate

Across the street is another set of twin pillars with a small quarry train pulling slate wagons down from the marshalling yard. But before you reach this, stop and admire the river of slate, a pavement mosaic with a river running down the middle. On either side are the names of over 350 quarries from across Wales each carved into a block of slate that matches the colour from that particular quarry. A rich mix of greys, reds, purples and greens set in alphabetic order. 

Local artist Howard Bowcott, creator of the works, described the significance of the river: ‘it symbolises the formation of slate with river mud washed out to sea four or five hundred million years ago. The river was also the vital corridor for exporting slate before the Ffestiniog Railway opened in 1836.’

Each bank of the river has a line of poetry by Gwyn Thomas, one in Welsh and one in English. ‘Time flows on and water too but not the life of a rockman’ and ‘Men die. The rocks and empty darkness of these mountains endure’. Worked out slate chambers are the ‘empty darkness’ and both poems reflect the perilous work conditions of the ‘rockmen’ and their transience, but a blink compared to the life of rock.

A version of the
Lightning Strike by David Nash

London has the Shard and the Gherkin but we’ve got our Chisels and the Lightning Strike. This sculpture by David Nash reflects the zig-zag shape of the quarryman’s path descending the slate spoil from the Oakeley quarry. It now stands on the main road midway between the quarry and the centre of town – the only Nash work of art on permanent display in Wales.  

If words and symbols of Blaenau’s slate heritage are not enough, keep on walking about ten minutes out of town to Llechwedd Slate Caverns where you can literally get beneath the surface of it all. They offer a choice of two underground tours and provide exhibits that bring to life the incredible stories of rock cannons and wild cars. This is also the place for downhill biking; a bit like skiing, the riders buy a ‘lift pass’ for the day hurtling down a choice of runs ranging from the gentle blue to the double black. It makes a good spectator sport.

Everywhere is unique but Blaenau takes the biscuit! Local artist Falcon Hildred says in his recent book ’I believe that Blaenau Ffestiniog and its landscape are the best and most complete surviving industrial landscape in Britain’.  It’s not stuffed away in museums but all around you. Shops are one-offs where you buy bread from a baker, local meat from a butcher and discuss the finer points of DIY with the ironmonger. Cafés are homely and good value.

No amount of words can describe this place, it must be experienced. If you’ve been before, you won’t recognise it.

River of Slate

Howard Bowcott invited me to his workshop to see the final touches to the giant jigsaw, the River of Slate. River  - because that’s how all the sediment gets washed down to create the mudstone which morphs into slate. River - because the Dwyryd was where the slate used to be boated out to the waiting ships.

This stunning work will soon be in the centre of town for people to walk on. What sacrilege! I hope they take off their shoes.

Here’s Howard busy with the slate:

Art on the line

Howard Bowcott

It’s not unusual when friends come to stay to take a walk to the pub. But with it being so hot, and someone’s ankle playing up, we chose the easy option; a down train to Tan y Bwlch then an open carriage to Blaenau. Newspapers bought we admired the new sculptures. Howard, the artist, was experimenting with finishes to bring out the colour and texture of the slate. The Queen’s Hotel, newly painted and renamed Ty Orsaf, is looking smart and recruiting staff. Someone said the downhill biking above Llechwedd was sold out for the second weekend in a row. The times they are a changing. Back on the train, coasting down to Campbell’s Platform, with a bottle of Purple Moose ... so much more than a walk to the pub.

Our Angel of the North?

11^th July 2012 and the crane was hoisting the final components on top of the sail shape, slate sculptures. Will this be our ‘Angel of the North’? 

Howard checks the alignment

The project is generating a lot of interest – while I was filming I got talking to a couple on their first visit in thirty years. They could not believe how much things had changed and said they would be back next year to see the sculptures unveiled from their scaffold.

  

Changing face of Blaenau Ffestiniog

The big crane was in the station car park today hoisting massive chunks of slate sculpture into position. Using block tackles the first piece was tilted to just the right angle then lowered through the scaffolding, around the concrete reinforcing rods and onto its plinth. Precision work. Larger pieces followed and the work is rising out of the ground. I'll be back in late July to see the final pieces go on top. Below is a film clip of this stage. Earlier stages of the project can be seen in The Workshop and at the Station Entrance.

Tate Modern in Blaenau?

Slate wrapped in cling film - could this be a Turner prize winner? Or is the Tate Modern on tour in north Wales?

We've had our fair share of rain these past few days and even slate sculptures need protection, particularly with fresh concrete curing on the inside. Wrapped in polythene and topped with tarpaulin it seemed to burst into a sweat with the welcome arrival of sunshine.

Sculpture and pavement poetry

High rise slate sculptures continue to sprout in the centre of Blaenau. The current spell of misty drizzle presents no problems whilst freezing temperatures a couple of weeks ago were no good for concrete work.

Another set of contractors are laying paving stones with a handy gadget that picks up each slab by suction. Excellent for precision work also kind on backs and fingers.

Every few steps there’s a line of Cymraeg on a slab of slate embedded in the pavement with a number. I think number 32 translates to ‘stone hearth’.

Towers of Blaenau

Sculptures made by Howard Bowcott and his team were hoisted into position by a very large crane to make an impressive entry from the platform into the car park. Each tower is formed out of 15,000 individual slates pieced together with precision. Slates from Llechwedd interspersed with slabs from Cwt y Bugail which make great material for carving Croeseo Welcome etc.  

What a great way to arrive in Blaenau, alighting from the Ffestiniog Railway. It's 30 years ago that the line was reopened all the way to Blaenau. Short film below - don't you love the black glove hand signals!

As with all public art, opinions are divided between the enthusiastic and the ‘what a waste of money’.  I think it’s brilliant, an icon that could inspire great things by many people. And I don’t mean graffiti.

And if you want to see how they were built in the workshop .....

For more information about this wonderful area click here.

Coming soon – Blaenau sculptures

Arrival at Blaenau will no longer be just a car park then High Street. Instead a triumphal arch from the platform and thence to 4 sets of steps partitioned by 7 metre tall triangles. Needless to say everything is being made from slate, about 160,000 small rectangles, quarried and split at Llechwedd. 

First deliveries to Blaenau are expected in February 2012 but here’s a sneak preview of local artist Howard Bowcott and his team busy at work.