Penmaenmawr (GB)
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Penmaenmawr is a town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, which was formerly in the parish of Dwygyfylchi and the traditional county of Caernarfonshire. It is on the North Wales coast between Conwy and Llanfairfechan and was an important quarrying town, though quarrying is no longer a major employer. It was named after Penmaenmawr mountain, which stands above the sea immediately west of the town. Much of its formerly rounded top (with an old hill-fort) has been quarried away, leaving the present-day lower flat top. The name Penmaenmawr is the Welsh for "Head of the Great Stone", or "Great Headland of Stone" contrasting with Penmaenbach; Pen meaning "head", maen meaning "stone" and mawr meaning "large". The uplands above the town have many prehistoric remains, including the site of prehistoric polished stone axe factories on the west slopes of Cwm Graiglwyd near the top of Penmaen-mawr. This was once one of the most important stone axe manufacturing sites in Europe, together with the Langdale axe industry in the Lake District, Tievebulliagh in County Antrim and other sites across Britain. The industrial quarrying of igneous rock (diorite) at Penmaenan began in 1830 with the opening of the Penmaen Quarry and the subsequent, competing Graiglwyd and 'Old' quarries which were amalgamated by 1888 under Colonel Darbishire. Most of the production in these early years was of setts and paving, but from 1881 the advantage of crushed rock for railway ballast was demonstrated and new crushing mills were built to provide for that market. In 1911 Darbishire merged these operations with the quarries of Trefor to form the Penmaenmawr & Welsh Granite Co.
Life was not easy for the quarrymen, especially those who worked on the higher slopes. They were expected to walk up to the summit area in all weathers and faced losing pay if unable to reach the top. A strong spirit of camaraderie developed and was reflected in the town's chapels, pubs and cultural societies. Products were exported by rail to ports such as Liverpool and the cities of England and by sea from the two quarrying jetties to Liverpool and also to a number of European ports such as Hamburg. Ships continued to load cargoes from the Darbishire jetty until 1976, although sea trade had been sparse since the famous stranding of the Rethi Muller in 1967. Railway ballast continued to move in quantity from the sidings near the station, but all the original infrastructure was swept away by the building of the new A55 Expressway in the late 1980s. A new rail-loading facility was constructed and the original sidings space used for the new road. In 2008 the contract for the supply of railway ballast to Network Rail was lost, and since that time there have only been limited movements by rail – such as for construction of the Manchester Metrolink extensions. This quarrying over time removed the whole top of Penmaenmawr mountain, which was once much higher with a rounded top, with an old hill-fort.
The town grew in popularity as a seaside resort for the well-to-do in the second half of the 19th century, in part due to the enthusiasm shown by statesman and Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone who holidayed eleven times in Penmaenmawr between 1855 and 1896.
Penmaenmawr was issued with the E74 Post Office numeral in 1874
Penmaenmawr
Sub-Offices
Penmaenmawr Railway Station Office
Penmaenmawr railway station serves the town of Penmaenmawr, Wales, and is located on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line, 49+1⁄4 miles west of Chester. The station is a request stop. The local granite quarries are a major source stone aggregate railway traffic especially for road building and railway maintenance purposes. Transfer sidings for this traffic are located next to the station and are controlled from the station signal box. This had to be relocated following a fatal accident at the station in August 1950. Six people were killed when a goods train undertaking shunting operations at the station in the early hours was inadvertently diverted onto the main line, where it collided with the fast-moving eastbound Irish Mail express from Holyhead. The poor view afforded of the sidings from the old box was cited as one of the contributory factors to the accident. The
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