Wanda Garner
Thinking of the Merched Chwarel left behind: Brynsiencyn
I live in Brynsiencyn on the island of Anglesey.
‘When the quarries were in operation the slate quarrying industry extended its influence further than the villages clustered around the quarries themselves.
The rural areas of Lleyn and Anglesey, in particular, felt the pull of the influence of the quarries. Anglesey, for example, witnessed the weekly exodus of men heading for the quarries of Caernarfonshire with their neat white satchels full of food for the coming week’ (1) and ‘many men from the island work in the slate quarries of Caernarfonshire’ (2).
At the time farm worker’s wages were poor in comparison to the slate workers.
They would travel on early Monday morning from Tal y Foel ferry in Brynsiencyn and return on Saturday afternoon.
1 Emyr Jones, op. cit. p. 41.
2.Royal Commission on Labour. Trade Unionism among Agricultural Labourers, Vol. 2 Wales, District Reports by D. Lleufer Thomas, 1893-4. (36) Anglesey
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