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The slate industry has left an indelible mark on the history of our society. Slate quarries and the associated masses of waste have an awe-inspiring impact. It was a phenomenon of the nineteenth century, a product of the Industrial Revolution. This book explains what slate is, its uses and how its exploitation progressed from crude beginnings to a high level of sophistication in the late nineteenth century. It describes the social, cultural and political manifestations of the slate enterprises, and it poses the question of how we regard the legacy of the slate industry. Should abandoned sites be cleared or preserved, and how can we further our understanding of this once great industry?

• The principal use of slate is as roofing tiles, but in 1990 it accounted for less than 5 per cent of the British roofing material industry. Where the plane of cleavage is not so pronounced and the rock will not split thinly, slabs are produced. These are used mainly for monumental gravestones. The best snooker tables have slate bases, but these now come from Italy. Quarrymen used to make decorative objects out of slate, and this tradition is now carried on in the production of souvenirs for tourists.
• In 1760 Methusalem Jones had a dream where he saw beautiful slate in a remote mountain ravine. The very next day he walked from his native Nantlle, near Caernarfon, over the harshest terrain in Snowdonia, to establish the industry in Ffestiniog.
• By its nature the work was violent. Between 1826 and 1875 there were 258 fatal accidents in Penrhyn Quarry and a government inquiry in 1893 found that underground workers in the slate mines had a death rate of 3.23 per 1000, which was higher than for coal miners.