The old clock at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis, north Wales 22 February 2007 The clock above the entrance to the Welsh Slate Museum A distinctive feature of the National Slate Museum building is the diamond-shaped face of a clock on the front of the Museum. On the roofline above it is a small pagoda-like structure containing a bell and hammer, connected to the clock by a wire rope. The mechanism is installed on the second floor of the building. It was manufactured in Shropshire but it is not possible to read the date. Early photographs of the building, erected in 1870, do not show the clock, so it was probably not installed until the mid-1890s Timekeeper for quarry explosions The Museum is located within the Victorian workshops of the Dinorwig Quarry. The clock helped ensure the trains taking slate from the quarry to the Company's port at Port Dinorwic were always on time. The clock was more than simply a timekeeper for the workshops though. At some stage in its life, a series of electrical connections were added. At set intervals the clock transmitted an electrical signal to other parts of the Quarry's large site. This was to ensure that blasting happened on time. Such systems were usually marketed as 'pulsynetic clocks'. They were sold by well-known makers such as Gent, Leicester. At Dinorwig, however, a home-made, reliable solution was produced. 100-year-old graffiti A power supply was required to provide the electrical signals. This was supplied via wet cells, or accumulators, stored alongside the clock. One of the discoveries made when renovating this part of the building, in the mid-1990s, was the original graffiti on adjacent walls and panels noting the dates of battery charges. On June 10, 1909, for example, Willie Owen Williams and George Hughes charged the batteries. Cleaning the clock Although well cared for over the years, by 2001 the clock required specialist attention. J.B. Joyce and Company, the manufacturers, were still in existence. They were established at Whitchurch in Shropshire, and are still there over three hundred years later. Unfortunately, they have no records of individual clocks manufactured, but were prepared to visit the Museum to inspect the clock. The mechanism ended up being returned to the Joyce workshops where it was cleaned and serviced. The clock was then reassembled, brought back to the Museum and commissioned. Today the clock works smoothly and to a good degree of accuracy. Village timekeeper At a time when few people possessed watches, the clock installed in the Dinorwig Quarry workshops was a timekeeper for its surrounding community, with its bell being audible to most of those living in and around Llanberis. To quote one local author: 'Torrai ar y distawrwydd yn nhrymder nos, a chlywyd aml i glaf yn cwyno yn y bore,"Chysgis i ddim gwerth neithiwr - clywed yr hen gloc yn taro pob awr nes iddi 'leuo"' (It relieved the silence of the depth of night, and quite frequently one would hear of those who were unwell complaining the next morning, "I didn't sleep well last night - I could hear the old clock striking each hour until it dawned".) The old clock continues to measure the passage of time into the 21st century at Llanberis.
Nothing Went To Waste: memories of craftsmen at Gilfach Ddu 22 February 2007 The National Slate Museum, Llanberis.
A grand cup made from solid Welsh gold 19 February 2007 Welsh Gold The solid gold cup made from a design on a drawing in the British Museum of a cup given by King Henry VIII to Queen Jane Seymour in 1536. Cup and cover, 22 carat gold, R & S Garrard & Co, London 1867-68. Height: 39.8 cm (15 ''/16 in). Welsh gold is very rare. The wedding rings of today's British Royal family are made from it. The largest object made of Welsh gold is a copy of a cup Henry VIII gave to one of his wives. The richest family in Wales The cup was made in 1867 for the Williams-Wynn family of Ruabon in Denbighshire, using gold from their own mine. At the time, they were the richest family in Wales. They were well known for their wealth, which they spent on grand houses, expensive paintings and silver, much of which is now at the Museum. The Welsh Gold Rush While many people know of the California gold rush of 1848, few know that, a few years later, there was a Welsh gold rush. In 1862 gold was discovered in Merioneth and, soon after, Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (1820-1885) opened the Castell Carn Dochan mine on his land. The mine produced most of its gold between 1865 and 1873. Payment in Gold Sir Watkin was paid a large royalty for the gold mined, and he was paid with his own gold ingots. However, he was rich enough not to need this income, and could treat this gold as a novelty. A Cup of Solid Gold Some of this gold was used to make a magnificent cup. The cup is nearly 40cm high and made of 22-carat gold. It is inscribed "MADE OF GOLD THE ROYALTY FROM CASTELL CARNDOCHAN MINE 1867" and hallmarked by R & S Garrard and Co., Haymarket, London. It is ornate, in the style popular in the early Renaissance period. It stands on a circular foot, and the stem is flanked by flower heads, dolphins and bells. The cup is inscribed with several family mottoes: eryr eryrod eryri ('the eagle of the eagles of Snowdonia'), y cadarn ar cyfrwys ('the strong and the sly'), bwch yn uchaf ('the ram is on top') and cwrw da yw allwedd calon ('good beer is the key to the heart'). The tall lid has the Williams-Wynn arms, including a young ram on top, supported by a pair of cherubs. A Royal Design for Henry VIII The original design for the cup given to Queen Jayne Seymour in 1536-37 in the British Museum. Hans Holbein the Younger, pen and ink on paper. Copyright British Museum, London The makers of the cup based the design on a drawing in the British Museum of a cup King Henry VIII gave Queen Jane Seymour in 1536. This cup was set with diamonds and pearls. Jane Seymour's cup was melted down on the orders of King Charles I in 1629, when he was desperate for cash.
