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Quarrymen demonstrating the art of hand splitting and dressing slate outside one of the gwaliau (an open-fronted shed where slates were split and trimmed) at a slate quarry (believed to be Penrhyn Quarry).

One quarryman is sitting on a ‘blocyn tîn’ (a slate splitter’s seat), splitting a block of slate using a ‘Rhys Bach’ (a mallet made of African Oak) and a ‘cŷn manhollt’ (a wide and slim chisel). The other quarryman is sat on the ‘trafael’ (a bench with a fixed iron blade), dressing a roofing slate using a ‘cyllell naddu’ (a slate trimming knife). Standing behind the two quarrymen are approximately 19 quarrymen (10 of which are boys/teenagers). The quarrymen’s outfits suggest that the photograph was taken during the first half of the twentieth century.