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Lost village

Cwmorthin

Near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd

A ruined slate quarry village beside a lonely lake.

Cwmorthin was a slate quarrying community above Blaenau Ffestiniog, with workers' terraces, a chapel and a manager's house. As the quarry declined, families left, and the roofs fell in.

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When
Abandoned 1900s
Where
52.9900, -3.9700
Group
Lost & drowned villages

Visiting

A walk up the old track from Tanygrisiau.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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