Operating from its quarries in North Wales, Welsh Slate has been supplying the world with high-quality slate for hundreds of years. Penrhyn Quarry has been producing roofing slate since the thirteenth-century.
From these sources, Welsh slate has been used and crafted by many generations of people from all walks of life from the Iron Age to present day. The earliest records of slate used in North Wales are from the Roman fort at Seqontium Caernarfon circa 77AD.
Penrhyn Quarry has been at the centre and the focal point for UK natural stone and its heritage for 700 years and a major operation for over 400 years.
Evidence of shipping of materials dates back to the fourteenth-century and by the eighteenth-century Welsh slate was being shipped to all the major UK ports as well as many western European destinations.
The worldwide use of slate from the eighteenth-century onwards followed the trade routes of the major British shipping lines complementing the import of cotton from America and wool from Australia as two prime examples.