National Slate Museum

About this activity

The National Slate Museum recreates the story of the Welsh Slate Industry. It's set in original quarry workshops and visitors can discover how people lived and worked in the communitie from the slate quarrying period. 

The workshops and buildings themselves are designed as though quarrymen and engineers have just put down their tools and left for home, so visitors get a real life experience of what it was like! There are a number of talks and demonstrations too that go into detail about certain aspects of the slate industry. 

You can visit the Chief Engineer's House and take a tour of the workshops, forges, iron and brass foundry. There's also a gauge steam engine built in 1905 that is full operational and steamed on a regular basis. Don't forget to see the water-powered machinery in motion too that made the tools for quarrying slate and the waterwheel that brought them life! It's the largest on British mainland too! 

You'll also get to witness slate-splitting demonstrations by craftsmen and see what the skills and artistry was needed! They also create works of art out of the stone too, from circles to hearts and fans too! There's over 2000 wooden patterns in the collection that were used to make a variety of metal objects. You can learn more about them in the special behind the scene sessions in the loft stores! 

A trip to the museum is not only enjoyable but educational too, hosting a number of school programmes for all age groups that they will find interesting.