Essai sur l’état actuel de l’industrie ardoisière en France et en Angleterre
Name of traveller
L. Smyers
Reason for travel
- study of industry
Date of travel
undated, ca. 1850s
Quand on a vu Penrhyn, on se demande si on n’a pas tout vu, et s’il est utile d’aller ailleurs. (Smyers 28)
Content
- architecture: positive commentary on workers' homes; comparison with Swiss villages
- customs: discussion of temperance
- diet: on invitation shares a meal of bread, butter, cheese and milk with an overseer and his family
- industry:
- Penrhyn Quarry unrivalled in the world; description of size, products, techniques and transport
- workers hardly visible to visitors as they are dwarved by the spectacle
- engages in conversation with people to gather tips for quarrying in France; regrets to say that Penrhyn also exports slate to France
- description of child labour; children full of joy
- acknowledges that the English [sic] are better at industrial production than the French
- long discussion regarding the use of explosives in slate mining
- admitts that his words frequently fail him to describe the quarries properly
- refers to a village, Rhiwbryfdir, that has by this point been burried under a slate tip
- terrain: Blaenau Ffestiniog described as hellish
- transport:
- modes of transport: train
- counts 53 ships with 3 masts carrying Penrhyn slate at Bangor port
- description of trains
- travels on a gravity train to Porthmadog
- click here to read the full account
Nationality of traveller
French
Language of publication
French
Gender of traveller
Male
Type of publication
report
Citation
Smyers, L. Essai sur l'état actuel de l'industrie ardoisière en France et en Angleterre, suivi de quelques observations pratiques sur la formation du schiste ardoisier. Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1858. Print.