Early quarrymen of Porth y Nant c1880

Description

This copy of the c1880 photograph is unusual in that most of the 25 quarrymen are identified by name. Granite was in great demand for road building in 19th century and from 1861 the quarries in the Nant were owned and operated by a Liverpool based company, Kneeshaw & Lupton. At their peak the three quarries employed around 110 men. Rock men drilled the holes into the face of the granite to set explosives which would bring down hundreds of tons of rock. 'Pop drillers' and 'breakers' used hammers and gun powder to break the granite into more manageable sizes. Blockers determined how many small sections or cubes were formed from the rock. Settsmen used a dressing hammer to shape the rocks into perfectly formed brick-like setts. Labourers, trammers and brakemen brought the granite down to the crushing mill and docks. Hundreds of tons of granite were quarried in the valley on a daily basis and ships regularly moored up alongside one of three jetties in the bay to be loaded with the setts and crushed stone.

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