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The Nantlle Valley ((ウェールズ語:Dyffryn Nantlle)) is an area in Gwynedd, north Wales, characterised by its large number of small settlements. The area is also historically important geologically, and featured in one of the most contentious disputes of the 19th century, between the 'Diluvialists' who believed in the Biblical flood, and the ‘Glacialists’, who supported the Glacial Theory, which was substantially established by studies of the drift sediments on Moel Tryfan.〔http://www.atgof.co/daarwin-a-moel-tryfan〕 Between 85-90% of the population of the Nantlle Valley speak Welsh as their first language.〔http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/interactive/census-map-2-2---wlanguage-e/index.html〕 Some of the communities came into being as a result of slate quarrying in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries and some have a history stretching back to antiquity. There are Iron Age forts at Caer Engan〔http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/302412/collection/CAERENGAN%3B+CAER+ENGAN/〕 in Pen-y-Groes and on the coast at Dinas Dinlle〔"Aerial photograph of Dinas Dinlle Iron Age hillfor〕 and evidence of Bronze Age settlement on the higher ground.〔http://www.herwales.co.uk/her/groups/GAT/media/GAT_Reports/GATreport_596_compressed.pdf〕 The valley was important during the Middle Ages - with an ecclesiastical college developed at Clynnog Fawr. The Glynllifon estate can trace its foundation historically to the 8th century and there is evidence of occupation on the site going back to the Iron Age. There were a number of quarries in the valley, the largest being the Dorothea and Pen yr Orsedd quarries. Although the major quarries are worked out, there remains demand for slate waste for garden decoration. In 1991 ''Antur Nantlle Cyf'' was established as a community enterprise to work for the benefit of the Nantlle Valley and its surrounding area. == Slate quarrying == Dyffryn Nantlle was one of the major slate quarrying regions of Wales during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and an innovative region in the development of the slate industry. The Cilgwyn quarry on the north side of the valley is the oldest in Wales and one of the oldest in Europe, dating from the 12th century. The first steam engine to be used in the slate industry was a pump installed at the Hafodlas quarry in the valley in 1807. Slate roofing tiles have been excavated at Segontium Roman camp in Caernarfon and are thought to have originated in the Natlle Valley. The quarries of the area are being considered as a World Heritage site.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=UK Tentative List of Potential Sites for World Heritage )〕 Unlike most of the other slate producing regions in Wales the Nantlle Valley developed a large number of small, independent quarries because most of the land in the valley was owned by a number of small landowners rather than a single large landowner. At the height of the industry there were over 50 quarries being worked in the valley. Because of this the quarries were never managed as a large single concern as they were in the Penrhyn, Dinorwic and Ffestiniog quarries and this led to the industry in the area being much more vulnerable to any downturns in the economy. This also led to the development of an industrial landscape that is quite different from the other slate quarrying regions in that there are a large number of small waste slate heaps around the valley. There were considerable difficulties involved in raising slate from the pits and in keeping them free from water, and the ingenious ways which were found to solve these problems, including blondins, chain inclines and vast revetments, are some of the principal reasons why the slate quarrying remains in this area, many of which are unique, are so important. Some of the principal features include the 1906 Cornish beam-engine at Dorothea, a unique survival in Wales, the mill and a number of pyramids, also unique, and the blondins at Pen-yr-Orsedd. Originally there were two lakes on the valley floor but one has now disappeared and the water is largely contained by the Dorothea quarry pit. A dispute between local crofter-quarrymen and the local large landowner, Lord Newborough of the Wynn family from Glynllifon became an important legal landmark in the early 19th century. In 1823, Lord Newborough tried to have a law passed to give him control of all the Moel Tryfan Commons, including recent encroachments, and to extinguish the rights of common use. This move was met with fearsome opposition, not least from one John Evans who was concerned that enclosure around the Cilgwyn quarries would affect his own interests, particularly over ana dam and watercourse that he had constructed on Crown land in 1816. He organised a commoners’ petition against the Bill, with seven hundred signatures. The petitioners claimed that their cottages had been built over forty years earlier, that originally the land had been too wild for cultivation, and that they had improved it by hard work. This led to a change in the land enclosure law in the United Kingdom. Another dispute much celebrated in the area took place a generation later centred on the largest quarry in the valley. Dorothea Quarry was bought in 1835 by an Englishman called Muskett. He spent heavily on new equipment to raise the wagons from the quarry bottom. But he overspent, and was declared bankrupt a few years later. The quarry was closed with three months wages owing to most of the workers. They consequently revolted and demolished the new house Muskett had built for himself - Plas y Cilgwyn. A ballad was written about the occasion by a local poet called Richard Owen who did not support the action taken by the men. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nantlle Valley」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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