In the late 18th century slate was discovered in many parts of Snowdonia. For more than a hundred and fifty years it was quarried nearby and shipped around Britain and the world. It was Welsh slate that roofed the cities built to house the workforce of the Industrial Revolution.

The nearby Dinorwic Quarry was, at one time, the biggest slate quarry in the world. It was closed in 1969 (due to decline in demand and competition from abroad) and now is the site of extraordinary cliffs and canyons, tunnels and inclines, slowly being reclaimed by nature. One can?t help but be impressed by the mighty work done by the Welsh quarrymen, but at the same time shocked by the hardships they had to endure.

On the Fachwen hillside there are about forty houses and cottages (and more now fallen into ruin) where slate quarry workers lived with their families. They supplemented their income by keeping pigs and chickens and growing vegetable gardens.

Just across the river (Afon Fachwen, meaning literally ?The Little White River?) from Cae Mabon are the ruins of an old flour and woollen mill.

Between the wars they made writing slates for schools. At the mouth of the river a couple of large boats were moored for transporting goods across the lake to Llanberis. A woman living in one of the mill cottages is supposed to have given birth in the boat on her way across the lake!

After 1969 many of the houses on the Fachwen hillside were abandoned in favour of council estates equipped with modern conveniences in nearby villages.

Then, ten years later, Fachwen began to be bought up by English incomers. The spectacular view of the mountains made it a desirable location. Many of these purchases were second homes. When Eric bought Muriau Gwynion (meaning ?White Walls?) in 1986 the Fachwen Lane was described, by the estate agents, as ?millionaire?s row?!