Porthmadog

Porthmadog was originally intended to serve as a convenient harbour to carry goods from London, through Wales, to Ireland. However, even though it was not eventually used for this purpose, it developed in quite a different way.

When slate quarries were opened thirteen miles away, Porthmadog became the main harbour for transporting it. Soon it had become one of the most important ports and ship building centres in Wales. There was a huge demand for slate: in fact, it is thought that Welsh slate made up the roofs of half the houses in the world!

However, as the railways developed, there was inevitably a decline in the use of harbours, and so Porthmadog became less important.