![]() ![]() The clock was mounted on a water tower above the town. What other sights and sounds in North Wales are still familiar from childhood? Share your memories in the comments below. Rock is still being extracted from the mountain. Over time quarrying has lowered the height of Penmaenmawr mountain and scoured all trace of Braich-y-Dinas, one of the largest Iron Age hill-forts in Europe. Once one of the most important stone axe sites in Europe, Neolithic axe-heads and other implements from the area have been found throughout Britain.Ĭommercial operations began in Penmaen in 1830. Granite quarrying in Penmaenmawr goes back at least 5,000 years. The old quarry clock on the hillside above Penmaenmawr (Image: Peter Yeo/UK Drone Adventures) I believe the US company was so pleased with the order, it gifted the clock to the quarry by way of thanks.” “A delegation visited America to find ideas for modernisation, and bought huge excavators that could load quarried material onto large loading wagons to be transported to the crushing plant. “As I understand it, the quarry was undergoing great change at the time,” said Mr Roberts. The American outfit, which specialised in heavy earthmoving equipment, was bought out by General Motors in the 1950s and was later purchased by Hitachi Construction Machinery. The clock was gifted to the Penmaenmawr and Welsh Granite Company in the early 1930s by Euclid Co in Ohio, US. “When people ask where I’m from and I tell them Penmaenmawr, they say ‘ah, yes, the place with clock on the hill!’”. It's become a landmark for passing tourists, many of them unaware of its origin or purpose.ĭennis Roberts, president of the Penmaenmawr Historical Society & Museum (PHSM), said he is often defined by the clock on his travels. It may not be the town’s most important historical artefact but, away from the area, it is perhaps the best known. READ MORE: Venomous snake warning for North Wales dog walkers after Spaniel undergoes emergency treatment for bite Today it is slowly being enveloped by trees – but it still provides the correct time. When it was erected in the 1930s, above Penmaenmawr’s granite quarry, the 12ft diameter clockface stood proud from its industrial landscape. One Conwy resident claimed the old quarry clock “saved me many times” – meaning a scolding from his mother. Kids playing on the beach would always know when to return home for tea. Sailors check it when sailing along the coast and generations of local people once used the clock to set their daily routines. Millions of motorists see the clock each year and wonder why it’s there. ![]()
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