The Old Quarry of Llantwit Fardre.

An Ordnance Survey Map 1898.

Tucked quietly at the top of Dehewydd Lane in Llantwit Fardre, behind the Bush Inn, lies one of the village’s earliest industrial sites: the old quarry. Today it is a peaceful patch of woodland and rock that leads up toward the Foel, but centuries ago it played a foundational role in shaping the area we know.

Long before the collieries, tramroads and railways arrived, Llantwit Fardre’s first major industry was stone quarrying. Records of the wider parish show quarrying activity dating back to the late 1600s, when local stone was essential for building early cottages and farmsteads, repairing parish roads, constructing boundary walls and drainage channels, and supplying nearby settlements with durable building material. This early industry helped transform Llantwit Fardre from a rural farming hamlet into a village with growing trade and craftsmanship.

The footpath to the Foel from Dehewydd Lane.

The quarry would have been worked by small teams of local labourers using hand tools such as chisels, hammers, wedges and carts. Although modest in scale compared to the coal operations that came later, it provided steady employment, essential materials for the community, and the first organised industrial labour in the area. In many ways, it marked the beginning of Llantwit Fardre’s industrial identity.

By the mid‑19th century, the landscape changed dramatically. Coal seams such as the Llantwit, Rhondda and Red Ash seams were opened, and collieries including Llantwit Works, Coedcae Vardre and Red Ash became major employers. As coal extraction expanded, railways arrived, coke works and sidings were built, and the population grew around mining villages. The quarry’s importance declined, yet it remained a quiet reminder of the village’s earlier era.

View from the Foel.

Today, the old quarry is a green pocket of history. Walkers and families will recognise exposed rock faces softened by moss and ivy, uneven ground shaped by centuries‑old extraction, wildlife thriving in sheltered woodland, and informal footpaths used by locals for decades to access the Foel. It is a place where industry has faded and nature has taken over, offering a peaceful contrast to the village’s busier modern life.