There has been mining and quarrying in Dyserth for centuries. Lead mining was taking place even before the Roman occupation, and quarrying goes as far back as the 13^th century at least, when some of the stone would have been used to build the castle.

There were at one time several small quarries along the foot of Moel Hiraddug; the stone from one of them, the Jubilee Quarry, was used to surface the road, Ffordd Glai, which was as its name suggests, a muddy track. It is now Ffordd Ffynnon. As it lay on the boundary between Dyserth and Cwm parishes, Dyserth provided the stone, and Cwm the transport for it.

Before the arrival of the Chester to Holyhead railway in 1848 the stone would have been transported by horse-drawn carriages and then by river from the port at Rhuddlan. A branch line to Dyserth was built in the 1860s for the mine and the quarrying.

The main quarry, which remained operative until the early 1980s, was, at the beginning of the last century owned by W.L. Hobbs. In the early 1900s this provided employment for 40 men, under the manager, Mr. T Johnson Humphreys. This quarry supplied limestone to Mostyn Ironworks, and lime in various forms was of more than local importance. The London and North Western Railway opened a mineral line from the main Chester-Holyhead line to Dyserth. The problem then was to get the stone from the quarry to the railway. Narrow-gauge rail lines took trucks to and from the quarry on a bridge over the road to the kiln. From there a two-way ramp ran down the slope to a siding. Full trucks going down would pull up the empty ones.

A further obstacle was a bridge over the river which was not strong enough to take the weight of a locomotive. So the engine would bring empty trucks up as far as the bridge, reverse back a certain distance along the line, then get up speed, and give the trucks a good push to send them over. Then it would be the job of a couple of men to catch and stop them. this was not always easy. Too hearty a push sent them too far and one truck at least was known to go over into Pandy lane. Two quarry horses, Prince and Sam, would be used to haul the full trucks back over the bridge to the waiting engine. Dorothy Hobbs, the daughter of the owner, noted for her powerful voice, acted as foreman.

Forty men worked the quarry in the early 1900s, then owned by W.L. Hobbs and managed by Mr T Johnson Humphreys. Hobbs’ house, Greenfield, in Fford Ffynnon still stands. The quarry bell rang time bells at 7.a.m., 9.a.m., 12 noon and 5p.m. On Saturday mornings the quarrymen collected their wages from the quarry office (now the surgery on the corner of Pandy Lane) and the villagers could buy a lump of lime to whitewash their cottages.

The quarry ceased production in the 1980s. Some Dyserth residents breathed a sigh of relief, for the quarry blasting had sometimes been so strong that rocks would land hundreds of yards away.

On 17th February 1972 Sir Anthony Meyer (MP for Flint, West) said in Parliament:-
“Quarries are a very sore point in Flintshire at present. Last Friday a shattering explosion of the limestone quarry at the village of Dyserth sent huge boulders crashing through roofs and windows in the village. Three schoolchildren were injured in their classroom and a number of cars were totally destroyed. It was a miracle that no one was killed. The people of Dyserth are demanding that no further blasting be allowed at this quarry. It is certainly unthinkable that operations should be resumed there until the most thorough examination, including the most meticulous geological examination of the rock structure, has been most carefully and painstakingly completed. Even then it is, to my mind, most unlikely that the mining company will ever be able to give the people of Dyserth the kind of assurances which will set their minds at rest. Unless it can do so, I ask that all blasting operations at this quarry should cease permanently.”

For the full Hansard article click here

As well as quarrying there had also been a number of lime kilns, the largest of these,
Dyserth Lime Works, used to dominate the village skyline.

Below is an enlarged section of the above photo.
The old quarry office, now the surgery, is to the right of the picture.
Note the railway wagon, bottom left, marked “Dyserth Lime”.

Some of the kilns on Upper Foel Road - around 1910

Dyserth Environmental Group produced this panel, displayed at kiln No.2
on Upper Foel Road. Click on the picture for a larger version.
See Dyserth Environmental Group page for more.