The Industrial Era

In the 1850s, cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Birkenhead were rapidly expanding in size and they required vast quantities of building materials. Hard and solid road surfaces were needed and "granite setts" were in high demand.

* What is a sett?
A sett is a slab of granite, shaped into square or rectangular blocks. These setts were used as cobblestones on streets throughout Britain.

When Quarrying Became A Way Of Life

Hugh Owen from Anglesey was the first to attempt to open a granite quarry at The Nant in 1851. Others followed with mixed success, but in 1861 a Liverpool based company called Kneeshaw and Lupton opened a quarry on the southern side of the bay. This was an ideal site for a quarry as there was a large supply of granite nearby and it was also closely situated to the sea.


Granite quarrying was a great success and within a few years, three quarries had opened in The Nant:

As a result, 150 – 200 ton ships were regularly loaded and transported to the industrial cities before returning with all kinds of products for the quarrymen, which weren’t available locally.



“I went there as an apprentice fitter and fitter welder as they called it then and then I joined the ships. There were nine or ten of us loading and the ships came in day and night, depending on the tide.”

John Eirwyn Jones, 2010
He refers to time working in Cae’r Nant quarry, c.1940s.