Country diary: a long-abandoned slate quarry's enduring monuments

Cwmystradllyn, Gwynedd: By 1871 the village was deserted, its consumptive and dispirited inhabitants dispersed. But much architectural beauty remains

The wave-like wall at Gorseddau slate quarry was running through my mind. I needed to go back and see if it was as I remembered. On a bitter March afternoon I set off along the old tramway that curves in from Cwm Pennant to the north.