Wenvoe Quarry is a quarry between

Wenvoe Wenvoe ( cy, Gwenfô) is a village, community and electoral ward between Barry and Cardiff in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Nearby are the Wenvoe Transmitter near Twyn-yr-Odyn and the site of the former HTV Wales Television Centre at Culverhouse ...

and

Culverhouse Cross Culverhouse Cross ( cy, Croes Cwrlwys) is a district straddling the boundary between Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, in the community of Wenvoe. The district is centred on a major traffic roundabout that links West Cardiff to the M4 mo ...

in the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol ...

, south Wales. It is situated in an area off the

A4050 road The A4050 road connects Barry, Vale of Glamorgan with Culverhouse Cross on the outskirts of Cardiff, Wales. It is approximately long, and is the key link road between the M4 motorway and Cardiff International Airport. 2008 road improvements ...

known as "The Alps", not far from Caerau and

on the outskirts of Cardiff. Operations at the quarry took off in the 1880s to supply the building of

Barry Docks Barry Docks ( cy, Dociau'r Barri) is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. They were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alterna ...

, and as of 1889 the quarry employed some 200 men.''Western Mail'' - Friday 16 August 1889, p.3, Accessed via The British Newspaper Archive . Retrieved 19 November 2014. The quarry is operated today by CEMEX UK Materials (Aggregates) Ltd. The closed

Wenvoe Tunnel Wenvoe Tunnel is a disused tunnel on the defunct Barry Railway that runs under Culverhouse Cross in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales, on the western outskirts of Cardiff. It was opened in 1889 on a line used to carry coal to Barry Docks. Th ...

begins in close proximity to the quarry.

1889 accident

At around midday on 15 August 1889 three men, Charles Harding, George Richards and James Wills, were killed while boring a hole for blasting purposes, about from the face of the quarry. Large boulders fell on them and they fell to the bottom of the quarry, some below and were crushed, two of them beyond recognition. Harding was rescued alive, but died about an hour later from a fractured skull and complications shortly before arriving in hospital.

Coed-y-Cymdda

Coed-y-Cymdda was an archaeological site that was excavated prior to its destruction by quarrying operations in 1978-1980. It was an earthwork hill-slope enclosure dating from the late

bronze age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

. Archaeological finds indicated activity on the site until the Roman period.

References

Quarries in Wales Economy of the Vale of Glamorgan {{coord, 51.459, -3.248, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title