Transatlantic Traditions: The History of Welsh Quarrying and its Connections to Newfoundland Slate

• Main Authors: Spiwak, Alexa D., Cole, Johanna
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB) 2024
• Subjects: historical archaeology; industry; slate; archaeology; colonial; Archaeological Anthropology; Canadian History; European History; Social and Cultural Anthropology; Newfoundland; Smith sound
• Online Access: https://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol50/iss1/5; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/viewcontent/NEHA_V50_2021_05_SpivakandColepp41to57.pdf; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/Figure1ALithographicPrintofPenrhynQuarry.jpg; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/filename/1/type/additional/viewcontent/Figure2QuarrymenAtSummersideQuarry.jpg; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/filename/2/type/additional/viewcontent/Fig3_Map_NFLD.tiff; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/filename/3/type/additional/viewcontent/Figure4TheMouthOfTheAdit.jpg; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/filename/4/type/additional/viewcontent/Figure5TheRemainsofTheOldWoodenRail.jpg; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/filename/5/type/additional/viewcontent/Fig_6_Gwaliua_with_Lines.jpg; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/filename/7/type/additional/viewcontent/Fig_7_Slate_w_Usewear.jpg; https://orb.binghamton.edu/context/neha/article/1554/filename/8/type/additional/viewcontent/Figure8OneofTheManyHousesOnRandomIsland.jpg

Previous archaeological investigations have conclusively shown that the presence of Welshmen has co-occurred with the practice of local slate quarrying in Newfoundland since the early colonial ventures of the 17th century. The island experienced a resurgence in Welsh culture in the 19th century when a number of small slate quarries were established overlooking both the Bay of Islands on the west coast and Smith Sound in Trinity Bay. The following article outlines the history of these 19th-century Newfoundland quarries, as well as the social, political and economic factors which encouraged the migration of Welsh quarrymen across the Atlantic to remote and isolated areas of the island. The brief but intensive quarrying activity of the 19th and 20th centuries left indelible marks on the Trinity Bay landscape, and this article concludes by outlining preliminary explorations of archaeological remains near the town of Hickman’s Harbour on Random Island.