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Added importance for snooker tables
'''Blaenau Ffestiniog''' is the capital of the Welsh [[slate]] quarrying industry. The slate-bearing strata of Ffestiniog belong to the [[Ordovician]] or Lower [[Silurian]] systems, and are of an uniform soft blue-grey colour, although the North Vein or topmost bed shows a tendency to be slightly darker. The chemical analysis of a standard Ffestiniog slate shows silica 55 per cent., alumina 25 per cent., iron oxide 11 per cent., the remainder being composed of various elements of which the chief is magnesia. The lime contents - an excess of which often characterises an inferior slate - are negligible. <ref>For a more detailed account, see: http://www.llechicymru.info/t000952.cymraeg.htm</ref>.
'''Blaenau Ffestiniog''' is the capital of the Welsh [[slate]] quarrying industry. The slate-bearing strata of Ffestiniog belong to the [[Ordovician]] or Lower [[Silurian]] systems, and are of an uniform soft blue-grey colour, although the North Vein or topmost bed shows a tendency to be slightly darker. The chemical analysis of a standard Ffestiniog slate shows silica 55 per cent., alumina 25 per cent., iron oxide 11 per cent., the remainder being composed of various elements of which the chief is magnesia. The lime contents - an excess of which often characterises an inferior slate - are negligible. <ref>For a more detailed account, see: http://www.llechicymru.info/t000952.cymraeg.htm</ref>.
Blaenau slate has been an important part of quality [[snooker]] and [[billiard]] tables for many years owing to the smooth flat surface that is revealed when slates are split or ''riven''. During [[Queen Victoria|Victorian]] times a snooker table would comprise four large blocks of slate, each 3 inches thick, so that they could be disassembled and carried by pack horses for the pleasure officers in the British Colonial Army on patrol in the outer reaches of India. Owing to the lower quality of the remaining slate from the mine however, modern tables have to be assembled from five slabs.
The slate produced from the Blaenau area is one of the highest quality roofing slates in the world, and gives the houses in [[Wales]] their characteristic blue roofs. Slate was mined via a variety of methods in the 19th century and all of these have left their mark on Blaenau, with the entire town and much of the surrounding countryside being blighted with slag heaps of slate spoil. Despite being in the centre of the [[Snowdonia National Park]], the grey slag that surrounds the town prevents it from being officially included in the designated Park area. Current plans to deal with this slag are being challenged by an environmental pressure group <ref> [http://www.walesdirectory.co.uk/swag.htm The Slate Waste Action Group (SWAG)] opposes plans to transport the slag to the North Wales coast. </ref>
The slate produced from the Blaenau area is one of the highest quality roofing slates in the world, and gives the houses in [[Wales]] their characteristic blue roofs. Slate was mined via a variety of methods in the 19th century and all of these have left their mark on Blaenau, with the entire town and much of the surrounding countryside being blighted with slag heaps of slate spoil. Despite being in the centre of the [[Snowdonia National Park]], the grey slag that surrounds the town prevents it from being officially included in the designated Park area. Current plans to deal with this slag are being challenged by an environmental pressure group <ref> [http://www.walesdirectory.co.uk/swag.htm The Slate Waste Action Group (SWAG)] opposes plans to transport the slag to the North Wales coast. </ref>