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[[Image:Blaenau.jpg|right|thumb|500px|<center>The landscape surrounding Blaenau has been blighted with millions of tons of spoil. These slag heaps arose mainly as a result of 19th century mining techniques, and unfettered [[capitalism]].</center>]]

[[Image:Blaenau.jpg|right|thumb|500px|<center>The landscape surrounding Blaenau has been blighted with millions of tons of spoil. These slag heaps arose mainly as a result of 19th century mining techniques, and unfettered [[capitalism]].</center>]]

'''Blaenau Ffestiniog''' (pronounced ''bly-now fest-inny-oc'') 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 a uniform soft blue-gray color, 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%, alumina 25%, iron oxide 11%, the remainder being composed of various elements of which the chief is magnesia. The lime contents - an excess of which often characterizes an inferior slate - are negligible.<ref>For a more detailed account, see: http://www.llechicymru.info/t000952.cymraeg.htm</ref>  

'''Blaenau Ffestiniog''' (pronounced ''bly-now fest-inny-oc'') is a small town in [[Merionethshire]] and 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 a uniform soft blue-gray color, 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%, alumina 25%, iron oxide 11%, the remainder being composed of various elements of which the chief is magnesia. The lime contents - an excess of which often characterizes 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 [[billiards]] 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 north-west frontier in [[India]]. It was said, that along with his [[rifle]], every serving officer took his snooker cue up the [[Khyber Pass]]. Due to the lower quality of the remaining slate from the mine however, modern tables have to be assembled from five slabs.

Blaenau slate has been an important part of quality [[snooker]] and [[billiards]] 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 north-west frontier in [[India]]. It was said, that along with his [[rifle]], every serving officer took his snooker cue up the [[Khyber Pass]]. Due to the lower quality of the remaining slate from the mine however, modern tables have to be assembled from five slabs.