Catherine Pugh, Hendre Ddu

- the only female slate quarry barracks boss in Wales?

18?40 - 1895

Catherine Pugh’s tale is tinged with tragedy. Her husband Thomas was killed on 31st July 1868 in a rockfall at the Cwmllecoediog slate quarry …. He’d “started his work that morning as usual, without thinking of any danger no doubt. ‘Aren’t we in danger every hour?’”

…. and Catherine was left with three young children to raise.

Catherine's youngest daughter, Sian Roberts, lived in Aberangell. Sian's brother-in-law David Roberts was killed in a rock fall at Minllyn Quarry near Dinas Mawddwy, and her son William Thomas was killed in the Senghenydd colliery disaster in October 1913.

Catherine was clearly a determined woman; in 1870 she took a job at the nearby Hendreddu Quarry running the quarry barracks.

She lived at the quarry with her daughters Jane (born in 1883) and Ellen, and son Hugh. She had a formidable reputation for keeping the men in line and she may have been the only female barracks boss in the Welsh slate industry.

Her duties included cleaning the barracks and preparing meals for the residents, who worked in rotating eight-hour shifts: 6am to 2pm, 2pm to 10pm and 10pm to 6am. She worked at Hendreddu until 1890, and died on January 10th 1895.

Story contributed by Dan Quine. Dan is writing a book about the slate quarries around Aberangell

Hendre Ddu quarry is now buried under a conifer plantation - see here for a blog about it

We have heard reports of other women working in the slate quarries in the Corris area/Abergwynolwyn: For example, we heard from Steffan ab Owain that women were working on a jenny lind machine polishing the slate in 1871 [and the blog above says there is a Jenny Lind machine in Hendre Ddu quarry too]:

”Ceid merched yn gweithio ar beiriant 'jenny lind' hefyd yn caboli (polishio) y llechi yn ardal Corris,neu Abergynolwyn.,Enwir hwy ar un o'r cyfrifiadau,efallai mai un 1871, os cofiaf yn iawn.” - Steffan ab Owain

For more stories of women who worked in quarries, see here