I have been recording and campaigning to save Blaenau Ffestiniog’s architectural and industrial heritage since 1967. I have saved three buildings: a row of quarrymen’s cottages, Pandy Moelwyn complete with all its machinery, and Pant-yr-Ynn Blaenau’s earliest surviving slate mill, which I restored and made my home, and now houses ‘Worktown’ a permanent exhibition of my works.
I am an honorary member of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales, have had three books published and have works in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum of Wales, Cadw, The Royal Commissions for Historic Buildings in England and Wales, Ironbridge, the National Trust, Newport Art Gallery and Cardiff and Gwynedd Archives. My design, of 1999 for the Town Centre of Blaenau Ffestiniog re-established the vital link between the quarries where it all began, and the Ffestiniog Railway which took the slate to Porthmadog for shipment around the world. A version of the design has since been built.
My latest exhibition ‘Heritage and its loss’ is currently at Blaenau Ffestiniog Library from June 11th to July 28th 2018. It was commissioned as part of the Slate Festival, and in support of the application for World Heritage status for the slate landscape of North Wales of outstanding historic interest internationally.
In addition to a selection of my drawings there are ten new panels of easy-to-read text supported by illustrations designed to drive home the message of why this heritage is so important for Wales historically, culturally, socially and economically – so this is not just another art exhibition – it is a call to start taking urgent and practical care of what remains of this great industry and way of life. More can be found here: www.falconhildred.co.uk