Two separate undertakings, Bowydd Quarry dating from the 1790s and Foty (Votty) from the 1830s, were amalgamated in the 1870s as Foty & Bowydd Quarries. Bowydd Quarry was connected to the Festiniog Railway in 1854. In the 1890s production peaked at more than 17,000 tons of slate per annum. The Quarries were taken over by Oakeley Quarries in 1933 and closed in 1963. Modern untopping work has destroyed much of the evidence of its three slate mills and writing slate factory.

For further information:
D.Gwyn, Welsh Slate: the Archaeology and History of an Industry (RCAHMW 2015) (under Votty and Bowydd quarries (Ffestiniog)).
A.J.Richards, A Gazeteer of the Welsh Slate Industry (1991), pp.124-6.

W J Crompton & David Leighton, RCAHMW, 22January 2015