The only woman recorded using the “car gwyllt” (wild car) at the turn of the twentieth century is depicted in a mural celebrating the history of the slate industry in Blaenau Ffestiniog.

The slate mosaic on the Beatons building shows Rhiwbach schoolmistress Kate Griffiths in the early 1900s.

Kate would travel to and from school in a unique way – hitching a lift in one of the empty wagons to the top of the incline above Maenofferen Quarry and walking to Rhiwbach in the morning. In the afternoons she would walk to Graig Ddu quarry and come back down to Blaenau in a car gwyllt.

The artwork commissioned by Gwynedd Council is one of many telling the story of the slate industry in northwest Wales, as part of the Slate Landscape World Heritage Site.

Blaenau Ffestiniog’s Original Roofing Company created the mural using slates of different colours and textures in order to convey several important elements in the history of the slate industry. In addition to the car gwyllt, you can see the slate layers in the rock, the landscape of the Moelwyn mountains and the slate tips, and musical notes to represent the brass bands and the eisteddfodau.

Cllr Medwyn Hughes said: "I am delighted with this new work on the Beatons building – it's not only a portrait of the area and the slate industry, but also a celebration of Welsh culture and the importance of the Welsh language there too.

"One of the main aims of our world heritage site is to remember and celebrate our contribution in roofing the world to promote economic and social regeneration and take pride in our international story. This project is an important part of achieving that.”

Original Roofing directors Sam Buckley and Kaz Bentham, both from Blaenau Ffestiniog, have worked with slate since leaving school.

Sam said this design required a great deal of planning and preparation, before starting work on the mural itself.

Kaz said it was necessary to be imaginative when installing materials such as brass and steel to represent different aspects of the design.