rThe Products
In 1940 Lime Firms Limited was one of the main producers oflime in Wales. Lime was transported to all parts o(Mid and South Wales for Agricultural use and to most of the South Wales steel works. On occasions, lime was sent to steel works in Paisley in Scotland and to Stratford-an-Avon [or sewerage disposal. In 1940 the agricultural demand for lime had increased mark dly following the introduction of the Lime Subsidy Scheme in 1937 wh ieby farmers purchased lime at 40% of the delivered price, the producer recouping the remaining 60% from the Government.
Crushed stone and tarmacadam of various sizes were also produced and sold to the area's local authorities for road-making and maintenance as well as to building contractors. Crushed stone was also sold as ballast for railways. From 1940 large amounts of material, particularly tarmacadam, were required for defence contracts such as the construction of airfields, road and coastal defences.
There has in fact been very little change in the products produced by the company since 1940. The major change is that lime-burning was discontinued in 1973. This was largely due to the closure of several local steel and chemical plants, for example, Briton Ferry Steel Works, Llanelli Steel Company and the National Smelting Corporation, and changes in steel-making techniques which reduced the demand for lime, as well as the difficulty in producing the high quality lime now required in steel-making with relatively inefficient nineteenth century kilns.
Crushed stone for road construction, ready-mixed concrete anti for local block-making industries as well as bituminous macadam and ;finely milled

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stone (ground limestone) are still produced at Llandybie. Since 1975, the company has let a small part of the Cilyrychen Works for a ready-mix concrete plant operated by Ready-Mix Concrete staff - which obtains limestone aggregates directly from the quarry.

Markets
Since the 1940s the market area served by the company has contracted. This is because of the ending of the emergency war-time building programme and the decline in sales of lime shipment previously sent to steel works as far as Ebbw Vale in Gwent or despatched to the agricultural communities in the North of Ceredigion and Powys. The current market for aggregates and bituminous macadam served by the company is largely confined to Dyfed, West Glamorgan and the Southern part of Powys, with the margins determined by competition from neighbouring quarries on the basis of relative production and transport costs.
Although in 1940 both the Glamorgan and Cilyrychen Quarries were connected to the Central Wales Railway, most of the material produced was despatched by road. This was because material delivered by road invariably arrived on the same day, while rail deliveries took much longer to reach  their
destination. Rail was primarily t]sed for the transportation of coal to the quarries for lime-burning, much of which came along the railway line from Pencae Colliery.

Changes in Production Techniques
The changes in production techniques over the last 50 years have resulted in a considerable degree of mechanisation. In pre-war years limestone was blasted from the face and broken manually by sledge-hammers. The larger stones were broken by a method known as 'popping' when a small amount of
explosives was used. The stone was loaded by hand into trams which were pulled by a narrow gauge locomotive for transportation to the primary crusher. A good average output per man was considered to be around 12 tons per lO-hour day. After the Second World War, the company introduced mechanised production and, where formerly 30/36 men were required at Cilyrychen and 20/30 at Glangwenlais, one mechanical excavator was able to produce the equivalent output in an 8-hour day.
Following mechanisation, the blasted stone was broken by a drop ball excavator and loaded mechanically into dump trucks for transport to the primary crushers, where it was broken to 8" downwards. At Cilyrychen the stone came from the primary crusher on to a conveyor belt to the separator
where it was graded into two sizes and then conveyed by skips hauled by a small diesel loco, the larger stones going to the crushers and the small size to the secondary crushers for further processing.
The process today is essentially the same, although the network of narrow gauge railway lines has been replaced by motorised dump-trucks and the capacity of the crushers and production plants has been considerably increased.

The Workers
In 1940 around 150 workers were employed, the numbers varying with the seasonal demand for agricultural and building materials, and tended to be greatest in May.
With increasing mechanisation there has been a steady decline in the numbers employed in the quarries. By 1958 the number employed in both quarries was 95 and, by 1962, 72. By 1990 the number employed has fallen to 40 all of whom are working at Cilyrychen. The company also employs a small number of sub-contractors for drilling and maintenance.'
In 1940, the majority of the workers employed (80%) lived within two miles of the quarries and only 10% travelled over five miles. By 1990, greater access to private transport has increased the commuting distance and now 42% live over five miles from Llandybie.
Inflation and rising expectati ns throughout the last 50 years have inevitably led to changes in the wages paid. In 1939 the basic rate for unskilled workers was l/ld per hour with higher rates paid according to skill  , semiskilled workers being paid 1/4d and skilled craftsmen l/lOd per hour.'At this time the average weekly wage of a quarry worker was £2. 10. Od for a 45-hour week. Over the 50 years the standard working week has been reduced gradually to 40 hours with compensating increases in hourly rates.

	Conclusion
	Quarrying is a local traditional industry which services a market need, pro
	vides jobs and pumps money into the economy. However, there is a price to be
	paid for such operations - in terms of visual intrusion, traffic generation,
. noise and dust emission. The main difference between the operations in the
	1940s and the 1990s is the increased concern of these environmental issues.