Dolgarrog's industrialisation began in the 18th century with a flour mill on Porthlwyd river to crush corn for local farmers. There was also a woollen mill at Dolgarrog bridge and the Abbey mill. The successful Porthlwyd mill was expanded by John Lloyd, son of founder Richard Lloyd. As well as grinding flour, he bought machines to make paper and flock for bedding. Paper from Porthlwyd supplied local printers, including John Jones printer of Trefriw and later Llanrwst. In 1885 villagers wanting to starta school at Porthlwyd the old village of Dolgarrog appealed to Mr Robins, the then proprietor of the paper-mill. He let them turn a large empty room at the mill into a flourishing Sunday School, known locally as Ystafell y drws goch the room with the red door to make sure the children did not wander into the mill workings. The Dolgarrog saw mill of John Williams also flourished. It exported hundreds of tons of wooden sleepers for the new railways between 1845 and 1865. When the first sod was cut for the Conway and Llanrwst Railway track on August 25, 1860, on Lord Newborough s land at Abbey, Dolgarrog, it was John Williams who supplied the sleepers. He retired a rich man. A reminder of those heady days is the Lord Newborough Inn on the edge of Dolgarrog. When the Dolgarrog Aluminium Corporation started in 1907, the old Porthlwyd Mill and its buildings were pulled down and three cottages for workers at the new plant were built. These in turn were swept away by the terrible Eigiau Dam Disaster and flood of 1925. Dolgarrog's original church was destroyed in the dam burst. The cross and bell were salvaged from the ruins; a further cross was recovered some years later from the River Conwy near Farchwel. After nearly half a century of worshipping in a temporary building after the disaster, the new church of St Mary, Dolgarrog, was dedicated on October 2 1973. | 
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