The slate industry was very important in the Machynlleth area long before and after the Victorian age. Before the railway arrived the slate from local quarries was taken by horse-drawn trams to the river port of Derwenlas, then carried to market by sea.
The new railway put an end to Derwenlas as a port and was then used to export the slate in railway wagons.

Skilled stone masons were in great demand in the Victorian period, when town halls, monuments, railway stations, bridges and many other structures needed large amounts of dressed [hand chiselled] stonework.
The 1874 list of tailors is quite a long one, with 18 names. This was probably due to the increase in the local population, but by this date the work of making clothes locally for local people was facing competition from cheap factory made clothing brought in from northern England by the railway.
By far the largest section of the Machynlleth directory list gives the names of the local farmers. It is split up by parishes and names a total of 284 farmers ! None at all were listed in the earlier trade directories until 1868, when only about 40 were named.

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