Pentrefelin Tramway Viaduct

Cadw's description

Location

The viaduct crosses the valley of the River Eglwyseg immediately NE of the junction of the A542 and the B5103 at Pentrefelin.

History

The horse tramway was designed by Henry Dennis for John Taylor & Son, and constructed in 1852 to carry slate from the Upper Cambrian slate quarries at Clogau, at Oernant (Maesyruchan), Moel-y-faen, and from above Valle Crucis, running 2.8km to their Llangollen Slab and Slate Works and wharf on Llangollen Branch of the Ellesmere (Shropshire Union) Canal. near Pentrefelin Bridge. It now survives as a landscaped item in gardens.

Exterior

A rubble stone revetted embankment approximately 130m long, the track raised above the stone-on-edge copings by a further embankment. The wall is punctured by three spaced arches, the centre arch wider and spanning the river Eglwyseg, and one narrower flood arch each side. All arches have rusticated and margin dressed stone quoins and voussoirs to the semi-circular arch, the keystone alone slightly emphasised, all flanked by pilaster buttresses. The centre arch is said to carry the date 1857. The S side has 7 large raking buttresses, perhaps a later addition.

Reason for designation

Included as a well preserved example of a horse tramway viaduct, and of significance as a relic of the slate extraction industry which once formed a major part of the economic life of the Llangollen district.