Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Tunnel Portal and Tunnel
Llanllyfni, Gwynedd, Wales
A Grade II listed building in Nantlle, Llanllyfni, Gwynedd, designated on 21 July 2000.
The record
- Designation
- Listed building, Grade II
- Broad class
- Industrial
- Date of designation
- 21 July 2000
- Locality
- Nantlle
- Community
- Llanllyfni
- Unitary authority
- Gwynedd
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates
- 53.05676, -4.24190
- Cadw reference
- 23689
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesLlyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales
5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1795 map "To Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn Bart ... the map of the six counties of North Wales is most humbly inscribed by his obedient humble servant" (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1795 · To Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn Bart ... the map of the six counties of North Wales is most… (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales)
- 1883 · Watershed map England, Wales 3. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1896 · Sheet 7. Ordnance Survey of England and Wales. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1899 · 118 Nevin (Hills) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1901 · Sheet 9 and 10. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
Cadw's description
Location
Located in the hillside to the north of Talysarn Hall.
History
The Nantlle Railway Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1825 and opened in 1828. It was promoted by a group of slate quarry owners in the Nantlle vale to improve the transport of their products to the port at Caernarfon, following the construction of similar narrow gauge railways from the Bethesda and Llanberis Quarries to Penrhyn and Port Dinorwic respectively. The tramway was of 3ft 6in (1.07m) gauge and operated by horses until much of it was converted to standard gauge and incorporated into the main national railway network in the later C19. A short section of the line above Talysarn remained as a horse-drawn tramway until 1963. The tunnel itself is a late C19 structure, built in the later C19 to allow waste from the Talysarn Quarry to be tipped above. As the tip encroached further the line was diverted to a more southerly route, immediately behind Talysarn Hall, and the west portal of the tunnel is no longer visible. This diversion had been made by 1889 when it appears on the Ordnance Survey map of that date.
Exterior
Eastern tunnel portal built of squared slate rubble. Semi-circular arch with slate voussoirs, above which are a string course and parapet.
Interior
Not inspected at time of survey.
Reason for designation
Included as a substantial structure on the Nantlle Railway, an important early horse-drawn tramway, the tunnel itself is particularly significant for the evidence it provides of the massive expansion of the Dorothea and Talysarn Slate Quarries during the C19.
Nearby in the register
- Blaen y Cae Slate QuarryQuarryunder 1 mi
- South-western aerial ropeway revetment, incline and associated buildingsIndustrialunder 1 mi
- Dorothea Quarry Beam EngineEngine Houseunder 1 mi
- Engine House, Boilerhouse, Bunker and remains of chimney to southIndustrialunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.