Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Strainer arches and retaining walls
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
- 53.05578, -4.23691
- Cadw reference
- 23728
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 LibrariesLlyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of WalesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
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 to the south of Pen-y-bryn, the strainer arches and walls retain the slate waste tips flanking the route of the Dorothea Quarry branch of the former Nantlle Railway.
History
The Nantlle Railway opened in 1828 as a 3ft 6in (1.07m) gauge horse-drawn tramway to take slates from the Nantlle Vale quarries to the port at Caernarfon. The Dorothea Quarry opened in 1829 and remained in continuous production until 1970; the branch of the tramway/railway flanked by the strainer arches and retaining walls, which probably date to the late C19, connected the main line of the tramway to the main Dorothea Quarry.
Exterior
Two very high battered retaining walls built of coursed slate slabs with pair of slate strainer arches, arched above and below with slate voussoirs, holding the walls apart.
Reason for designation
Listed as substantial and distinctive structures associated with the former Nantlle Railway, an important early horse-drawn tramway, crucial to the rapid expansion of the Dorothea Slate Quarry during the C19.
Nearby in the register
- North-eastern aerial ropeway revetment, incline and associated buildingsIndustrialunder 1 mi
- Pen-y-brynDomesticunder 1 mi
- Cloddfa'r Lon Slate QuarrySlate Millunder 1 mi
- Nantlle Railway and Old TalysarnRailwayunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.