Cymmer Viaduct

Cadw's description

Location

Spanning the Afan river approximately 0.5km WNW of the centre of Cymmer.

History

Opened in 1878 and built by the Great Western Railway to link the South Wales Mineral Railway (which ran from the Glyncorrwg collieries to Briton Ferry) with the same company's Bridgend-Abergwynfi line. The piers are of locally quarried stone and are shown in the process of erection on the first edition Ordnance Survey. The line closed in 1970.

Exterior

A wrought-iron lattice-girder viaduct aligned roughly N-S and with a slightly curved deck. The main abutments are of coursed rock-faced stone, and comprise a round arch with keystone, above which is a string course and coped parapet. The arches are flanked by round turrets that are carried up the full height of the parapets. On the N side the parapets curve outwards and terminate in square piers. On the S side is a further abutment that carried a second girder bridge over the adjacent former Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway (now the Afan Valley Cycle Way).

The lattice girders are carried on 3 tapering rectangular piers of rock-face stone and moulded copings. The girders are constructed in 4 straight sections and retain some timber cross members on the deck.

Reason for designation

Listed as a good early example of a lattice-girder viaduct, of a type later commonly employed to span the South Wales valleys.