The Holyhead Road: the Chirk Embankment and earlier trackways

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the scheduled ancient monument.

In 1810, Thomas Telford surveyed and recommended the route for the Holyhead Road through north Wales, some 83 miles, with work beginning in 1815 and completed in 1826. Construction of the Holyhead Road was not only the pinnacle of Thomas Telford's engineering achievements, it was also a landmark event in the history of British engineering, being the first major civil engineering project directly funded by parliament. The embankment was one of the major works on the Holyhead Road. The monument comprises the Chirk Embankment, a substantial straight and evenly sloped earthen embankment; and the steep and irregular sections of turnpike road and earlier trackways that the embankment replaced. The gradually rising earthen embankment carries the road for a length of about 200m as it approaches from the SE before the road dog-legs gently towards the E and traverses the slope of the hill. The grass-covered braided trackways and route of the earlier turnpike are situated on the hill slope to the SE of the upper section of road.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of post-medieval/early industrial transport systems. The monument forms an important element within the wider context of the post-medieval development of Wales and the structure may contain well preserved archaeological evidence concerning chronology, layout and building techniques.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.