Rhosydd Incline, Drumhouse & Tramway

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument consists of a tramway leading to a drumhouse and incline from ruined slate workshops on high ground at the top of Cwm Croesor. It was used to move slate from the workshops down to the Croesor tramway in the valley bottom. The incline is probably the highest single pitch incline in the slate industry. It was served by a drumhouse which retains its drum mechanism and which is sited some 15m from the top of the incline, up the steep hillside. The tramway leading to the top of the incline from the workshops of Rhosydd Quarry is also an impressive engineering achievement, cut into the hillside and revetted by substantial stone walls as it curves around the 450m countour.

This combination of features represent an important and well preserved example of a transport system serving an upland slate quarry. In many respects it is typical, but the unusual drumhouse arrangement, and the gradient of the incline are exceptional and demonstrate the ingenuity which was often required in these locations. The site is also particularly well documented.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of the development of industrial transportation in the 18th and 19th century. The track bed, bridges, drainage systems, embankments and revetments may all be expected to contain archaeological information in regard to construction techniques and functional detail.

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