Aberglaslyn Pass
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Aberglaslyn Pass is a narrow gorge of considerable beauty in Snowdonia, North Wales. The A498 road follows a relatively level route along the Afon Glaslyn through the pass from Beddgelert to Prenteg and then continues at the edge of the Traeth Mawr via Tremadoc to Porthmadog.
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[edit] The Pass
As recently as the early 19th century, the river Glaslyn was navigable for small boats at high tide as far as Pont Aberglaslyn, which is just one mile south of Beddgelert, where a sixth century monastery was succeeded in the twelfth by an Augustinian priory. In the Middle Ages Beddgelert was seen as a safe resting place before travelling further. The route from the coast via Beddgelert and overland to Caernarfon or Bangor via Llyn Cwellyn was often considered preferable to the long voyage round the Lleyn Peninsula. [1]
Pont Aberglaslyn is in the parish of Nant Mor. From here to the sea, landowners have benefited significantly from the land reclamation made possible by the construction at Porthmadog in 1812 of the great embankment across the Traeth Mawr estuary.
[edit] The Railway
In the later 19th century, with the coming of the Cambrian Railways, numerous schemes were proposed for the construction of a railway to Beddgelert. Some were started and there are several examples of abandoned railway works in the pass. One scheme eventually succeeded and the Welsh Highland Railway was opened in 1922 from Dinas near Caernarfon to Porthmadog. The railway was closed in 1937 and the rails requisitioned and removed for War Department use in 1941. The trackbed remained in the ownership of the receiver of the company, and an iron girder bridge was left.
Since then, the railway trackbed and its three tunnels had become a very popular path for walking and hiking. The longest tunnel was first built in 1906, but was not used by rail until 1922. Before the cob was built, the Glaslyn estuary was tidal as far as Pont Aberglaslyn and the fisherman's path through the pass was used as a route to the coast. It gradually fell out of use and through erosion by the river, became impassable.
In 1995 and 1996, controversy ensued, as the Ffestiniog Railway was seeking to take ownership of the trackbed to rebuild the Welsh Highland Railway. Walkers and environmentalists claimed that an important footpath would be lost. However, having no real argument (given that the fisherman's path was still along side the railway owned trackbed), they claimed that owing to danger from falling rocks the pass would be unsafe for trains. In order to meet these objections and fears, civil engineering consultants produced plans for remedial works to overhanging rock, retaining walls and paths and this work was done by local expert contractors. [2]
In the Autumn of 2000, the Welsh Highland Railway closed the trackbed to walkers in order to prepare for the rebuilding of the railway. The railway company, along with the National Trust, which owns the surrounding land, worked to rebuild the fisherman's path for use again.
In 2003, after some delay, a new footbridge was built across the river at Bryn-y-felin. Prior to this, in 1999, the old railway girder bridge had been removed, although even for some years before that its use as a footbridge had been banned. In March 2006 a replacement girder bridge was installed, this largely identical to the original bridge, which had laid unmaintained since 1936, and was consequently weak through corrosion.
It is anticipated that tracklaying through the Aberglaslyn Pass will be complete by the end of 2007.
[edit] Links
- Rebuilding the Welsh Highland Railway - unofficial site - updated almost daily!
- More detail on the trackbed and the new footbridge
