Full Report for Listed Buildings
The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building (i) and any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.
Summary Description
Reference Number
22325
Building Number
Grade
II*
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
31/07/1980
Date of Amendment
10/09/1999
Name of Property
Hengoed Viaduct
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Caerphilly
Community
Maesycwmmer
Town
Caerphilly
Locality
Maesycwmmer
Easting
315560
Northing
194920
Street Side
Location
A prominent landscape feature spanning the Rhymney valley between Maesycwmmer and Hengoed.
Description
Broad Class
Transport
Period
History
The Hengoed Viaduct was built as part of the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford (Taff Vale Extension) Railway. The engineer was Charles Liddell. It was a standard gauge line linking Pontypool with the Taff Vale Railway at Quakers Yard, but was proposed as part of a strategic lateral route to Swansea. The railway was begun in 1847, was completed as far as Quakers Yard in 1858, and Swansea in 1864. The line was taken over by the GWR in 1865 and was rich in both passenger and freight traffic. It was closed over 100 years later in 1964.
The cross-valley line required substantial engineering works: 3 viaducts, 4 tunnels, embankments and steep gradients, all constructed under the railway engineer, Charles Liddell. The cast iron Crumlin Viaduct was a structure of major significance, but only the abutments survive. The engineer's drawing for the Hengoed Viaduct is dated 1857 and it was built by Messrs Rennie & Logan at a cost of £20,000. It was designed to be 130 feet (39.6 metres) high and it was more traditional in style than the Crumlin Viaduct using stone from the nearby Trecelyn quarries and local bricks. The smaller arch at the east end passed over the Brecon & Merthyr Railway.
Exterior
High 16-arch viaduct, slightly curved in plan. Constructed of rock-faced, snecked Pennant sandstone. High round arches on imposts with large voussoirs. Soffits partly of red brick. Narrow, slightly splayed piers. String course and shallow parapets with coping stones, some upright. Square piers to ends and flanking smaller E arch which is skewed.
Interior
Reason for designation
Listed grade II* as a major monument of railway engineering on a strategic lateral route, in use for over 100 years and one of the oldest surviving viaducts of its type. Group value with the Woollen Mill which stands beneath.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]
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