26857

 

II  

Designated  

23/08/2002  

23/08/2002  

Penrhyndeudraeth Station, Ffestiniog Railway, Including Railed Railway Embankment Adjoining to the N  

 

Gwynedd  

Penrhyndeudraeth  

 

Penrhyndeudraeth  

261320  

339512  

NW  

Located towards the top of the hillslope which defines the upper part of the town, raised up above the road on a high revettment.  

Transport  

 

The Ffestiniog Railway was built between 1832 and 1836 as a narrow-gauge slate railway to connect the quarries at Blaenau Ffestiniog with the harbour at Porthmadoc. Initially a horse-drawn railway, the line was converted to use for steam locomotives in 1863, a great technological achievement given the steep gradients on this line. The line was closed in 1946 but reopened in 1954 as a private steam railway. It is widely recognised as one of the world's historic railways and is believed to be the oldest surviving railway company. Penrhyndeudraeth Station, originally named `Penrhyn,' was initially located further to the NE of the present building and was little more than a stop. In 1879 the station was moved to its present site and the existing main block was erected; this itself was reused from the former Harbour Station at Porthmadoc and therefore dates to the period 1863-5. The station was subsequently extended; the SW block is dated 1897.  

Victorian railway station, consisting of a main block containing waiting room and offices, and a U-shaped storage/service block adjoining to the SE. Of timber-studded and vertically-boarded construction, with (renewed) yellow brick chimneys to the rear of the principal block; slate roofs. Running in front of the station is the contemporary platform, partly with slate flaging. The main section is a rectangular building with fish-scale roof having projecting, scalloped eaves. The front (platform) elevation is recessed below its roof pitch thereby forming a covered verandah; this is carried on 6 thin iron columns. The recessed elevation has three entrances to the left half, that to the far L with window to its R and an affixed station clock beyond; the remaining entrances have windows to their L. 20-pane unhorned sashes and boarded doors throughout. The U-shaped adjoining block is in two parts: that to the L is an L-shaped block of boarded construction as before, and has 2 boarded doors and 2 multi-pane windows; that to the R is an L-shaped rubble block and consists of a gabled engine house to the R with sliding boarded doors; boarded door and 20-pane window to the recessed left-hand part. The station buildings are accessed from the road via a short inclined path leading westwards between a pair of rough-dressed square piers with stone cappings; the path has a slightly battered slatestone revettment with sloped parapet wall following the incline. The right-hand (easternmost) of the piers is built against the returned revettment of the long railway embankment associated with the station. At this point the revettment is at a height of some 2m; it is of slatestone rubble and is surmounted by plain spike railings with chamfered posts at intervals of around 2m; these with pyramidal cappings. The embankment follows the road eastwards for some 86m from this point before terminating at a height of 0.50m and continuing for another 12m as a cock-and-hen coped slate wall. At 32m and 86m (the end point) are breaks in the railings for pedestrian crossing points over the railway. The railings screen around inwards at these points; plain slate posts define the gateways.  

 

Listed as a Victorian railway station with associated contemporary revetted embankment retaining good unaltered character; part of the highly-important narrow-gauge Ffestiniog Railway.