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
11377
Building Number
Grade
II*
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
11/07/1951
Date of Amendment
19/12/2002
Name of Property
Cefn Railway Viaduct
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Merthyr Tydfil
Community
Park
Town
Locality
Cefn Coed-y-cymmer
Easting
303049
Northing
207597
Street Side
Location
On the SW side of Cefn Coed-y-cymmer crossing the valley of the Afon Taf Fawr.
Description
Broad Class
Transport
Period
History
Railway viaduct, built 1866 by Henry Conybeare and Alexander Sutherland for Savin and Ward at a cost of £25,000. Sutherland was a friend of Robert Crawshay of the nearby Cyfarthfa Iron Works. The viaduct carried the former Brecon and Merthyr Railway over the Afon Taf Fawr and was built on a curve to satisfy conditions laid down by the Crawshay Estate. It was planned to be constructed entirely of limestone like the nearby Pontsarn Viaduct but a trade union strike by stonemasons in February 1866 caused the company to buy 800,000 bricks from Hirwaun and Welshpool and use bricklayers to complete the fifteen arches. Most of the masons were sacked shortly after returning to work. The first arch from the Vaynor side was keyed on 12 May 1866 and the last on 27 August 1866. The viaduct was built for double-line working but a single track only was installed, on the N side.
Exterior
Railway viaduct; abutments, tall slender piers and parapets of coursed irregular sized rock-faced limestone blocks and fifteen ring-built semi-circular brick arches each of six courses. The piers have a projecting impost band and there are 2 projecting string courses below the parapets. The viaduct is built on a gentle arc some 235m long and has a maximum height of approximately 36m. An inscription on the S side reads 'Built by Savin and Ward 1866'.
Interior
Reason for designation
Included at II* as one of the most historically interesting and architecturally impressive railway viaducts in Wales.
Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]
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