22281

 

II  

Designated  

09/09/1999  

09/09/1999  

Nantlle Tramway River Bridge  

 

Gwynedd  

Bontnewydd  

Caernarfon  

Bontnewydd  

248006  

359932  

 

The Bridge spans Afon Gwyrfai on the west side of Bontnewydd.  

Transport  

 

The Nantlle Railway Act was passed in 1825, and the tramway opened in 1828. The tramway was built to connect Talysarn in the slate-quarrying area of Dyffryn Nantlle with Caernarfon. The initiative for the railway came from the proprietors of the Cilgwyn, Penybryn and Talysarn Quarries, who first mooted the idea for a tramway in 1813, to reduce the heavy shipment costs of transporting slate by road. The railway was built by a joint stock company, with Robert Williams of Bangor as resident engineer, Robert Stephenson (junior) and William Owen of Gwaenfynydd as contractors in consultation with George Stephenson. It was built with a 3'6" (1.067m) gauge. The line was taken over by the Caernarvonshire Railway and converted to standard gauge in 1867, and the bridge was then abandoned. The railway is an early example of a public railway, the first public line to serve the slate quarry industry in Wales.  

Single span narrow bridge over river. Rubble masonry, with high arch. Some loss of stonework in spandrels of archway.  

 

Listed as a fine example of an early railway engineering on an important transport route associated with the growth of quarrying in N Wales. The bridge retains its original character and is a significant relic of this important early tramway.