25606

 

II  

Designated  

26/07/2001  

26/07/2001  

Dam to SW of former Felin Fawr Slate Works  

 

Gwynedd  

Llandygai  

 

Coed y parc  

261418  

366194  

 

The dam is the upper of two once-similar structures across the Galedffrwd, retaining a reservoir to the NW of the lane leading to Mynydd Llandegai, SW of the former slate works.  

Industrial  

 

The Felin Fawr Slate Works complex was established at the beginning of the C19, serving the Penrhyn Slate Quarry - an early example of an industrialised slate sawing and dressing site relying on water power. The earliest surviving water-power system at the site (comprising a pair of dams forming a reservoir on the Galedffrwd, and a water wheel) appears to date from 1846-1848, associated with an early campaign of improvement on this key site. The lower of the two dams has been altered in recent years, but the upper dam remains virtually intact. The resultant reservoirs ultimately provided the water to operate both water wheels on site, together with a later turbine.  

High dam wall constructed from massive slate blocks. The wall is roughly coursed and slightly battered, built on a slight curve across the valley floor. Two cast-iron sluices, and a brick-lined spillway in the centre of the dam wall. From the base of the dam, are the remains of 4 cast-iron pipes partially supported on a stone causeway, which formerly took water downstream to various areas of the slate works site.  

 

Listed as a fine mid-C19 masonry dam, an important component in the exceptionally complete surviving water-powered slate works at Felin Fawr.