84102

 

II  

Designated  

28/02/2005  

28/02/2005  

Aqueduct SW of Church of St Cynllo  

 

Powys  

Nantmel  

 

Nantmel  

303356  

266303  

 

In a field SW of the church and above Ashbrook, spanning a steep-sided dingle.  

 

 

Part of the Birmingham Corporation scheme to supply water to the city from reservoirs in the Elan Valley. The project began in 1892 with the construction of the reservoirs and opened in 1904. Chief engineer was James Mansergh, joined and later succeeded as project engineers by his sons Ernest Lawson Mansergh and Walter Leahy Mansergh. The water was conveyed principally by means of a subterranean aqueduct, but where the ground level fell below the hydraulic gradient one of the solutions (as used here) was to build an aqueduct above ground.  

A single-span aqueduct crossing a small stream. Of coursed, rock-faced stone and freestone dressings. A small round opening has a rusticated surround. There are 2 rock-faced buttresses on each side, the outer of which are almost buried by the steep bank. Above the buttresses the parapet has panelled freestone piers and a freestone coping. On the outer sides are iron railings and gates giving access to the deck, where the conduit is buried beneath gravel.  

 

Listed for its special architectural and historic interest as an integral component of one of the foremost civil-engineering projects of the early C20 in Wales.