History

The great reservoir scheme in the adjacent Elan Valley built by City of Birmingham 1893 to 1904 made provision for future expansion into the Claerwen Valley where the scheme was brought to its current state by the Claerwen dam built between 1948 and 1952. Engineers Sir William Halcrow & Partners.

Exterior

Masonry-faced concrete dam, approximately 56m high, supports viaduct on 13 elliptical arches; stone parapets. Central arch of viaduct broader, and carries viewing platform with balustrade; end piers of platform run down full height of dam framing stepped spillway. At foot of this, two buttresses with doorways which are linked by bridges (diagonally set) over pool at foot of dam. To ends of dam, stepped spillways with parapet walls, spillways broaden as they drop, walls turn to frame channel in front of foot of dam which is spanned by stone bridge of 2 segmental arches, with iron railings.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as impressive civil engineering project of high architectural quality.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29493911

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014