We don't have any photos of this building yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?
Latitude: 52.9867 / 52°59'12"N
Longitude: -3.5019 / 3°30'6"W
OS Eastings: 299274
OS Northings: 344316
OS Grid: SH992443
Mapcode National: GBR 6J.HV4F
Mapcode Global: WH66V.56P5
Plus Code: 9C4RXFPX+M6
Entry Name: Terraced Section of the Holyhead Road, with parapet and retaining wall
Listing Date: 1 April 1998
Last Amended: 1 April 1998
Grade: II
Source: Cadw
Source ID: 19589
Building Class: Transport
Also known as: The Holyhead Road: Ty Nant section
ID on this website: 300019589
The improvement of the London to Holyhead Road was undertaken by Thomas Telford, engineer, from 1819 to improve communications between London and Dublin. The poor state of the road to Ireland had exercised Parliament from before 1810, and a survey was carried out by Telford in 1811. Monies were granted following the setting up of a commission in 1815, but work on this section could not take place until the amalgamation of the seven existing turnpike trusts, authorised in 1819. The road was not completed until the opening of the Menai Bridge, and the construction of the 20-mile Anglesey section in 1828. Telford designed the road formation, and details of ancilliary structures including tollhouses and milestones, many of which still survive. Sections of the road were severely testing to the engineering abilities of Telford, one being this present section, where the road had to be carried on a cut-and-fill corniche through the gorge, at about 20m above the rapids of the Afon Ceirw. From the second outlook position, in 1854, George Borrow on his tour through Wales, was moved to remark that it was "one of the wildest and most beautiful scenes imaginable". A nearby plinth with a plaque commemorating this was unveiled on 24th July 1996.
Section of the old Holyhead Road, approximately 400m long, running along an engineered terrace above the gorge of the Afon Ceirw, above the Pen-y-bont falls. The road formation, recently cut off by a new cutting through the anticline, is 8m wide, with a continuous parapet wall on the outer edge rises directly from the slightly battered retaining wall, generally c5.5m high. The parapet connects with the S parapet of the listed Pont Glyn Diffwys at the N end, and has, from this end at approx. 146m, a narrow looped viewing point or outlook, and, at approximately 373m, a second cylindrical one 'a kind of looking-place...forming a half circle' above the 'profound ravine' (Borrow). The parapet is of stone, rebuilt in certain sections, but originally with stone on edge coping, mostly now replaced with a stone-aggregate concrete coping.
Included as a representative section of the Holyhead road, one of the first major road engineering schemes in Britain carried out on a national scale since the Roman period, and one where Telford's particular ingenuity was called upon. Also included as a well-known romantic spot, immortalised by George Borrow. Of group value with Pont Glyn-diffwys and the original milestone.
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.
Other nearby listed buildings
