Tunnel Portal and Tunnel, Llanllyfni, Gwynedd

Coordinates

Latitude: 53.0568 / 53°3'24"N

Longitude: -4.2419 / 4°14'30"W

OS Eastings: 249846

OS Northings: 353407

OS Grid: SH498534

Mapcode National: GBR 5K.CG1F

Mapcode Global: WH43T.TF7G

Plus Code: 9C5Q3Q45+P6

Entry Name: Tunnel Portal and Tunnel

Listing Date: 21 July 2000

Last Amended: 21 July 2000

Grade: II

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 23689

Building Class: Industrial

ID on this website: 300023689

Location: Located in the hillside to the north of Talysarn Hall.

County: Gwynedd

Community: Llanllyfni

Locality: Nantlle

Traditional County: Caernarfonshire

Tagged with: Tunnel Railway tunnel

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Nantlle

History

The Nantlle Railway Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1825 and opened in 1828. It was promoted by a group of slate quarry owners in the Nantlle vale to improve the transport of their products to the port at Caernarfon, following the construction of similar narrow gauge railways from the Bethesda and Llanberis Quarries to Penrhyn and Port Dinorwic respectively. The tramway was of 3ft 6in (1.07m) gauge and operated by horses until much of it was converted to standard gauge and incorporated into the main national railway network in the later C19. A short section of the line above Talysarn remained as a horse-drawn tramway until 1963. The tunnel itself is a late C19 structure, built in the later C19 to allow waste from the Talysarn Quarry to be tipped above. As the tip encroached further the line was diverted to a more southerly route, immediately behind Talysarn Hall, and the west portal of the tunnel is no longer visible. This diversion had been made by 1889 when it appears on the Ordnance Survey map of that date.

Exterior

Eastern tunnel portal built of squared slate rubble. Semi-circular arch with slate voussoirs, above which are a string course and parapet.

Interior

Not inspected at time of survey.

Reasons for Listing

Included as a substantial structure on the Nantlle Railway, an important early horse-drawn tramway, the tunnel itself is particularly significant for the evidence it provides of the massive expansion of the Dorothea and Talysarn Slate Quarries during the C19.

External Links

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History in Structure

Tunnel Portal and Tunnel

A Grade II Listed Building in Llanllyfni, Gwynedd