The Aberglaslyn Pass (Welsh : Bwlch Aberglaslyn) is a narrow gorge of considerable beauty in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, north Wales. The A498 road/A4085 road follows a relatively level route along the Afon Glaslyn through the pass from Beddgelert to Prenteg and then continues at the edge of the Traeth Mawr via Tremadog to Porthmadog.
As recently as the early 19th century, the river Glaslyn was navigable for small boats at high tide as far as Pont Aberglaslyn, which is just one mile (1.6 km) south of Beddgelert, where a sixth-century monastery was succeeded in the twelfth by an Augustinian priory. In the Middle Ages Beddgelert was seen as a safe resting place before travelling further. The route from the coast via Beddgelert and overland to Caernarfon or Bangor via Llyn Cwellyn was often considered preferable to the long voyage round the Llŷn Peninsula. [1]
Pont Aberglaslyn is in the parish of Nantmor. From here to the sea, landowners have benefited significantly from the land reclamation made possible by the construction at Porthmadog in 1812 of the great embankment across the Traeth Mawr estuary, known as The Cob.
Pont Aberglaslyn has a bridge with a connection to the Devil. It is very similar to other Devil and bridge-related stories found throughout the British Isles. The Devil built the bridge on the understanding that he would receive the soul of the first living creature to cross over it. When the bridge was finished he went to the local inn (Y Delyn Aur) to inform the magician Robin Ddu that it was ready. Robin went to inspect the new bridge with a dog he lured from the pub with a fresh-baked loaf of bread. Upon seeing the bridge Robin asked the Devil whether it was sturdy and how much weight it could carry as he thought it might not even take the weight of the loaf he was carrying. The Devil was shocked and demanded that the magician throw his loaf onto the bridge to prove that it was indeed strong enough. So Robin threw the loaf onto the bridge and the dog chased it across the bridge, thus cheating the Devil of a human soul. Robin Ddu then returned to the pub to finish his drinking.
In another version of this tale, it is a local hotelier who asks Robin to aid him in constructing a bridge and as payment, Robin was to take the soul of the first living person that crossed it.
Robin Ddu or Black Robin the Magician, or more correctly Robin Ddu ap Siencyn Bledrydd of Anglesey, lived circa 1450. He was a poet and sometimes known as a prophetic poet, and about ninety of his pieces are still preserved on manuscripts. It would appear that Robin also pretended to be a sorcerer or wizard and he appears in many Welsh tales.
In the later 19th century, with the coming of the Cambrian Railways, numerous schemes were proposed for the construction of a railway to Beddgelert. Some were started and there are several examples of abandoned railway works in the past. One scheme eventually succeeded and the Welsh Highland Railway was opened in 1922 from Dinas near Caernarfon to Porthmadog. The railway was closed in 1937 and the rails requisitioned and removed for War Department use in 1941. The trackbed remained in the ownership of the receiver of the company, and an iron girder bridge was left.
Since then, the railway trackbed and its three tunnels had become a very popular path for walking and hiking. The longest tunnel was first built in 1906 but was not used by rail until 1922. Before the Cob was built, the Glaslyn estuary was tidal as far as Pont Aberglaslyn and the fisherman's path through the pass was used as a route to the coast. It gradually fell out of use and through erosion by the river, became impassable.
In 1995 and 1996, controversy ensued, as the Ffestiniog Railway was seeking to take ownership of the trackbed to rebuild the Welsh Highland Railway. Walkers and environmentalists claimed that an important footpath would be lost. However, having no real argument (given that the fisherman's path was still alongside the railway owned trackbed), they claimed that owing to danger from falling rocks the pass would be unsafe for trains. In order to meet these objections and fears, civil engineering consultants produced plans for remedial works to overhanging rock, retaining walls and paths and this work was done by local expert contractors. [2]
In the Autumn of 2000, the Welsh Highland Railway closed the trackbed to walkers in order to prepare for the rebuilding of the railway. The railway company, along with the National Trust, which owns the surrounding land, worked to rebuild the fisherman's path for use again.
In 2003, after some delay, a new footbridge was built across the river at Bryn-y-felin. Prior to this, in 1999, the old railway girder bridge had been removed, although even for some years before that its use as a footbridge had been banned. In March 2006 a replacement girder bridge was installed, this largely identical to the original bridge, which had laid unmaintained since 1936, and was consequently weak through corrosion – the original bridge (of a modular design intended for use in India) had never been painted and never had holes drilled for rain-water to drain away, despite both of these measures being suggested by the railway inspector in the 1920s, hence the advanced state of decay on this and two other identical bridges on the WHR by the time of their removal.
The public continued to unofficially use the trackbed and tunnels as a footpath until construction work on the railway made such use dangerous. Until that point, however, the railway had offered better views for walkers than the Fisherman's Path, plus the thrill of walking through the tunnels which also provided a more direct route to Nantmor car-park than the narrow and slippery Fisherman's Path.
Tracklaying progress on the railway reached the pass with the relaying of track across Bryn-y-felin bridge in August 2007, and by mid-October had already passed beyond the tunnels and the stretch of dramatic rock cuttings and embankments near Nantmor.
Beddgelert is a village and community in the Snowdonia area of Gwynedd, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2011 census was 455. and includes Nantmor and Nant Gwynant. It is reputed to be named after the legendary hound Gelert. The community is large and sparsely populated and covers 86 square kilometres.
The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) or Rheilffordd Eryri is a 25-mile (40.2 km) long, restored 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in narrow gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass. At Porthmadog it connects with the Ffestiniog Railway and to the short Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. In Porthmadog it uses the United Kingdom's only mixed gauge flat rail crossing.
The Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway (PB&SSR) was a 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in narrow gauge railway intended to connect Porthmadog with the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways link terminus at Rhyd Ddu. Although some of the line was constructed between 1901 and 1906, it never opened and eventually became part of the Welsh Highland Railway.
The Croesor Tramway was a Welsh, 2 ft narrow gauge railway line built to carry slate from the Croesor slate mines to Porthmadog. It was built in 1864 without an Act of Parliament and was operated using horse power.
Llyn Cwellyn is a reservoir in North Wales which supplies drinking water to parts of Gwynedd and Anglesey. It lies on the Afon Gwyrfai in Nant y Betws between Moel Eilio and Mynydd Mawr in the northern part of Snowdonia National Park. It has an area of 215 acres (0.87 km2), and is over 120 ft (37 m) deep. At the southern end is the small village of Rhyd Ddu.
Porthmadog Harbour railway station in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, North Wales. It is the passenger terminus of two narrow gauge railways: the Ffestiniog Railway, which was opened in 1836 to carry dressed slate from the Quarries around Blaenau Ffestiniog to the sea port of Porthmadog, for export by sea; and the Welsh Highland Railway, incorporated in 1923, which ran to Dinas. After rebuilding in 1997-2011, the other terminus is at Caernarfon, in sight of the Castle.
Rhyd Ddu is a station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway, which was built in 1881 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking to carry dressed slate to Dinas Junction on the LNWR. It has also previously been named both "Snowdon" and "South Snowdon".
Dinas is a station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway, which was built in 1877 as the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Moel Tryfan Undertaking to carry dressed slate for trans-shipment to the LNWR. Passenger services ceased on 26 September 1936 until which time Dinas had been a joint station, known as Dinas Junction with the LNWR and later the LMS. In 1951, British Railways closed their part of the station but the line through the station remained open until the line from Caernarvon to Afon Wen was closed in 1964. The trackbed was subsequently developed as the Lôn Eifion tourist cycle route.
The Afon Glaslyn is a river in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. While not of great significance in terms of its length, it is one of Gwynedd's primary rivers, and has greatly influenced the landscape in which it flows.
Meillionen railway station is a halt on the Welsh Highland Railway. It opened to the public when the section of line between Rhyd Ddu and Beddgelert re-opened on 8 April 2009.
Beddgelert railway station is a railway station on the narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway in North Wales.
Nant Gwynant is a valley in north Wales. The A498 road descends 600 feet (180 m) into the valley in about two miles from Pen-y-Gwryd; it follows the Nant Cynnyd, the Afon Glaslyn and alongside Llyn Gwynant, then beside the Nant Gwynant river to Llyn Dinas and passing below Dinas Emrys to Beddgelert. The road continues through the Aberglaslyn Pass to Porthmadog.
Pont Croesor is a railway halt in Wales, on the Welsh Highland Railway, which runs through the Snowdonia National Park from Caernarfon to Porthmadog. It is located on the section between the stations of Hafod y Llyn and Pen-y-Mount Junction.
Pen-y-Mount Junction station is the northern terminus of the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway (WHHR) in Porthmadog, Wales. With the opening of all three platforms, it has the most of any station in the Porthmadog area.
The A498 is a 16-mile road between Pen-y-Gwryd and Porthmadog in North Wales.
The A4085 is a 20-mile road between Caernarfon and Penrhyndeudraeth in North Wales that runs through the scenic Aberglaslyn Pass. There are several locations where the road is of substandard width.
The restoration of the Welsh Highland Railway has a colourful and complex history. This article provides the modern history.
The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway is a short reconstructed heritage railway in Gwynedd, Wales. Its main station is in Porthmadog.
Nantmor is a railway halt in North Wales serving the nearby hamlet of the same name. It is located between the stations of Beddgelert and Pont Croesor on the recently restored Welsh Highland Railway. It had existed during the first period of the WHR, 1923–1936, and was rebuilt for the current line, opening on 27 May 2010.