The Elan Valley dams
The submerged dam
The location of
the Elan Valley dams
and reservoirs
is shown on the
sketch map.
The Careg-Ddu dam in the lower Elan Valley serves a dual role. It is a low, completely submerged dam which plays a vitial role in maintaining
a constant supply of water to
Birmingham. It also supports masonry pillars carrying the access
roadway to the neighbouring valley of the River Claerwen. The
image on the right is from a glass slide of 1901 which, though
of poor quality, shows the way in which dam and viaduct are combined
in a single structure.The original road leading to this valley was to be lost, along with many original buildings, with the completion of the Caban Coch dam and the subsequent flooding of the two valleys.
Careg-Ddu dam
looking upstream
towards the
Pen-y-Gareg
dam site
The
lower Elan Valley at the early stages of construction of the
Careg-Ddu dam and viaduct.(left)Cwm Elan house is just visible in the trees at centre left. Trackbeds of the railway lines used for carrying materials can be seen at different levels.
kind permission of
Radnorshire Museum,
Llandrindod Wells
on of the new Caban Coch reservoir
is matched closely by the picture (right) of the same
scene after the completion of the new dam and viaduct. During
the later stages of the dams scheme the viaduct temporarily carried
a railway track.The new Baptist church built by Birmingham Corporation is
in the foreground in the photograph above. This was to make good
the loss of the original church of
Nantgwyllt which lay lower down the valley towards Caban Coch.
The famous diva of the day, Madam Patti of Craig-y-Nos,
was to sing at the opening of the new church.
The site of the original Bethania Baptist chapel
lay very close to the viaduct on the nearside of the submerged
dam. This was to be replaced by a new chapel built near the permanent
stone-built Elan Village of today.
There are 2 pages on the Careg-Ddu dam.
