Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad

The 2'4" gauge Disgwylfa Tramroad ran from Baileys Nantyglo Ironworks to the limestone quarries at Disgwylfa on Llangattock Mountain. The tramroad was at work by 1813 and abandoned by the 1830s in favour of the Llangattock quarries. The parts of the route below the Merthyr to Abergavenny railway line (MTAR) and also between the Clydach bridge and Cairn Mound have completely disappeared but the rest of the line makes an excellent walk.The route through Brynmawr can be followed along the roads and but the clearest length of the tramroad begins to the Southeast of Cairn Mound Reservoir and runs across the remote moorland above the Llangattock Tramroad.

The Disgwylfa Tramroad, c1820

The Disgwylfa Tramroad, c1820

The Disgwylfa Tramroad, c1820

The Tramroad through Brynmawr

The route of the tramroad through the streets of Brynmawr is easily traced as it heads up into Clydach Dingle. Then the construction of the Heads of the Valleys road has obliterated it and only a strong imagination will reveal the route to Cairn Mound. This journey along the line starts at Welfare Park and ends near the point where the tramroad crossed the Clydach river. A garden beside the line in Clydach Street has been landscaped in its memory.

Tramroad at Welfare Park	Tramroad at Park Crescent	Tramroad at Windsor Road	Tramroad at Windsor Road
Tramroad at Well Street	Tramroad at Well Street	Tramroad at Well Street	Tramroad crossing King Street
Tramroad along Clydach Street	Tramroad along Clydach Street	Tramroad along Clydach Street	Tramroad along Clydach Street
Tramroad along Clydach Street	Disgwylfa Tramroad garden	Disgwylfa Tramroad garden	Disgwylfa Tramroad garden
Tramroad along Clydach Street	Tramroad along Clydach Street	Tramroad along Clydach Street	Tramroad along Clydach Street
Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	Beyond Clydach Street, Brynmawr	Tramroad to the Clydach bridge
Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	Tramroad to the Clydach bridge
Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	Tramroad to the Clydach bridge
Tramroad to the Clydach bridge	The site of the Clydach bridge	The Tramroad from Clydach Dingle

From Cairn Mound across Nant-yr-Hafod

From Cairn Mound the Tramroad is easy to see as it crosses Nant-yr-Hafod, not often easy to walk as it's very boggy in places. It will become more solid underfoot as you leave Nant-yr-Hafod.

Crossing Nant-yr-Hafod	Crossing Nant-yr-Hafod	Crossing Nant-yr-Hafod
Crossing Nant-yr-Hafod	Looking back from Nant-yr-Hafod

From Nant-yr-Hafod to the quarries

After Nant-yr-Hafod the tramroad is a good hardcore formation across the moors to the quarries.

Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad
Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad
Baileys Disgwlfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad	Baileys Disgwylfa Tramroad

The Disgwylfa Quarries - SO 2180 1430

The quarries are the home of 'The Lonely Shepherd', a limestone pillar visible for miles around. It was left by the quarrymen in the 1820s but has gathered a mystical significance since.

Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries
Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries
Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries
Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Quarries	Disgwylfa Tramroad West	Disgwylfa Tramroad West
Disgwylfa Quarries	Ty'r-ywen barn, Disgwylfa

The Llangattock Tramroad to Waun Watcyn

Coed Cae Mawr - SO 1983 1301

Ancient and modern workings to the North of the tramroad. Coed Cae Mawr worked an 18" seam on and off until the late 1980s or early 90s, leaving behind quite a bit of ironmongery around a corrugated iron shed.

Coed Cae Mawr dram	Coed Cae Mawr dram	Coed Cae Mawr flat wagon	Coed Cae Mawr haulage engine
Coed Cae Mawr haulage engine	Coed Cae Mawr haulage engine	Coed Cae Mawr haulage engine	Coed Cae Mawr haulage shed
Coed Cae Mawr screens	Coed Cae Mawr screens	Coed Cae Mawr screens	Coed Cae Mawr tippler
Coed Cae Mawr tippler	Coed Cae Mawr tramway	Coed Cae Mawr	Coed Cae Mawr
Coed Cae Mawr	Coed Cae Mawr

Cwm Nantmelin - SO 2001 1257

Cwm Nantmelin, 400 yds away from Coed Cae Mawr, worked around the end of the 19th C, leaving an interesting run of collapses running through the field behind the level.

Cwm Nantmelin upper level	Cwm Nantmelin lower level	Cwm Nantmelin aqueduct
Cwm Nantmelin aqueduct	Cwm Nantmelin tips

Pant-mawr Quarry - SO 2205 1310
Coed Pantydarren Quarry - SO 2200 1375

The monument stood beside the road near the quarries but has been vandalised and the ironwork stolen.

Pant-Mawr Quarry	Pant-Mawr Quarry and Ty-yn-y-coed	Ty-yn-y-coed embankment
Coed Pantydarren Quarry	Coed Pantydarren Quarry	Tramroad monument, 2006

Craig-y-gaer Quarry - SO 2240 1325

A very old, bench-worked quarry connected directly to the tramroad.

Craig-y-Gaer Quarry	Craig-y-Gaer Quarry	Craig-y-Gaer Quarry	Craig-y-Gaer Quarry limekiln
Craig-y-Gaer Quarry	Craig-y-Gaer Quarry	Craig-y-Gaer Quarry

Craig-y-gaer sewage tank or limekiln? - SO 2230 1307

This structure turns up on the 1899 OS map and is described as a sewage works of Brynmwr UDC with an aqueduct approaching it from Brynmawr. So it stays up to 1948 but on the 1965 map it's become a disused limekiln. It's on the side of a very steep hill, the inside is cylindrical rather than cone-shaped and there is no drawhole. So given the pipework coming down the valley past the Hafod Bridge, I think the original surveyors knew exactly what it was!

Craig-y-gaer sewage tank	Craig-y-gaer sewage tank	Craig-y-gaer sewage tank
Craig-y-gaer sewage tank	Craig-y-gaer sewage tank	Craig-y-gaer sewage tank

Llangattock Quarries and Incline

Coedcae Uchaf limekiln - SO 2147 1469

Coedcae Uchaf is where the Llangattock complex really gets started. There's a small limekiln in the quarry, you can see the pot but the drawhole has been covered. It's the site of 'Cymro', 'several cottages and gardens for which no rent is payable' according to the 1843 Tithe Map. This is where the Waun Watcin Tramroad to the Pant-y-rhiw quarries joined the main line to Nantyglo.

Coedcae Uchaf, 1880	'Cymro', Coedcae Uchaf
Coedcae Uchaf Limekiln	Coedcae Uchaf Limekiln	Coedcae Uchaf Limekiln

Waun Watcyn Tramroad - SO 2147 1469

One of the last developments was the Waun Watcyn Tramroad, which left the main line at Coedcae Uchaf and rose steadily to Pant-y-rhiw Quarry. On its way it crossed the Daren Quarry Tramroad and passed Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln and bins. A little further it arrived at the head of the Pant-y-rhiw Incline, which then became redundant, carrying on to Pant-y-rhiw Quarry. This tramroad appears to date from the 1840s and may well have been worked by locomotives.

Pant-y-rhiw, Llangattock, 1880	Waun Watcyn Tramroad	Waun Watcyn Tramroad	Waun Watcyn Tramroad
Waun Watcyn Tramroad	Waun Watcyn Tramroad	Waun Watcyn Tramroad	Waun Watcyn Tramroad
Waun Watcyn Tramroad	Waun Watcyn Tramroad	Waun Watcyn Tramroad

Pant-y-rhiw limekiln - SO 2051 1539

Pant-y-rhiw limekiln and storage bins sit just off the Waun Watcyn Tramroad. The limekiln is probably the older structure and has one drawhole with two access hatches. next are two or more bins and a large stone-built retaining wall, possibly a loading bank.

Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln	Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln	Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln	Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln
Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln	Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln	Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln	Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln
Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln	Pant-y-rhiw Limekiln

Daren Quarry - SO 2080 1525

Daren Quarry was the most Easterly of the quarries on the Llangattock escarpment, reached initially by an extension of the Disgwylfa Tramroad. Later it had a tramroad connection to the Pant-y-rhiw incline by a reversal and later by a link to the Waun Watcyn Tramroad.

Daren Quarry

Daren Quarry

Pant-y-rhiw Quarry - SO 2020 1565

Pant-y-rhiw Quarry was the terminus of the Waun Watcyn Tramroad.

Pant-y-rhiw Incline	Pant-y-rhiw Incline	Pant-y-rhiw water tank
Pant-y-rhiw Quarry	Pant-y-rhiw Quarry	Pant-y-rhiw Quarry
Pant-y-rhiw Quarry	Pant-y-rhiw tramplate and sill	Pant-y-rhiw tramplate and sill

Daren Cilau - SO 2010 1585

The main line of the Tramroad continued from Coedcae Uchaf below the Pant-y-rhiw quarries to Chwar Mawr. It passed a couple of small quarries and the early workings at Daren Cilau where the incline was situated.

Tramroad embankment	Waun Watcyn Quarry	Tramroad at Pant-y-rhiw	Tramroad at Pant-y-rhiw
Tramroad at Pant-y-rhiw	Quarry near the incline head	Quarry tips near the incline head	Tramroad near the incline head
Tramroad sleepers near the incline	Tramroad sleepers near the incline	Upper incline brakehouse	Upper incline from brakehouse

Chwar Mawr - SO 1930 1565

Chwar Mawr are the original workings at the West end of the Llangattock escarpment and were connected by a 'stone chute' to the tramroad to the canal. Later the incline was built to replace the stone chute and the workings were joined to the main tramroad.

Chwar Mawr Tramroad, 1880	Chwar Mawr Tramroad	Chwar Mawr Tramroad	Chwar Mawr Tramroad
Chwar Mawr Tramroad	Chwar Mawr Tramroad	Chwar Mawr Tramroad	Chwar Mawr Tramroad
Chwar Mawr Tramroad	Chwar Mawr Tramroad	Chwar Mawr Tramroad Terminus	Chwar Mawr Tramroad Terminus
Chwar Mawr Tramroad sleeper	Chwar Mawr 'stone chute'	Chwar Mawr 'stone chute'	Chwar Mawr 'stone chute'
Chwar Mawr Tramroad building

Llangattock Incline and Tramroad to the canal - SO 1995 1630

The incline and tramroad to the canal and its limekilns.

Llangattock Inclines, 1880	Llangattock Wharf, 1880
Upper incline brakehouse	Upper incline from brakehouse	Upper incline looking down
Lower incline looking up	Tramroad to Llangattock wharf	Tramroad towards inclines
The tramroad bath house	Llangattock Tramroad sleepers	Llangattock wharf and limekilns