Llyn Cowlyd is the deepest
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
in northern
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It lies in the
Snowdonia National Park
Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951.
Name and extent
It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...
at the upper end of Cwm Cowlyd on the south-eastern edge of the
Carneddau
The (lit. 'the cairns'; is a Welsh plural form, and is sometimes anglicised to ''Carnedds'') are a group of mountains in Snowdonia, Wales. They include the largest contiguous areas of high ground (over or high) in Wales and England (although l ...
range of mountains, at a height of above sea level. The lake is long and narrow, measuring nearly long and about a third of a mile (500 m) wide, and covers an area of . It has a mean depth of and at its deepest has given soundings of , this being some greater than its natural depth, the water surface having been raised twice by the building of dams.
The surrounding hills drop steeply to the water's edge, from
Cefn Cyfarwydd
Cefn Cyfarwydd is a ridge in Conwy county borough, north Wales. It is located above the village of Trefriw on the western side of the Conwy valley, and dramatically separates Cwm Cowlyd and the rugged mountains of the Carneddau from the ...
and
Creigiau Gleision to the east, and
Pen Llithrig y Wrach
Pen Llithrig y Wrach is a mountain peak in Snowdonia, Wales. It is one of the four Marilyns that make up the Carneddau range. To the east is Creigiau Gleision, another Marilyn, while to the west is Pen yr Helgi Du and Carnedd Llewelyn. Crai ...
to the west, and as a consequence have not been forested in the 20th century, as were the slopes of neighbouring
Llyn Crafnant
Llyn Crafnant is a lake that lies in a valley in Wales where the northern edge of the Gwydir Forest meets the lower slopes of the Carneddau mountains and, more specifically, the ridge of Cefn Cyfarwydd. The head of the valley offers a profile of ...
. Indeed, there is not a tree to be seen, and the general aspect is one of bleakness. Dependent on the weather conditions, the waters often appear dark.
The supply of water to Llyn Cowlyd is assisted at its south-western end by a leat which runs roughly east–west along the 1370-foot contour to the south and west of the lake, along the Llugwy valley. It is also fed by water from
Llyn Eigiau
Llyn Eigiau is a lake on the edge of the Carneddau range of mountains in Snowdonia, Conwy, Wales. The name ''Eigiau'' is thought to refer to the shoals of fish which once lived here. Early maps refer to it as ''Llynyga''. It is thought that ...
.
Llyn Cowlyd can be reached by road from
Trefriw
Trefriw () is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It lies on the river Crafnant in North Wales, a few miles south of the site of the Roman fort of Canovium, sited at Caerhun. At the last three censuses the population of the ...
, some to the east, although the metalled road stops at a gate, the best part of a mile from the lake itself, beyond which private vehicles are not permitted. Llyn Cowlyd can also be reached by foot from
Capel Curig
Capel Curig (; meaning " Curig's Chapel") is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. Historically in Caernarfonshire, it lies in the heart of Snowdonia, on the River Llugwy, and has a population of 226, reducing slightly to 206 ...
, some away, from the ridge of Cefn Cyfarwydd, or from above Dolgarrog. A good path runs along the north-western shore of the lake.
The stream which flows from Llyn Cowlyd is called
Afon Ddu. This flows into the
river Conwy
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, passing
Pont Dolgarrog on the
B5106 road
B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in G ...
, just south of the village of
Dolgarrog
Dolgarrog is a village and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales, situated between Llanrwst and Conwy, very close to the Conwy River. The village is well known for its industrial history since the 18th century a ...
. The gorge cut by the river at this point is popular for gorge walking.
Origins of the name
![Llyn Cowlyd Reservoir Dam - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Llyn_Cowlyd_Reservoir_Dam_-_geograph.org.uk_-_209477.jpg)
Some sources state that the name Cowlyd comes from "Cawlwyd" or "Cawllwyd". Algernon Herbert's book ''Britannia after the Romans'' refers to Caw, Lord or Chieftain of Cwm Cawllwyd. "Cwm Cawllwyd" could therefore translate as ''The Cwm of Grey Caw''.
Further research suggests that the name might derive originally from Caw ap Geraint Llyngesog ab Erbin ap Custennin Gorneu ap Cynfor ap Tudwal, the famous warrior who features in
Culhwch and Olwen
''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the Whit ...
. Caw's son Celyn ap Caw had a watchtower, Tŵr Celyn, near the Copper mountain, on Anglesey.
The
Ordnance Survey
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map of 1841 records the name as "Cwlyd", as does the ''National Gazetteer'' of 186
ref name="Cowlyd" />
Reservoir
The lake is a
Reservoir (water), reservoir, providing water for the towns of
Conwy
Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy on ...
and
Colwyn Bay
Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...
, having been purchased for £55,000 by the Conway and Colwyn Bay Joint Water Supply Board, a joint authority set up in 1891, via a pipe network some long. However, these pipes are underground, their presence only given away by the chamber covers at Siglen, and the occasional isolated pump-house along the route. These water supply pipes should not be confused with the large (5 ft 10 in diameter) black pipeline which runs for 5 miles from the dam to
Dolgarrog
Dolgarrog is a village and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales, situated between Llanrwst and Conwy, very close to the Conwy River. The village is well known for its industrial history since the 18th century a ...
, and serves the power station there,
RWE Innogy - Dolgarrog site
built in 1925, to support the aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
works. During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
a shepherd called Wil Roberts was paid a nominal sum of money to check the pipeline for bomb damage or any signs of sabotage. His only find was a crashed Anson Anson may refer to:
People
* Anson (name), a give name and surname
** Anson family, a British aristocratic family with the surname
Place names
;United States
* Anson, Indiana
* Anson, Kansas
* Anson, Maine
** Anson (CDP), Maine
* Anson, Missouri
* ...
aircraft in February 1944. The water mains from Cowlyd are interconnected by means of cross-overs at various points with those which were laid by the Llandudno Improvement Commissioners (later duplicated by the Llandudno Urban District Council) from their source, Llyn Dulyn. This was to provide continuity of supply to each reticulation in case of emergency. In 1965, local water undertakings were grouped together under the control of the Conway Valley Water Board, whose Engineer and Manager, Joseph M. Campbell, was the last Engineer to Conway and Colwyn Bay Joint Water Supply Board. Since the 1990s, the Llandudno system has been supplied from Cowlyd when Dulyn transferred for generating purposes.
Llyn Cowlyd is one of two reservoirs which supply hydro-electricity to the aluminium works at Dolgarrog. The other is Llyn Eigiau, which was physically connected to Llyn Cowlyd by a tunnel in 1919, and this is the water which flows into the lake by the dam. Water also flows from Llyn Eigiau more directly to Dolgarrog via Afon Porth-llwyd
Afon Porth-llwyd is a river in Snowdonia in north-west Wales. It flows from Llyn Eigiau on the south-eastern edge of the Carneddau range to join the river Conwy.
Its waters are trapped at Coedty reservoir before flowing down to pass under Pont ...
and Coedty reservoir
Coedty Reservoir is a reservoir in Snowdonia, North Wales. It is fed by the waters of Afon Porth-llwyd which flows from Llyn Eigiau. The reservoir lies at a height of , and measures some in size. It contains brown trout.
The original dam was ...
. Llyn Eigiau lies a mile to the north of Llyn Cowlyd, and its water rights were at the time owned by the Aluminium Corporation Limited.
The history of electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
production at Dolgarrog is tied up with that of Henry Joseph Jack (1869-1936), who was chairman of the North Wales Power and Traction Co. Ltd
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
, and who had a dream of using this new power source to power the narrow gauge railways in North Wales. The NWPTC was the company behind the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway
The Porthmadog, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway (PB&SSR) was a 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 1 ...
(to later become the Welsh Highland Railway
The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) or Rheilffordd Eryri is a long, restored narrow gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations in ...
) and he became Chairman of the Festiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Ffestiniog) is a heritage railway based on narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park.
The railway is roughly long an ...
during July 1921, putting him in control of all the passenger carrying narrow-gauge railways of that part of North Wales. In addition to this, in 1922 he became a director of the Snowdon Mountain Railway
The Snowdon Mountain Railway (SMR; cy, Rheilffordd yr Wyddfa) is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is a tourist railway that travels for from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon, the highest pea ...
which was also part of the Dolgarrog empire.
Dam
The first dam at Llyn Cowlyd was constructed by the Conway and Colwyn Bay Joint Water Supply Board and completed in 1897. Built as an earthwork with a core of concrete and clay puddle, it was 528 feet (161m) long and impounded 13 feet (4m) of water (70,000,000 gallons).
The present dam at the north-eastern end of Llyn Cowlyd is 45 feet high (14m) consisting of a rock and earth embankment with a concrete core. A concrete and stone apron protects the dam from wave action, which comes from the direction of the prevailing winds. The dam, which was built some 300 yards (274m) downstream of the lower, earlier one, was completed in 1921, and was officially opened on 20 September 1922.
During construction of Cowlyd dam, electricity for the winches was provided by the North Wales Power and Traction Co. Ltd's power station at Cwm Dyli
Cwm Dyli is the location of a hydro-electric power station on the southern flank of the Snowdon range in North Wales. At the time it was built, it was the largest hydro-electric power station in the United Kingdom. It is Britain's oldest power st ...
, near Snowdon
Snowdon () or (), is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park (') in Gwynedd (historic ...
. The remains of the pole route along the western shore of the lake can be seen today.
Stone for the dam came from an adjacent quarry, some mile to the north of the dam site. A short incline was constructed for transfer of stone, and it ran directly from the quarry down to the dam. Remains today suggest that this was poorly constructed, but its line is easily followed, and is clearly evident from, for instance, the summit of Creigiau Gleision. A later vehicle route also winds from the dam to the quarry. Remains of the winding drum can still be seen.
Construction workers lived in wooden barracks, a number of which afterwards found their way back to the Trefriw and Dolgarrog area to be converted into homes, and are still lived in.
Llyn Cowlyd Tramway
Construction of the dam was assisted by the construction of a narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
2 ft (610 mm) gauge railway line, known as the Llyn Cowlyd Tramway, which was used to convey men and materials to the reservoir for construction and subsequent maintenance purposes. The line ran from near Coedty reservoir
Coedty Reservoir is a reservoir in Snowdonia, North Wales. It is fed by the waters of Afon Porth-llwyd which flows from Llyn Eigiau. The reservoir lies at a height of , and measures some in size. It contains brown trout.
The original dam was ...
, above Dolgarrog, up as far as the dam. This tramway was essentially a branch line of the Eigiau Reservoir Tramway, laid to aid construction of the dam at nearby Llyn Eigiau
Llyn Eigiau is a lake on the edge of the Carneddau range of mountains in Snowdonia, Conwy, Wales. The name ''Eigiau'' is thought to refer to the shoals of fish which once lived here. Early maps refer to it as ''Llynyga''. It is thought that ...
.
Failure of the dam
During a storm on 31 December 1924, there was a partial failure of the dam when the downstream side was washed out. The damage was kept fairly secret, and rebuilding it provided more useful work for the tramway.
This partial dam failure of the Cowlyd Dam should not be confused with that of the Dolgarrog Disaster of 1925, when the failure of the Eigiau Dam released water which went on to overtop the Coedty Dam, above Dolgarrog. This second dam also failed, releasing the huge volume of water that flooded Dolgarrog, killing 16 people.
Fishing
Fly fishing (by permit) is permitted in the lake, which contains brown trout
The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...
and Arctic char
The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populatio ...
, originally taken from Llyn Peris, in Llanberis
(; ) is a village, community and electoral ward in Gwynedd, northwest Wales, on the southern bank of the lake and at the foot of Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. It is a centre for outdoor activities in Snowdonia, including walking, mo ...
, when that lake was drained as part of the construction of Dinorwig Power Station
The Dinorwig Power Station (; ), known locally as Electric Mountain, or Mynydd Gwefru, is a pumped-storage hydroelectric scheme, near Dinorwig, Llanberis in Snowdonia national park in Gwynedd, north Wales. The scheme can supply a maximum power ...
.
Myths and fables
According to the ''Mabinogion
The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...
'', the most ancient of Celt
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
ic literature written in the 14th century in the Red Book of Hergest
The ''Red Book of Hergest'' ( cy, Llyfr Coch Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111) is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preser ...
, but orally dating back much further, the area was inhabited by more wildlife than seems to be there today. In one of the oldest stories, namely Culhwch and Olwen
''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the Whit ...
, Culhwch is obliged to perform some difficult labours, as set by the giant Ysbaddaden in order to win the hand of his daughter Olwen in marriage. In a smart move, Culhwch recruits King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
, his first cousin. One of the tasks is to find the lost Mabon, son of Modron, and a number of mythical beasts are consulted, one of whom is the Owl of Cwm Cowlyd. The owl narrates the history of its Cwm, and if any of it is to be believed, it confirms that the valley was once wooded (as was most of Snowdonia
Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951.
Name and extent
It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...
), but that the first clearing took place much earlier than mediaeval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
times, which is more unusual.
The following extract is taken from the ''Mabinogion'':
Another myth is that of the water bull who appears from the depths with "fiery horns and hoofs with flames issuing out of its nostrils".
Other tales talk of solitary walkers who have been dragged to their death, and of fairies, namely the Welsh ''Tylwyth Teg''.
Poetry
The poet R. S. Thomas
Ronald Stuart Thomas (29 March 1913 – 25 September 2000), published as R. S. Thomas, was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest ( Church of Wales) noted for nationalism, spirituality and dislike of the anglicisation of Wales. John Betjeman, introduc ...
makes reference to the ''Mabinogion''s Owl of Llyn Cowlyd in his poem "The Ancients of the World".
Gwilym Cowlyd (1828–1904), whose real name was William John Roberts, was a native of Trefriw, and one of the more colourful figures in Welsh culture and the Welsh Eisteddfod
In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music.
The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...
. His bardic name was taken from neighbouring Llyn Cowlyd.
References
*''The Lakes of North Wales'' by Jonah Jones
Jonah Jones (born Robert Elliott Jones; December 31, 1909 – April 29, 2000) was a jazz trumpeter who created concise versions of jazz and swing and jazz standards that appealed to a mass audience. In the jazz community, he is known for his w ...
, Whittet Books Ltd, 1987
*''The Lakes of Eryri'' by Geraint Roberts, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 1985
External links
The Mabinogion
Trefriw Trails - a walk to Llyn Cowlyd
The Dolgarrog Disaster
{{authority control
Dolgarrog
Trefriw
Cowlyd
Cowlyd