Ffridd Gate was a station on the

Corris Railway The Corris Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Corris) is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire (now Gwynedd) and Montgomeryshire (now Powys) in Mid-Wales. The line opened in 1859 as a horse tramway, runni ...

Merioneth , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

(now

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

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 ...

, UK. It was built at the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

over the B4404 road to Llanwrin, near the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of ''Fridd''. A small hamlet also grew up around the station and a nearby (pre-existent) toll-house. The hamlet and former station are near to the confluence of the

Afon Dulas The Afon Dulas, or North Dulas, is a river forming the border between Merionethshire/Gwynedd and Montgomeryshire/Powys in Wales. Another river called Afon Dulas joins the Dyfi from the south, upstream of its confluence with the North Dulas: loca ...

and the

River Dyfi The River Dyfi ( cy, Afon Dyfi; ), also known as the River Dovey (; ), is an approximately long river in Wales. Its large estuary forms the boundary between the counties of Gwynedd and Ceredigion, and its lower reaches have historically been c ...

, around west of the village of

Llanwrin Llanwrin () is a small village in the valley of the Afon Dyfi in Powys about two miles north-east of Machynlleth. History and background Historically, it was in the county of Montgomeryshire ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn). The village is named after it ...

and north of the town of

Machynlleth Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a popul ...

History

Around 1830 a

toll house A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road, canal, or toll bridge. History Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and ...

was built at Ffridd Gate to control the south end of the turnpike road to

Dolgellau Dolgellau () is a town and community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Merionethshire ( cy, Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd) un ...

- now the

A487 The A487, officially the Fishguard to Bangor Trunk Road, is a trunk road in Wales that follows the coast from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in the south, to Bangor, Gwynedd, in the north. Route The road starts at a junction with the A40 in ...

. When the

Corris, Machynlleth & River Dovey Tramroad The Corris Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Corris) is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire (now Gwynedd) and Montgomeryshire (now Powys) in Mid-Wales. The line opened in 1859 as a horse tramway, runni ...

was built in 1859, it crossed the road to Llanwrin (now the B4404) and passed on the east side of the tollhouse before entering Ffridd Wood. The station, built in 1885, was on the south side of the level crossing and had a simple wooden shelter for passengers. There was no platform.

Positioning

South of the station was the railway's bridge over the Dyfi, originally a wooden

trestle ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Laborato ...

construction and later a three-span steel bridge. The site of the bridge is now occupied by the Millennium Bridge for walkers and cyclists, providing a short-cut to

. The

Centre for Alternative Technology The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) ( cy, Canolfan y Dechnoleg Amgen) is an eco-centre in Powys, mid-Wales, dedicated to demonstrating and teaching sustainable development. CAT, despite its name, no longer concentrates its efforts exclu ...

lies about a mile north of the hamlet.

Description

References

External links

The Fridd-Gate tollhouse's entry
on the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW)'
website

Centre for Alternative Technology

Eco Dyfi Valley Partnership
Disused railway stations in Gwynedd Corris Railway Corris Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1887 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1931 {{gwynedd-geo-stub