![FR Cob view inland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/FR_Cob_view_inland.jpg)
Traeth Mawr (
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
for "large beach") is a
polder
A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are:
# Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed
# Flood plains s ...
near
Porthmadog
Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...
in
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 ...
in
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 ...
. The area was formerly the large tidal
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
of the
Afon Glaslyn
The Afon Glaslyn (English, ''River Glaslyn'') is a river in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. While not of great significance in terms of its length (about ), it is one of Gwynedd's primary rivers, and has greatly influenced the landscape in which it ...
. It was created after large-scale land reclamation occurred in the late 18th century and the early 19th century. A large embankment, called the Cob, separates the area from the sea and carries a road and railway line.
History
Early years
![Bus crossing the Cob, Porthmadog, Gwynedd - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Bus_crossing_the_Cob%2C_Porthmadog%2C_Gwynedd_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2423698.jpg)
The original estuary of the ''Afon Glaslyn'' was a dangerous place; many people were said to have died in the
quicksand
Quicksand is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that los ...
s trying to cross the Traeth Mawr. In the late 18th century, various
landowners around the edge of the estuary began to systematically
reclaim
Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back".
It may refer to:
* Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds
* Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid ...
land of between and . Between 1770 and 1800 this resulted in the creation of about of new land.
Around 1798,
William Madocks
William Alexander Madocks (17 June 1773 – 15 September 1828) was a British politician and landowner who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Boston in Lincolnshire from 1802 to 1820, and then for Chippenham in Wiltshire from ...
bought the Tan-yr-Allt estate near Penmorfa Marsh. Soon afterwards he reclaimed an area of sand from the sea and the river by building a
earthen bank from
Prenteg
Prenteg is a hamlet that lies from Porthmadog, Wales, between Tremadog and Beddgelert
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, a ...
to Clog-y-Berth (now Porthmadog). The township of
Tremadog
Tremadog (formerly Tremadoc) is a village in the community of Porthmadog, in Gwynedd, north west Wales; about north of Porthmadog town-centre. It was a planned settlement, founded by William Madocks, who bought the land in 1798. The centre of ...
was founded within the new area. A wooden-tracked railway was used in the dyke's construction. The rails were later used by the
Croesor Tramway
The Croesor Tramway was a Welsh, 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.
The tramway was absorbed into ...
.
Completion
In 1807 Madocks obtained a
Private Act of Parliament
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...
permitting him to complete the reclamation of Traeth Mawr. Between 1808 and 1811 an
embankment
Embankment may refer to:
Geology and geography
* A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea
* Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...
called "the Cob" was constructed from the island of ''Ynys Towyn'' (now part of
Porthmadog
Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...
) to
Boston Lodge
Boston Lodge is situated at Penrhyn Isa, Minffordd, Penrhyndeudraeth, on the A487 road about 1 mile SE across the Afon Glaslyn causeway from Porthmadog, Gwynedd in north-west Wales.
It has a station on the Ffestiniog Railway and is the loc ...
in the
Meirionnydd
Meirionnydd is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a kingdom, a cantref, a district and, as Merionethshire, a county.
Kingdom
Meirionnydd (Meirion, with -''ydd'' as a Welsh suffix of land, literally ''Land adjoined to Meirio ...
. The massive stone-lined earthwork was long, wide at the bottom, tapering to at the top, which was above the level of the river. The work completed the reclamation of of Traeth Mawr.
Soon after completion in 1812, the embankment was breached in a violent storm. Repairs were completed by the end of September 1814. Although the original estimate to complete The Cob was
£23,500 (£16.9million in 2014), it eventually cost Madocks
£60,000 (£43.3million in 2014) to finish. At its seaward end, Traeth Mawr joins "Traeth Bach" ("little sands"), the estuary of the
Afon Dwyryd
The River Dwyryd ( cy, Afon Dwyryd, meaning a river of two fords) is a river in Gwynedd, Wales which flows principally westwards; draining to the sea into Tremadog Bay, south of Porthmadog.
Geography
The Dwyryd rises in the hills to the north of ...
.
Transport
In 1836, the
Ffestiniog 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 ...
began using The Cob when it built a
tramroad
A plateway is an early kind of railway, tramway or wagonway, where the rails are made from cast iron. They were mainly used for about 50 years up to 1830, though some continued later.
Plateways consisted of "L"-shaped rails, where the flange ...
to transport
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
from the quarries around the inland town of
Blaenau Ffestiniog
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,00 ...
to
Porthmadog
Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...
where it was loaded onto
ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
s. Empty wagons were hauled back up to the quarries by
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
s. Loaded
dandy waggon
The dandy waggon is a type of railway carriage used to carry horses on gravity trains. They are particularly associated with the narrow gauge Festiniog Railway (FR) in Wales where they were used between 1836 and 1863.
The challenge
The cha ...
s used
gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
to run downhill from Blaenau Ffestiniog to the port across The Cob. After a number of trials and some modifications, the line was upgraded to a
narrow gauge railway
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 structur ...
in 1863. In 1927 the Cob was breached again, and took several months to repair.
A carriageway was also constructed at a lower level on the inland side to take a public highway. Until September 2003, when The Cob was bought by the
Welsh Assembly Government
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
, all vehicles crossing the embankment were required to pay a
toll
Toll may refer to:
Transportation
* Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway
** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use
** Road toll (historic), the historic practice of charging for road use
** Shadow toll, ...
. The collection of fees often caused
traffic jam
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...
s at peak holiday travel times: it was not exceptional for queues to back up to in each direction. In 2002, the highway across the Cob was widened while a separate path was added for walkers and cyclists. The pedestrian route now forms part of
Lôn Las Cymru, the national cycle route from
Holyhead
Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
to
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
.
In 2010 work started on the Porthmadog, Minffordd and Tremadog bypass to reduce the amount of through traffic in the town.
Welsh Assembly Government : ''A487 Porthmadog, Minffordd and Tremadog Bypass''
/ref> On completion the original course of 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 i ...
across ''The Cob'' was renumbered as the A4971.
In 2012, of the embankment were widened on the seaward side of the Porthmadog end to allow a second platform to be constructed at the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway's Harbour Station.
Bibliography
*
Google Earth view of Porthmadog and Traeth Mawr
Google Earth ground-level view across Traeth Mawr
References
{{Commons category, Traeth Mawr
Polders
Coast of Gwynedd