Derwenlas is a

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 ...

in northern

Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...

, Wales. It is part of the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

Cadfarch Cadfarch is a community a few miles to the south and southeast of Machynlleth in Powys (previously Montgomeryshire) in Wales. The community's western and southern border is with the neighbouring county of Ceredigion, while the northwest corner tou ...

. Part of the historic county of

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire, also known as ''Maldwyn'' ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after its county tow ...

(Sir Drefaldwyn) from 1536 to 1974, it lies on 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 ...

and was once a port serving the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

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 ...

. Derwenlas lies on 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 ...

trunk road from Machynlleth to

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

Corris Railway

The narrow-gauge

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, ru ...

(opened 1859) carried

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

Corris Corris is a village in the county of Gwynedd, Wales, about north of the town of Machynlleth. The village lies on the west bank of the Afon Dulas (which here forms the boundary with Powys), around that river's confluence with the Afon Deri. Its ...

and

Aberllefenni Aberllefenni is a village in the south of Gwynedd, Wales. It lies in the historic county of Merionethshire/ Sir Feirionnydd, in the valley of the Afon Dulas, and in the Community of Corris. Government The village has a community council. The ...

to the riverside quays here, including Cei Ellis and Cei Tafarn Isa, where it was loaded into ships for onward shipment. In 1863, the

Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway The Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway was a standard gauge railway company, running a line along the west coast of Wales. The railway was planned to run between Anglicised place name spellings were used during most of the history of the line ...

extended the standard-gauge rails west of Machynlleth and, on reaching Derwenlas, built the new line across the bend of the river by filling in the channel and creating a new course for the Dyfi, in the process cutting off Derwenlas' quays from the river channel and killing off the port. The tramroad was planned to continue to Cei Ward at

Morben Morben is a hamlet in northern Powys, Wales. Part of the historic county of Montgomeryshire ( Sir Drefaldwyn) from 1536 to 1974, it lies on the Afon Dyfi and was once the home of a number of riverside quays, including Cei Ward and Y Bwtri. The s ...

but this section was probably never built. The entire section west of Machynlleth was abandoned and slate was instead trans-shipped to mainline trains.

References

External links

Photos of Derwenlas and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
Villages in Powys Corris Railway {{Powys-geo-stub