The Lost Cottages - Cedryn, Eigiau

It's been a long break since my last post. Then, I was going out sometimes with my husband and my nice camera. Since then I've taken up walking, usually taking photos with my phone rather than my DSLR. So, I've been taking a lot more photos that aren't such good quality. I'd like to get back into uploading on this blog, though, so I'm going to start uploading pictures I've taken over the last few years.

As I've been walking around my little spot of North Wales I've been taking photos of the abandoned cottages I come across. This seems the perfect place to keep them. My little place on the side of the Conwy Valley is scattered with decaying ruins, many of them hafods (summer farms) turned to year-round residences, which were then abandoned as time moved on. There are also industrial ruins everywhere, mostly from quarrying. For a time, the Carneddau would have been a noisy, busy place to be.

I visited Cedryn (OS reference SH 7198 6389), near Llyn Eigiau (a haunted place I've written about here), some time ago. There are a few houses clustered around this lake, one still in use, most abandoned. The place is reached along a single track road with a car park at the end, which turns into a gravel track with gates, from where you have to walk. There's a fairly good path all the way up to Cedryn, but it's marshy around the house. Mostly the ground is level, with only a few rises.

The track up to Llyn Eigiau, level and easily walked, heading towards the deliberately made breach in the dam.

Beyond the dam, the track becomes rougher, sometimes grassed like this, and sometimes a lot of bare, packed rock.

The track up to Cedryn is essentially a bog. Although this is high up on the side of the main Conwy Valley, perhaps it was relatively sheltered by the sides of the Eigiau valley.

Wild Carneddau ponies, and a foal, clustered near the house.

The cottage is run down but in much better shape than a lot of these houses. It bears evidence of having been acquired and partially renovated by someone, then abandoned again.

The name stencilled over the door - twice for good measure!

A wet suit, a fire extinguisher, notices - all signs that at some point this was used by an organisation of some sort.

More signs of renovation and abandonment.

All sorts of junk has built up inside. Motorbike magazines, lamps, sacking.

Window, glassed but shuttered. A home-made bong, a smoke grenade, and some kind of alcohol on the table. Fun times?

The original fireplace, with handy liquor cabinet above.

A door. This is rather self-explanatory.

Lovely slate flooring still intact, and a blanket if you're chilly.

Staircase still in good condition.

At the top of the stairs, onto the landing.

New or renewed wood partition for the bedroom. This is very much like a lot of local houses.

Under the eaves, upstairs.

More foam mattresses stacked up.

Signs of the roof being (relatively) recently renewed.

Maybe this was the naughty corner?

One of the upstairs doors. This house is in such good condition, it's a shame it's being left to ruin now.

The fireplace downstairs again, still with a chain for hanging your pot.

The errant smoke grenade. We informed police, so hopefully it's been removed.

Outside, one of the roughly built enclosures, and looking up the valley towards Cwm Eigiau.

I think this pipe coming through the wall might have been the water supply. It lines up with a spring further up the hill.

Bleak but beautiful.

The back of the house. The roof in good condtion, but starting to suffer from neglect.

Looking up the valley towards Cwm Eigiau, the high cliffs into which a WWII plane crashed, and the site of industrial workings, both of which will be featured in another post.

The end of the house, half-buried in the hill.

Goodbye to Cedryn. I hope someone takes over this place to record and care for it. It's a way of life lost.