Pont y Pair Rock Cannon, Betws-y-Coed

These rock cannon on the side of Afon Llugwy are ridiculously easy to find. They sit on the smooth rock near Pont y Pair (Bridge of the Cauldron) in Betws y Coed, only a few yards from the little car park on the other side of the road. There are three in all, the largest consisting of 53 holes connected by channels. The smallest is just seven holes. The other is 24 holes. Wikipedia asserts that, far from this middle cannon being 'just right,' it 'was constructed at a different time from the other two, and is of a poor design, the holes being bored into the cleavage plane.'

Rock cannon, as I've explained in a previous post, were made by miners and quarrymen for celebrations, by drilling holes into a rock and, often, connecting these with shallow channels. The holes were packed with gunpowder, and joined with a line of gunpower in the channels or sprinkled in lines of goose grease connecting the holes, so that the whole could be set off in sequence for a home-made firework display. Apparently some of these were so skillfully made that rudimentary tunes could be sounded out with the explosions, the timing being altered by the length of the channels connecting the holes.

The Pont y Pair rock cannon can be found easily by stepping down from the road towards the riverside where, in summer, they will most likely be covered with tourists visiting this popular beauty spot. I must have seen this rock cannon many times before, but not known what it was until now.

 

 

The fifty-three hole cannon is to the left-centre of this photo, ending near the man in the orange shirt. The medium on is on the rock to the right, where two men are sitting. The smallest one is outside the frame of this photo, to the left, nearer the road.

The fifty-three hole cannon, looking like some kind of constellation etched out in the stone.

At the top of the largest cannon is this triangular arrangement of holes.

This cannon looks quite messy and worn compared to others I've seen, but perhaps that's not surprising, given its position right on the edge of the Afon Llugwy, and subject to so much wear from visitors' shoes.

Closer down to the river the cannon disappears under silt and grit.

The later, twenty-four hole cannon, on top of a rock just upstream from the larger one.

 

 

I don't know what the exact issue is with the holes being 'bored into the cleavage plane,' but perhaps this is why there are so many fractured looking areas along the line of the cannon. Maybe the explosive power of the gunpowder blasted the stone apart. I imagine this would make the cannon dangerous, and only viable for use once.

The end (or start?) of the line of the medium rock cannon.

There's just something about these cannon that looks more messy and amateur than the others I've seen.

The third, smallest rock cannon is a very simple arrangement. Seven holes in a line, and nothing more.

We took the opportunity, while we were there, of a short walk up the riverside. We had a short time limit so we didn't go far, but it's a gentle stroll along wooden walkways and dirt paths. I would have liked to go as far as Miner's Bridge, which was washed away during storms earlier this year, to see it it's been replaced yet, but we didn't have time to go so far.

 

We would have liked to have continued along the path by the riverbank, but we didn't have time. 

 

Back near Pont y Pair, I waded over to the little island in the middle of the river. It was worth the wet shoes and trousers to relive the childhood fun of exploring this place.

From the end of the island you can stand right on the edge of the falls, for a wonderful view of the bridge.

There's a great tradition of jumping from the other side of this bridge into the deep waters below, but it's a dangerous pursuit, and disruptive to traffic - although probably not as disruptive as the groups of tourists who wander about in the road, ignoring the fact that cars need to get through. The sport is now prohibited, with big signs advertising this fact. I wonder if some people take that as a dare? 

The Lost Cottages - Rhiwddolion, Betws-y-Coed, Conwy Valley

The abandoned quarrying village of Rhiwddolion sits up in the hills above Betws y Coed in the Conwy Valley. In its heyday, the mid nineteenth century, the place boasted a number of clustered houses and a chapel which doubled as a school, all serving a small community of quarry workers. Now almost all the buildings are in ruin, with only a few surviving intact, including the chapel, as holiday cottages. The main terrace of houses can be found at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 7697 5571. It's hard to find information online about this place, but there is a little more history on this Daily Post page. 

This is a good walk from the valley, but it may be possible to drive much closer by using the forestry tracks that snake about the hills in that area. We were made nervous by not being sure which roads had public access, and tales of people becoming lost in the maze of roadways. If you drove up, the walk would be fairly easy, along a metalled road and across a field. Our route, along a footpath starting at a housing estate in Betws y Coed (Ordnance Survey: SH 7805 5662), took us up a fairly steep route of grassy and rocky tracks, including the Roman Road of Sarn Helen, before we met the gravel forestry tracks.

The Roman Road of Sarn Helen is named after the Welsh Saint Elen. In its time the road would have connected Aberconwy in the north with Carmarthen in the south-west.

Beautiful slate walls dripping with moss line the edges of the road. 

The first glimpse of Rhiwddolion, over a lovely flower filled meadow. The footpath cuts across this way towards the house in the distance, or you can continue on the road to the left. 

One of the houses on the hill, either occupied or used as a holiday cottage. It has the look of a farmhouse, unlike the other restored houses here, which are owned by the Landmark Trust. The ruined houses are visible on the left. 

Facades of the abandoned terrace of houses. It's hard to imagine them roofed and rendered, with people coming and going and children playing. 

Looking through the window into the room behind. Slate beams mean entrances and windows tend to survive longer than those with wooden beams.

A fireplace almost obscured by rubble from the fallen walls. Again, the heavy slate beam has survived much better than wood would, once exposed to the elements.

Another fireplace on the first floor, presumably heating a bedroom and using the same chimney as the larger fireplace downstairs. 

Ferns overtaking the ruins. 

A vast crack in one of the facades. 

Another fireplace with a rather lovely curved slate beam. 

This house stands separately from the little terrace, but very close to it. It seems of a higher status than the cramped cottages. 

When these slate walls fall they seem to fall as one, reproducing the wall again on the ground. 

Looking down into one of the houses from a little rise of land. 

Another first floor fireplace, this time with the bricks still in place.

The chimney stack above, still with render on it. 

I'm guessing the floor level has risen here, rather than this being a fireplace for the pobl bach (the Welsh fairy folk). 

Another collapsed wall in perfect formation. 

There are a number of these little outhouses behind the terrace, nested in the side of the hill. 

The outhouses truly are built into the hill, resembling entrances into some kind of mysterious underground labyrinth.

Looking through into the big house from behind. 

Another cottage on the other side of the road. 

The track leading past the cottages and away into the hills. 

I wonder if this house is independent of, and maybe older than, the quarry village. It reminds me forcefully of the farmhouse my husband grew up in, which was much older than the quarry houses.

A small outbuilding with another collapsed wall. 

This outbuilding is in good repair, but it looks like it's mostly used by sheep. 

A rusty tedder, once used for turning hay during the drying process. It would have been useful to have one of these when we tried our hand at haymaking. Turning with a pitchfork is back breaking work. 

A little stone bridge over to two of the Landmark Trust houses, set some way apart from the terrace. 

This house may give a better impression of what the other houses looked like originally. 

The same house from the front. A very simple single storey structure, familiar in the Welsh hills. 

Just up the hill is another of the Landmark Trust houses. 

More ruins on the track from the Landmark Trust, much more redolent of those low, long buildings than of the terrace on the hill. 

Very little is left of these houses. 

I think this is the chapel/school building, also owned and rented by the Landmark Trust as a holiday cottage, but I didn't feel comfortable going down to see the front in case the place was inhabited. 

For the benefit of those hoping to walk up from the small Betws housing estate we started from, this is the entrance to the footpath.