Content can be downloaded for non-commercial purposes, such as for personal use or in educational resources.
For commercial purposes please contact the copyright holder directly.
Read more about the The Creative Archive Licence.
Description
Click on image to enlarge and compare the photographs. The first photograph, taken on 11th July, 1963, shows a view of the vast earth dam under construction looking west. The construction yard and workers' housing are in the foreground, below the dam. Note on the left the trackbed of the former Bala & Festiniog Railway, closed in 1960 to enable the scheme to proceed, is in use as a construction road and on the right the old valley road, also by now used as a construction road, bisecting Hafod-fadog farmstead and the new, higher route adjacent.
The second photograph shows Tryweryn valley as it looks today. Built between 1960 and 1965, the regulating reservoir of Llyn Celyn was constructed as part of the Bala Lake Scheme in the River Dee catchment area to provide a constant supply of water for the City of Liverpool. An area of some 320ha was submerged under 81million cubic metres of water and the village of Capel Celyn and twelve farms were drowned by the reservoir, causing a great controversy at the time which still lingers today (read the story about the 'Cofiwch Dryweryn' wall, near Aberystwyth). Unusually for a reservoir intended for water supply, it also generates 4MW of electricity for the national grid.
Do you have information to add to this item? Please leave a comment
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to leave a comment