Posts Tagged ‘Wales’
Laburnum Arch, Bodnant Garden
Laburnum Arch, Bodant Garden
| Date | 8 June 2013 | ||
| Location | Bodnant Garden | SH 80019 72289 | 53.23402°N, 3.79903°W |
Tryfan
Leaping from Adam to Eve. These two monoliths at the summit of Tryfan are some 3m high and are visible from the valley floor, approximately 600m below.
| Date | 8 June 2013 | ||
| Location | Tryfan, Glyderau | SH 66386 59408; 53.11505°N, 3.99777°W | |
Carnedd y Filiast
View of the Glyderau mountain range from the summit of Carnedd y Filiast, looking from the southeast (left) to the southwest (right)
| Date | 7 June 2013 | ||
| Location | Carnedd y Filiast, Glyderau | SH 62046 62782; 53.14425°N, 4.06403°W | |
Marchlyn Mawr Dam
Tunnel, Marchlyn Mawr Dam
| Date | 7 June 2013 | ||
| Location | Marchlyn Mawr Dam, Glyderau | SH 61542 62585; 53.14236°N, 4.07148°W | |
Benglog Anti-tank Blocks
Anti-tank blocks, with Pen yr Ole Wen in the background
| Date | 1 June 2013 | ||
| Location | Benglog, Nant Ffrancon | SH 64749 60410; 53.12364°N, 4.02264°W | |
|
Information |
The anti-tank blocks and a spigot-mortar mount are located on the old coach road at the head of the Nant Ffrancon pass, close to the western end of Llyn Ogwen. These World War II anti-invasion defences formed part of Western Command’s network of stop lines in Wales.
|
||
Benglog Pillbox, Llyn Ogwen
Pillbox, looking towards Foel Goch
| Date | 1 June 2013 | ||
| Location | Benglog, Nant Ffrancon | SH 64787 60576; 53.12514°N, 4.02214°W | |
|
Information |
The pillbox is located close to the waterfalls on the Afon Ogwen at the head of the Nant Ffrancon pass, near the western end of Llyn Ogwen. The site was used previously as a sheep fold and the dry-stone structure has a thick interior lining of concrete. This position formed part of the network of World War II anti-invasion defences in the area. Pill Box, Bethesda (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales)
|
||
Rhaeadr Ogwen
Rhaeadr Ogwen
| Date | 1 June 2013 | ||
| Location | Benglog, Nant Ffrancon | SH 64768 60565; 53.12504°N, 4.02243°W | |
|
Information |
On leaving the western end of Llyn Ogwen, its main source, the Afon Ogwen plunges down a series of crags before continuing its journey along the glaciated valley of the Nant Ffrancon pass.
|
||
Pont Pen-y-benglog Spigot Mortar Mount
Steel boss – the pivot about which the mortar could rotate
| Date | 18 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Pont Pen-y-benglog, Llyn Ogwen | SH 64914 60484; 53.12434°N, 4.02021°W | |
|
Information |
With a conventional mortar, a tubular launcher fires the mortar bomb. In the case of a spigot mortar, however, a hollow tube in the projectile fits over a solid rod, or spigot, in the launcher. Featuring widely in British anti-invasion defences during World War II, the Blacker Bombard, or 29mm Spigot Mortar, was introduced in 1941. The mortar was equipped with both 20 lb anti-tank bombs and 14 lb anti-personnel bombs. The spigot mortar emplacement at Pont Pen-y-benglog is situated close to the A5 road near its crossing of the Afon Ogwen and formed part of the stop-line defences in the area.
|
||
Llyn Ogwen Pillbox II
Llyn Ogwen Pillbox
| Date | 18 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Llyn Ogwen | SH 65486 60489; 53.12454°N, 4.01166°W | |
|
Information |
|
||
Llyn Ogwen Pillbox I
Pillbox, looking over Llyn Ogwen towards Tryfan
| Date | 18 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Llyn Ogwen | SH 65486 60489; 53.12454°N, 4.01166°W | |
|
Information |
With the fall of France and the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force in 1940, Germany, in the hope that Britain would surrender, made threats of imminent invasion. Turning the initial bluff into reality would, however, have taken a certain period of preparation, as Britain’s naval and air forces presented a formidable obstacle to mounting the threatened ground assault (codenamed Operation Sea Lion). Nonetheless, in the face of such threats, Britain undertook a major programme of constructing anti-invasion defences during 1940 and 1941. This involved building a network of coastal defences, backed up by a series of ‘stop lines’. Exploiting both natural and man-made barriers, such as rivers and railway cuttings, the stop lines were intended to slow down the advance inland of any invading force. The stop lines were reinforced with additional obstacles such as anti-tank blocks, barbed-wire entanglements, ditches and minefields, and were defended by gun emplacements and pillboxes. The pillbox at Llyn Ogwen, protecting the A5 road, was part of Western Command’s network of stop lines in Wales, intended to defend against a possible German invasion coming via Ireland. British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War (Wikipedia)
|
||
Kashmir Goats, Pont Pen-y-benglog
Kashmir Goat, Pont Pen-y-benglog
| Date | 18 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Pont Pen-y-benglog, Llyn Ogwen | SH 64914 60484; 53.12434°N, 4.02021°W | |
Llanbeblig Public Cemetery, Caernarfon
Llanbeblig Cemetery, Caernarfon
| Date | 11 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Constantine Road, Caernarfon | SH 48728 62283; 53.13616°N, 4.26275°W | |
|
Information |
Eglwys Llanbeblig (St Peblig’s Church) was founded in the fifth century and the present-day church dates back to the fourteenth. There were subsequent additions to the building and it was restored in the late 19th century. The church is owned by the Church in Wales, and all services there are held in the Welsh language. The adjoining cemetery is thought to be located on the site of a Roman burial ground associated with the nearby Segontium fort, and indeed over the years several urns of burned bones have been uncovered when graves have been dug. The older part of cemetery has suffered from neglect with much of it being badly overgrown. Vandalism and other anti-social behaviours in the grounds have also been a serious problem. A new £9.3m, 450-pupil replacement building for primary school Ysgol yr Hendre opened in March 2012 on a site bordering the cemetery to the north. The council had intended to use a path through the cemetery as the main access route for pupils. These plans were, however, put on hold in the face of fierce local opposition on the grounds of both pupil safety and also the potential for disruption to the peace and quiet.
|
||
Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza II
Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza
| Date | 6 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Llandudno, Conwy County Borough | SH 78383 82247; 53.32312°N, 3.82735°W | |
|
Information |
Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza
|
||
Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza I
Traction engine
| Date | 6 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Llandudno, Conwy County Borough | SH 78383 82247; 53.32312°N, 3.82735°W | |
|
Information |
Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza is an annual three-day event held in the main street of the town over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Originally conceived and organised by the town council in 1986 as a means of boosting tourism, the event was later taken over by a volunteer-run company. In its early days, this Victorian-themed carnival featured traditional entertainments with many people wearing period costume. Over the years, however, the emphasis has shifted, with much of funding for the event now coming from modern funfair attraction operators. The Extravaganza is held in conjunction with the Llandudno Transport Festival, whose venue is the nearby Bodafon Fields in Craig y Don. Victorian Extravaganza (Official Site)
|
||
Bodnant Garden
Bodnant Garden
| Date | 6 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Bodnant Garden | SH 80019 72289 | 53.23402°N, 3.79903°W |
31 Maintenance Unit Depot, Rhiwlas
Concrete hut base, Rhiwlas 31 Maintenance Unit Depot (A)
| Date | 4 May 2013 | ||
| Location | Rhiwlas, Gwynedd |
(A) SH 57053 65347; 53.16598°N, 4.13977°W (B) SH 57562 65182; 53.16463°N, 4.13209°W (C) SH 57364 64918; 53.16221°N, 4.13493°W |
|
|
Information |
The explosives storage facility built by the Air Ministry at Rhiwlas was a sub unit of 31 Maintenance Unit Llanberis. The site, covering an area of approximately 60 hectares, comprised 25 timber-framed Laing huts. Following the collapse of part of the underground bomb store at Llanberis, 7,000 tons of explosives were re-located to the Rhiwlas depot in 1942. The site closed in 1953.
|
||
Footbridge, Afon Glaslyn, Llyn Dinas
Footbridge, Afon Glaslyn
| Date | 9 March 2013 | ||
| Location | Afon Glaslyn, Llyn Dinas, Beddgelert | SH 61174 49252; 53.02249°N, 4.07121°W | |
Llwyndu or Crib Ddu Copper Mine
Llwyndu Copper Mine – view from the mine manager’s house or office. The entrance to the stopes of the old workings can be seen above the spoil heap, top centre. The dressing floor, middle right, was where the ore was cobbed by a team of twenty girls.
| Date | 9 March 2013 | ||
| Location | Grib Ddu, Mynydd Sygyn, Beddgelert | SH 60567 48322; 53.01397°N, 4.07986°W | |
|
Information |
Llwyndu or Crib Ddu Copper Mine is located at the top of the hill above Sygun Copper Mine and was worked for a time as part of the Sygun enterprise. In fact, the company owning Sygun mine changed its name to the Llwyndu Mine Company in 1839. Llwyndu Mine was, however, only in operation for around nine years and the site was abandoned by 1844.
|
||
Sygun Copper Mine
Outbye, adit on an upper level above the show-mine section of the complex
| Date | 9 March 2013 | ||
| Location | Mynydd Sygyn, Beddgelert | SH 60528 48519; 53.01573°N, 4.08052°W | |
|
Information |
It is thought that mining for copper at Sygun in the Gwynant valley close to Beddgelert could have originated in Roman times. Recorded activity at Sygun Copper Mine, however, dates back to the 18th century. During the 19th century, the concern suffered various financial difficulties and changed ownership a number of times before finally closing in 1903. Part of the complex, from the Deep Adit up to the Victoria Level, was renovated as a show mine and opened to the public as a tourist attraction in 1986. Incidentally, at the end of the 19th century Sygun was one of the first mines in the world to make use of a revolutionary new method for separating minerals. An oil-based flotation process had been patented in 1869 by William Haynes, but it was the Elmore brothers who were the first to commercially develop an industrial-scale process. At the time, Stanley Elmore owned Sygun mine and his brother Frank patented their process in 1898. The basic principle of the process exploits the differences in hydrophobicity between the valuable metal sulphide and the gangue, or unwanted rock present in the ore. When a slurry of finely crushed ore, water and oil is agitated, the sulphides, having a greater affinity for oil than water, tend to accumulate in the former leaving the gangue in the latter. The sulphide-rich oil layer can then be separated off from which the concentrated ore is recovered. Sygun Copper Mine (Royal Commission on the ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales);
|
||
Neville Foulkes
Neville Foulkes exhibition, National Slate Museum
| Date | 3 March 2013 | ||
| Location | National Slate Museum, Llanberis | SH 58555 60290; 53.12095°N, 4.11508°W | |
|
Information |
Painter and sculptor John Neville Foulkes (1937-1997) was born and lived all his life in Llanberis. On leaving school, he found employment at Dinorwic Quarry, where he worked for many years. The exhibition at the National Slate Museum, which runs until 30 June 2013, features a small selection of Foulkes’ work, much of which was strongly influenced by his experience of working in the slate quarry. |
||
