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Bryn Oer Tramroad

Bryn Oer Tramroad

The Bryn Oer Tramroad was constructed between September 1814 and April 1815 to connect the Bryn Oer coal patches and Trefil quarries with the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal at Talybont on Usk.

The sections to the south of the Heads of the Valleys road have been destroyed by opencast, but the tramroad is traceable from the eastern edge of the Tafarnau Bach Industrial Estate at Ty Gwyn Farm.  From here it curves to the north behind Ty Newydd and crosses Penrhyn Farm (SO 1266 1311) as a hedgerow before emerging at SO 1271 1143.  From this point on, the tramroad is covered by the tarmac road that runs through Trefil.  At Ffos y Wern (SO 1113 1500), the tramroad diverges from the road and skirts around the head of Dyffryn Crawnon.  It crosses over the hill at Pen Rhiw Calch (SO 1012 1765) and begins its descent into Glyn Collwn and past Dan y Wenallt Farm (SO 1079 2168) before meeting the canal at Talybont Wharf (SO 1158 2251) [Rattenbury 1980, 123-127].

On the western side of the Tramroad on the northern outskirts of Trefil stands a D-shaped mound, aligned east to west and measuring some 15m by 10m and standing 3m high.  The site was constructed as a surveying mound during the construction of the Bryn Oer Tramroad between September 1814 and April 1815.


References

Rattenbury, G.  1980.  Tramroads of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal (Oakham: Railway and Canal Historical Society), pp. 98-127.