Llangollen Methodist church.
Llangollen (Welsh pronunciation: [ɬaŋˈɡɔɬɛn]) is a small town and community in Denbighshire, north-east Wales, situated on the River Dee and on the edge of the Berwyn mountains.
Llangollen Bridge, 1793
Llangollen in 1850
Llangollen takes its name from the Welsh llan meaning "a religious settlement" and Saint Collen, a 6th-century monk who founded a church beside the river. St Collen is said to have arrived in Llangollen by coracle. There are no other churches in Wales dedicated to St Collen, and he may have had connections with Colan in Cornwall and with Langolen in Brittany.
Situated above the town to the north is Castell Dinas Brân, a stronghold of the Princes of Powys. Beyond the castle is the limestone escarpment known as the Eglwyseg Rocks. The outcrop continues north to World's End in Wrexham. The area nearest the castle is the Panorama Walk, and a monument to poet I.D. Hooson from the village of Rhosllannerchrugog can be found there.
The ancient parish of Llangollen was divided into three traeanau (traean being the Welsh for "a third"): Llangollen Traean, Trefor Traean, and Glyn Traean.
Llangollen Traean contained the townships of Bachau, Cysylltau, Llangollen Abad, Llangollen Fawr, Llangollen Fechan, Feifod, Pengwern and Rhisgog.
Trefor Traean contained the townships of Cilmediw, Dinbren, Eglwysegl, Trefor Isaf and Trefor Uchaf.
Glyn Traean contained the townships of Cilcochwyn, Crogeniddon, Crogenwladus, Erwallo, Hafodgynfor, Nantygwryd, Pennant and Talygarth.
Valle Crucis Abbey was established at Llantysilio in about 1201, under the patronage of Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor of Castell Dinas Brân.
The bridge at Llangollen was built across the Dee in the 16th century to replace a previous bridge built in about 1345 by John Trevor, of Trevor Hall (later Bishop of St Asaph), which replaced an even earlier bridge built in the reign of King Henry I. In the 1860s the present bridge was extended by adding an extra arch (to cross the new railway) and a two storey stone tower with a castellated parapet. This became a café before being demolished in the 1930s to improve traffic flow. The bridge was also widened in 1873 and again in 1968, using masonry which blended in with the older structure. It is a Grade I listed structure and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
On the outskirts of the town is Plas Newydd ("New Mansion" or "New Place"), from 1780 the home of the Ladies of Llangollen, the Honourable Sarah Ponsonby, Lady Eleanor Butler and their maid Mary Caryll.
The Pillar of Eliseg is another old monument.
Governance
There is an electoral ward of the same name. This ward includes Llantysilio community and has a total population taken at the 2011 census of 4,079.
Llangollen Bridge, 1793
Llangollen in 1850
Llangollen takes its name from the Welsh llan meaning "a religious settlement" and Saint Collen, a 6th-century monk who founded a church beside the river. St Collen is said to have arrived in Llangollen by coracle. There are no other churches in Wales dedicated to St Collen, and he may have had connections with Colan in Cornwall and with Langolen in Brittany.
Situated above the town to the north is Castell Dinas Brân, a stronghold of the Princes of Powys. Beyond the castle is the limestone escarpment known as the Eglwyseg Rocks. The outcrop continues north to World's End in Wrexham. The area nearest the castle is the Panorama Walk, and a monument to poet I.D. Hooson from the village of Rhosllannerchrugog can be found there.
The ancient parish of Llangollen was divided into three traeanau (traean being the Welsh for "a third"): Llangollen Traean, Trefor Traean, and Glyn Traean.
Llangollen Traean contained the townships of Bachau, Cysylltau, Llangollen Abad, Llangollen Fawr, Llangollen Fechan, Feifod, Pengwern and Rhisgog.
Trefor Traean contained the townships of Cilmediw, Dinbren, Eglwysegl, Trefor Isaf and Trefor Uchaf.
Glyn Traean contained the townships of Cilcochwyn, Crogeniddon, Crogenwladus, Erwallo, Hafodgynfor, Nantygwryd, Pennant and Talygarth.
Valle Crucis Abbey was established at Llantysilio in about 1201, under the patronage of Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor of Castell Dinas Brân.
The bridge at Llangollen was built across the Dee in the 16th century to replace a previous bridge built in about 1345 by John Trevor, of Trevor Hall (later Bishop of St Asaph), which replaced an even earlier bridge built in the reign of King Henry I. In the 1860s the present bridge was extended by adding an extra arch (to cross the new railway) and a two storey stone tower with a castellated parapet. This became a café before being demolished in the 1930s to improve traffic flow. The bridge was also widened in 1873 and again in 1968, using masonry which blended in with the older structure. It is a Grade I listed structure and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
On the outskirts of the town is Plas Newydd ("New Mansion" or "New Place"), from 1780 the home of the Ladies of Llangollen, the Honourable Sarah Ponsonby, Lady Eleanor Butler and their maid Mary Caryll.
The Pillar of Eliseg is another old monument.
Governance
There is an electoral ward of the same name. This ward includes Llantysilio community and has a total population taken at the 2011 census of 4,079.
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Waterside pub/restaurant with water wheel and a deck looking onto the white waters of the River Dee.
Address: Dee Ln, Llangollen LL20 8PN, UK
Hours: Closed ⋅ Opens 12PM
Phone: +44 1978 869555
Reservations: cornmill-llangollen.co.uk
Address: Dee Ln, Llangollen LL20 8PN, UK
Hours: Closed ⋅ Opens 12PM
Phone: +44 1978 869555
Reservations: cornmill-llangollen.co.uk
Thank you Alan & Barbara Parker
Opening Times
11-11 Mon-Sat; 11-10.30 Sun
Meal Times
12-9.30 (9 Sun)
Owner
Brunning & Price (Restaurant Group)
About the Pub
A splendidly converted flour mill incorporating the water wheel, with a series of open plan rooms spread over three levels with bars on the first two floors. The large outside decking area has unparalleled views across the raging river Dee to the restored steam railway station. Five pumps serve four beers and one cider. Beers regularly change and often include local micros. Primarily a food restaurant with the drinking area being confined to the ground floor bar and outside. High quality food is served most of the day.
Regular Beers
This pub serves 2 regular beers.
Facer's DHB (Dave's Hoppy Beer)
Phoenix Brunning & Price Original
Changing Beers
This pub serves 3 changing beers.
The Llangollen Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Llangollen) is a volunteer-run heritage railway in Denbighshire, North Wales, which operates between Llangollen and Corwen. The standard gauge line, which is 10 miles (16 km) long, runs on part of the former Ruabon - Barmouth GWR route that closed in 1965. It operates daily services in the summer as well as weekends throughout the winter months, using a variety of mainly ex-GWR steam locomotives as well as several diesel engines.
A 2 1⁄2 miles (4 km) extension of the railway has been built to complete the line to Corwen.
History
Main articles: Vale of Llangollen Railway and Ruabon to Barmouth Line
Commercial Service: 1865–1962
Llangollen was already a popular place for tourists by the 1840s. Travel up to this point had been by horse-drawn carriage, but by the 1840s the Shrewsbury to Chester line had been completed, allowing passengers to alight at Llangollen Road (later known as Whitehurst Halt), and then take a coach towards Holyhead.
However, the commercial development of the local mining industry meant that the development of a railway became essential to the region's economic development. A number of schemes were proposed, including one by the LNWR, but it was not until 1 August 1859 that scheme engineered by Henry Robertson received Royal Assent. The 5 1⁄4 miles (8.4 km) Vale of Llangollen Railway left the Shrewsbury to Chester main line 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) south of Ruabon, and proceeded as a single track line on a double track route via Acrefair to the new station at Llangollen. The line opened to freight on 1 December 1861, and to passengers on 2 June 1862 at a temporary terminus on the town's eastern outskirts.
The extension to Corwen was undertaken by the associated but separate Llangollen and Corwen Railway company, and involved constructing a long tunnel under the Berwyn Mountains. It, together with the new centrally positioned and larger station in Llangollen, opened for service on 1 May 1865.
Closure
Designated for closure under the Beeching cuts, the railway closed to passenger services on Monday 18 January 1965. The section between Ruabon and Llangollen Goods Yard remained open for freight traffic until April 1968, but immediately after the cessation of operations the track was removed from the whole line between Ruabon and Barmouth.
Preservation
Class 109 and Class 108 DMU-Railcars at Llangollen.
Reopening: 1972–1975
After the Beeching Axe, the Flint and Deeside Railway Preservation Society was founded in 1972 with the aim of preserving one of the "axed" railways. Originally the society was interested in preserving the Dyserth to Prestatyn line; however that line was deemed unsuitable because a small amount of freight traffic was still using it. The society refocused its attention on the Llangollen to Corwen section of the Ruabon to Barmouth line. The local council granted a lease of the Llangollen railway station building and 3 miles (5 km) of track to the society, with the hope that the railway would improve the local economy and bring more tourists to Llangollen. The station reopened on 13 September 1975, with just 60 feet (18 m) of track.
Rebuilding and Resurrection: 1975–1996
Early progress was slow due to a lack of funding, though in 1977 Shell Oil donated a mile of unused track. Volunteers started laying the track with the aim of reaching Pentrefelin, 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) from Llangollen. Work finished in July 1981 with the remaining quarter mile of track used to lay sidings at the old Llangollen Goods Junction to house the railway's growing fleet of rolling stock.
The working railway attracted the interest of many private companies, as well as the local council who renewed the lease of the land to the railway for a further 21 years. The Llangollen Railway Trust was gifted significant amounts of track, allowing the next extension of the line to Berwyn. This involved a £30,000 refurbishment by the local council of the Dee Bridge, which had fallen into disrepair since the commercial closure of the line. The first trains operated over the newly extended 1.75 mile (2.8 km) line to Berwyn in March 1986. As rebuilding work progressed train services were later extended (via the 689 yard long Berwyn Tunnel) to Deeside Halt (in 1990), Glyndyfrdwy (in 1993) and finally into Carrog on 2 May 1996.
Extension to Corwen
GWR 2884 Class number 3802 pulling a goods train during the Llangollen Railway steam gala weekend in 2011.
In 2011, work (including reconstruction work) finally started on the 2 1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) section of track past the site of the closed Bonwm Halt to Corwen. As the former Corwen station site has been in private use as an Ifor Williams Trailers showroom since 1990, and the track bed in between also sub-divided, a new temporary station has been built on the eastern side of the town.
The first stage of the project was completed in late 2014, with special trains running on 22 October 2014 to the new station at Corwen East for those who had contributed to the project. Regular passenger services to Corwen East started on 27 October 2014. The official opening, on 1 March 2015, was marked by a special train.
The project is now turning to look at a more permanent station within Corwen, with permanent facilities, and a run round loop.
Locomotives and rolling stock
Main article: List of Llangollen Railway rolling stock
Most trains are steam-hauled. The railway's workshops are currently the national focus of four major independent projects to rebuild steam locomotive types rendered extinct by scrapping in the 1960s - an ex-GWR 'Grange' Class 4-6-0, (represented by 'the 81st Grange' - No.6880 Betton Grange, being constructed from a combination of both new and existing locomotive parts), an ex-LMS Fowler 'Patriot' 4-6-0 (represented by a new-build engine, No.45551 The Unknown Warrior), an ex-GWR '4700' Class 2-8-0 'Night Owl'(the mainly new-build No.4709) and an ex-LNER B17 4-6-0, (represented by a new-build engine, No.61673 'Spirit of Sandringham').
A 2 1⁄2 miles (4 km) extension of the railway has been built to complete the line to Corwen.
History
Main articles: Vale of Llangollen Railway and Ruabon to Barmouth Line
Commercial Service: 1865–1962
Llangollen was already a popular place for tourists by the 1840s. Travel up to this point had been by horse-drawn carriage, but by the 1840s the Shrewsbury to Chester line had been completed, allowing passengers to alight at Llangollen Road (later known as Whitehurst Halt), and then take a coach towards Holyhead.
However, the commercial development of the local mining industry meant that the development of a railway became essential to the region's economic development. A number of schemes were proposed, including one by the LNWR, but it was not until 1 August 1859 that scheme engineered by Henry Robertson received Royal Assent. The 5 1⁄4 miles (8.4 km) Vale of Llangollen Railway left the Shrewsbury to Chester main line 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) south of Ruabon, and proceeded as a single track line on a double track route via Acrefair to the new station at Llangollen. The line opened to freight on 1 December 1861, and to passengers on 2 June 1862 at a temporary terminus on the town's eastern outskirts.
The extension to Corwen was undertaken by the associated but separate Llangollen and Corwen Railway company, and involved constructing a long tunnel under the Berwyn Mountains. It, together with the new centrally positioned and larger station in Llangollen, opened for service on 1 May 1865.
Closure
Designated for closure under the Beeching cuts, the railway closed to passenger services on Monday 18 January 1965. The section between Ruabon and Llangollen Goods Yard remained open for freight traffic until April 1968, but immediately after the cessation of operations the track was removed from the whole line between Ruabon and Barmouth.
Preservation
Class 109 and Class 108 DMU-Railcars at Llangollen.
Reopening: 1972–1975
After the Beeching Axe, the Flint and Deeside Railway Preservation Society was founded in 1972 with the aim of preserving one of the "axed" railways. Originally the society was interested in preserving the Dyserth to Prestatyn line; however that line was deemed unsuitable because a small amount of freight traffic was still using it. The society refocused its attention on the Llangollen to Corwen section of the Ruabon to Barmouth line. The local council granted a lease of the Llangollen railway station building and 3 miles (5 km) of track to the society, with the hope that the railway would improve the local economy and bring more tourists to Llangollen. The station reopened on 13 September 1975, with just 60 feet (18 m) of track.
Rebuilding and Resurrection: 1975–1996
Early progress was slow due to a lack of funding, though in 1977 Shell Oil donated a mile of unused track. Volunteers started laying the track with the aim of reaching Pentrefelin, 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) from Llangollen. Work finished in July 1981 with the remaining quarter mile of track used to lay sidings at the old Llangollen Goods Junction to house the railway's growing fleet of rolling stock.
The working railway attracted the interest of many private companies, as well as the local council who renewed the lease of the land to the railway for a further 21 years. The Llangollen Railway Trust was gifted significant amounts of track, allowing the next extension of the line to Berwyn. This involved a £30,000 refurbishment by the local council of the Dee Bridge, which had fallen into disrepair since the commercial closure of the line. The first trains operated over the newly extended 1.75 mile (2.8 km) line to Berwyn in March 1986. As rebuilding work progressed train services were later extended (via the 689 yard long Berwyn Tunnel) to Deeside Halt (in 1990), Glyndyfrdwy (in 1993) and finally into Carrog on 2 May 1996.
Extension to Corwen
GWR 2884 Class number 3802 pulling a goods train during the Llangollen Railway steam gala weekend in 2011.
In 2011, work (including reconstruction work) finally started on the 2 1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) section of track past the site of the closed Bonwm Halt to Corwen. As the former Corwen station site has been in private use as an Ifor Williams Trailers showroom since 1990, and the track bed in between also sub-divided, a new temporary station has been built on the eastern side of the town.
The first stage of the project was completed in late 2014, with special trains running on 22 October 2014 to the new station at Corwen East for those who had contributed to the project. Regular passenger services to Corwen East started on 27 October 2014. The official opening, on 1 March 2015, was marked by a special train.
The project is now turning to look at a more permanent station within Corwen, with permanent facilities, and a run round loop.
Locomotives and rolling stock
Main article: List of Llangollen Railway rolling stock
Most trains are steam-hauled. The railway's workshops are currently the national focus of four major independent projects to rebuild steam locomotive types rendered extinct by scrapping in the 1960s - an ex-GWR 'Grange' Class 4-6-0, (represented by 'the 81st Grange' - No.6880 Betton Grange, being constructed from a combination of both new and existing locomotive parts), an ex-LMS Fowler 'Patriot' 4-6-0 (represented by a new-build engine, No.45551 The Unknown Warrior), an ex-GWR '4700' Class 2-8-0 'Night Owl'(the mainly new-build No.4709) and an ex-LNER B17 4-6-0, (represented by a new-build engine, No.61673 'Spirit of Sandringham').
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its pulling power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning combustible material—usually coal, wood, or oil—to produce steam in a boiler. The steam moves reciprocating pistons which are mechanically connected to the locomotive's main wheels (drivers). Both fuel and water supplies are carried with the locomotive, either on the locomotive itself or in wagons (tenders) pulled behind. The first steam locomotive, made by Richard Trevithick, first operated on 21 February 1804, three years after the road locomotive he made in 1801. The first practical steam locomotive was built in 1812–13 by John Blenkinsop. Built by George Stephenson and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company, the Locomotion No. 1 is the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.
Steam locomotives were first developed in Great Britain during the early 19th century and used for railway transport until the middle of the 20th century. From the early 1900s they were gradually superseded by electric and diesel locomotives, with full conversions to electric and diesel power beginning in the late 1930s. The majority of steam locomotives were retired from regular service by the 1980s, though several continue to run on tourist and heritage lines.
Trevithick's 1802 Coalbrookdale locomotive
Stephenson's Rocket 1829, the winner of the Rainhill Trials
See also: History of rail transport and Category:Early steam locomotives
United Kingdom
The earliest railways employed horses to draw carts along railway tracks.In 1784, William Murdoch, a Scottish inventor, built a small-scale prototype of a steam road locomotive. A full-scale rail steam locomotive was proposed by William Reynolds around 1787. An early working model of a steam rail locomotive was designed and constructed by steamboat pioneer John Fitch in the US during 1794. His steam locomotive used interior bladed wheels guided by rails or tracks. The model still exists at the Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus. The authenticity and date of this locomotive is disputed by some experts and a workable steam train would have to await the invention of the high-pressure steam engine by Richard Trevithick who pioneered the use of steam locomotives.
The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive, was the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge "Coalbrookdale Locomotive", built by Trevithick in 1802. It was constructed for the Coalbrookdale ironworks in Shropshire in the United Kingdom though no record of it working there has survived. On 21 February 1804, the first recorded steam-hauled railway journey took place as another of Trevithick's locomotives hauled a train along the 4 ft 4 in (1,321 mm) tramway from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil, to Abercynon in South Wales. Accompanied by Andrew Vivian, it ran with mixed success. The design incorporated a number of important innovations that included using high-pressure steam which reduced the weight of the engine and increased its efficiency.
Trevithick visited the Newcastle area in 1804 and had a ready audience of colliery owners and engineers. The visit was so successful that the colliery railways in north-east England became the leading centre for experimentation and development of the steam locomotive. Trevithick continued his own steam propulsion experiments through another trio of locomotives, concluding with the Catch Me Who Can in 1808.
In 1812, the successful twin-cylinder rack locomotive Salamanca by Matthew Murray for the edge railed rack and pinion Middleton Railway debuted. Another well known early locomotive was Puffing Billy built 1813–14 by engineer William Hedley. It was intended to work on the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle upon Tyne. This locomotive is the oldest preserved, and is on static display in the Science Museum, London. George Stephenson built Locomotion No. 1 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north-east England, which was the first public steam railway in the world. In 1829, his son Robert built in Newcastle The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success led to the company emerging as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the UK, US and much of Europe. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened a year later making exclusive use of steam power for passenger and goods trains.
United States
Many of the earliest locomotives for American railroads were imported from Great Britain, including the first the Stourbridge Lion and later the John Bull (still the oldest operable engine-powered vehicle in the United States of any kind, as of 1981) but a domestic locomotive manufacturing industry was quickly established. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Tom Thumb in 1830, designed and built by Peter Cooper, was the first US-built locomotive to run in America, although it was intended as a demonstration of the potential of steam traction, rather than as a revenue-earning locomotive. The DeWitt Clinton was also built in the 1830s.
The first US patent, US1, was obtained in 1836 by John Ruggles for a Locomotive steam-engine for rail and other roads. Ruggles' proposed locomotive had a two-speed gear and a rack mechanism which was only engaged when climbing steep hills. It is not known whether it was actually built.
Continental Europe
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The first railway service outside of the United Kingdom and North America was opened on 5 May 1835 in Belgium, between Mechelen and Brussels. The locomotive was named The Elephant.
In Germany the first working steam locomotive was a rack-and-pinion engine, similar to the Salamanca, designed by the British locomotive pioneer John Blenkinsop. Built in June 1816 by Johann Friedrich Krigar in the Royal Berlin Iron Foundry (Königliche Eisengießerei zu Berlin), the locomotive ran on a circular track in the factory yard. It was the first locomotive to be built on the European mainland and the first steam-powered passenger service, because curious onlookers could ride in the attached coaches for a fee. It is portrayed on a New Year's badge for the Royal Foundry dated 1816. Another locomotive was built using the same system in 1817. They were to be used on pit railways in Königshütte and in Luisenthal on the Saar (today part of Völklingen), but neither could be returned to working order after being dismantled, moved and reassembled. On 7 December 1835 the Adler ran for the first time between Nuremberg and Fürth on the Bavarian Ludwig Railway. It was the 118th engine from the locomotive works of Robert Stephenson and stood under patent protection.
The Austria, the first locomotive in Austria
In 1837 the first steam railway started in Austria on the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway between Vienna-Floridsdorf and Deutsch-Wagram. The oldest continually working steam engine in the world also runs in Austria: the GKB 671 built in 1860, has never been taken out of service, and is still used for special excursions.
In 1838 the third steam locomotive to be built in Germany, the Saxonia, was manufactured by the Maschinenbaufirma Übigau near Dresden, built by Prof. Johann Andreas Schubert. The first independently designed locomotive in Germany was the Beuth built by August Borsig in 1841. In 1848 the first locomotive produced by Henschel-Werke in Kassel, the Drache, was delivered.
The first steam locomotives operating in Italy were the Bayard and the Vesuvio, running on the Napoli-Portici line, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The first railway line over Swiss territory was the Strasbourg–Basle line opened in 1844. Three years later, in 1847, the first fully Swiss railway line, the Spanisch Brötli Bahn, from Zürich to Baden was opened.
