A Dam Fine Day - 26th June

Our first stop today is Llanidloes.
It is the first town on the river Severn which is the longest river in the UK.
Llanidloes has a covered market building that was built around 1600. It is the only surviving building of it's type in Wales. It sits in the middle of the main street and only leaves room for single traffic around it.

The other building we had a look at is the St Idloes' Church. This church incorporates a hammerhead roof system dating from 1542, it came from Cwmhir Abbey. The trusses include a colonnade of carved timber Angels from the same period.




 



The columns in the Church are also from the same Abby and date from around 1200.
The Church is never locked.




 


Elan Village in the Cambrian Mountains next.
We are keeping off of the main tourist routes to avoid crowds. The trip through the mountains was very scenic in parts, a few parts. Other parts, the majority in fact, were in clouds.
Elan Village was created to house the workers and their families while the reservoirs were built. 


These were constructed to provide water to Birmingham at the beginning of the industrial revolution around 1890.
This is known as the Welsh Lakes District.
The Dam at Elan is quite spectacular.  









We looked at some of the other spectacular dams on the system as we drove along the side of the lakes. Another Church, this one was designed to replace the one that was lost when the lakes filled. It was designed by the same Architect that designed the village of Elan. To make sure he was never forgotten he designed his own face into one of the truss supports along with some other officials at the time. Steven's now revising all current drawings.


 


More amazing dams 

 








Amazing scenery 


 

 


An old mining area, they once mined lead here and the old shafts are still there, boarded up to keep people like Steven out. Lead was mined here by the Romans 2000 years ago. They used it for water pipes, sent them all mad and caused the collapse of their civilisation, well that's one theory anyway.



Final stop for the day. Devils Bridge.
This is three bridges in one.
The first bridge at the bottom was built in 1000 for foot traffic.
The second bridge was built in 1708 for horses and carts.
The third bridge was built in 1901 for modern transport.
The reason behind the name, the first bridge.
An old lady was worried that her cow had crossed to the other side and she coudn't retrieve it. The Devil appeared and told her that if she agreed to give him the soul of the first living thing to cross, he would build her a bridge. She agreed and the next morning there it was.
The Devil reappeared and demanded she fulfill her side of the bargain, she threw a loaf of bread across the bridge and her dog chased it, becoming the first living thing to cross the bridge. The Devil was so embarrassed at being fooled he vowed never to return to Wales.