Houses for Sale in Dolgarrog
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Dolgarrog is a small village in the Conwy county borough in North Wales situated between Llanrwst and Conwy, very close to the Conwy River. The village is well known for its industrial history since the 18th century, and the Eigiau dam disaster, which occurred in 1925.
On 2 November 1925, the failure of two dams caused a flood that swamped the village of Dolgarrog, killing 16 people. The disaster was started by the failure of the Eigiau Dam, a gravity dam owned by the Aluminium Corporation. The water released from the reservoir flooded downstream, and overtopped the Coedty Dam, an embankment dam. This dam also subsequently failed, releasing the huge volume of water that flooded Dolgarrog.
Believed to have been established around 1200 AD, Dolgarrog is said to have got its name from a flying dragon called Y Carrog. This mythical beast preyed on livestock and Dol-y-carrog was the favourite meadow on which it swooped down from the heights above to carry off sheep. So serious were the losses that the farmers went on a dragon hunt armed with bows, arrows and spears. One farmer, Nico Ifan, refused to go, claiming a dream had forewarned him the Carrog would cause his death. His fellow farmers laid a poisoned sheep's carcass on the heights above Eglwysbach across the river. The unsuspecting Carrog seized the bait, was caught and beaten to death. Nico Ifan then came along to gloat over the dead dragon and cursed and kicked the corpse, whereupon the poisoned barbed wing of the Carrog pierced his leg thus fulfilling the death warning in his dream.
In the 1350s the Black Death took a heavy toll in the lower Conwy Valley, particularly among the bond tenants regulated by the King's officers from Aberconwy, Edward I's new English borough. Their visits and contacts in effect spread the disease. Some townships of villeins, or crown tenants, such as Dolgarrog, were swept away. People left their lands or hid, unable to pay the taxes on their holdings.
Dolgarrog's industrialisation began in the 18th century with a flour mill on Porthlwyd river to crush corn for local farmers. There was also a woolen mill at Dolgarrog bridge and the Abbey mill.
The successful Porthlwyd mill was expanded by John Lloyd, son of founder Richard Lloyd. As well as grinding flour, he bought machines to make paper and flock for bedding. Paper from Porthlwyd supplied local printers, including John Jones, printer of Trefriw and later Llanrwst.
In 1885 the villagers wanted to start a school at Porthlwyd. The old village of Dolgarrog appealed to Mr Robins, the then proprietor of the paper-mill. He let them turn a large empty room at the mill into a flourishing Sunday School, known locally as Ystafell y drws goch to make sure the children did not wander into the mill workings.
The Dolgarrog sawmill of John Williams also flourished. It exported hundreds of tons of wooden railway sleepers for the new railways between 1845 and 1865. When the first sod was cut for the Conway and Llanrwst Railway track on 25 August 1860, on Lord Newborough's land at Abbey, Dolgarrog, it was John Williams who supplied the sleepers.
The aluminium works was originally planned in 1895. Water from reservoirs in the Snowdonia Mountains would provide the hydro-electricity needed to run the mill.
In 1907, aluminium production began in the factory and in 1916 a rolling mill was added. In 1924, the hydro-electric plant was built next to the aluminium works to assist in the running of the mill.
During the Second World War the aluminium works were under the control of the Ministry of Aircraft Production and provided parts for aircraft. It is rumoured that the Luftwaffe tried to destroy the works, but the bomber that was sent was shot down, and crash-landed in the mountains above the village.
The factory is still operating, although smelting ceased in the 1940s. Alcoa bought out the company Luxfer in 2000 and announced its closure in June 2002. Dolgarrog Aluminium Ltd formed in 2002 and acquired the assets from Alcoa in 2002 and is currently the only independent, fully-integrated aluminium rolling mill in the United Kingdom.
In 1918 the Aluminium Corporation of Dolgarrog acquired a controlling interest in the North Wales Power & Traction Company. Dolgarrog consequently became the administrative centre of this company, and its chairman was Henry Joseph Jack. The company intended to supply electricity to the railways of north Wales, was the company behind the proposed Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway. Jack subsequently purchased majority shares in the Ffestiniog Railway, the Welsh Highland Railway and the Snowdon Mountain Railway, meaning that he was in control of all the passenger-carrying narrow gauge railways of that part of North Wales. The end of Dolgarrog's control on the railways came in 1924 when Jack resigned from the WHR, accepting blame for its lack of success, and the final nail in the coffin came in the form of the following year's dam disaster.
Dolgarrog railway station is an unstaffed halt, and a request stop, on the Conwy Valley Line. The station was built by the LNWR in 1916 to provide sidings and an interchange facility with a short standard gauge industrial line, built by the Aluminium Corporation to serve Dolgarrog village and the aluminium works that are about a mile from the station on the west bank of the river. The industrial line crossed the river by a substantial girder bridge (still used as a footbridge, which is the only way to reach the station from the village of Dolgarrog). It was initially equipped with two locomotives ten 12 ton wagons, and two passenger carriages. Morning and evening passenger services were free and operated from 1917 to 1932. Goods traffic, which was heavy during the war, continued but declined in the 1950's. The line closed in 1960 and was lifted in 1964.
Houses for Sale in Dolgarrog
Houses for Sale in Dolgarrog
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