Post by Administrator on Jul 22, 2018 15:41:31 GMT
The stunning viaduct that was once the gateway to Cardiff
You probably know it as a monument of sorts, sitting at the side of one of Wales' busiest roads.
But the stack of bricks bearing the messages "ER" and "Silver Jubilee" on the side of the A470 is not just a monument or a former chimney - but what remains of a remarkable viaduct which once spanned a valley.
The Walnut Tree Viaduct was built by the Barry Railway Company to bring coal and iron from the valleys.
In its day it was described as "one of the finest spans in the country" and when the time came to demolish it, it had to be taken down,
It had taken three years to build and stood at 36.6m high and was 472m long. It was made of huge seven iron girders and seven million bricks weighing 3,000 tons.
Railways were a key way of transporting coal through south Wales from the Valleys to the docks, in this case the new Barry docks.
It was in 1884, that the Barry Dock and Railways Company was established.
In the 1880s, coal shipments from Cardiff had risen to eight million tons a year meaning the existing transport methods were busy and getting busier.
When the Penarth Dock was opened it offered some relief to the congestion blocking the canal or existing railways but it wasn't enough. Price rises to use the Bute Docks were about so shippers and coal traders joined together under David Davies of Ocean Colliers to make a modern port in Barry with rail connections.
Mr Davies took on the mighty Bute estate and won permission to build a new dock at Barry.
In July 1889, the company opened its first dock - the largest enclosed dock in the country and the company also built railways.
LINK
You probably know it as a monument of sorts, sitting at the side of one of Wales' busiest roads.
But the stack of bricks bearing the messages "ER" and "Silver Jubilee" on the side of the A470 is not just a monument or a former chimney - but what remains of a remarkable viaduct which once spanned a valley.
The Walnut Tree Viaduct was built by the Barry Railway Company to bring coal and iron from the valleys.
In its day it was described as "one of the finest spans in the country" and when the time came to demolish it, it had to be taken down,
It had taken three years to build and stood at 36.6m high and was 472m long. It was made of huge seven iron girders and seven million bricks weighing 3,000 tons.
Railways were a key way of transporting coal through south Wales from the Valleys to the docks, in this case the new Barry docks.
It was in 1884, that the Barry Dock and Railways Company was established.
In the 1880s, coal shipments from Cardiff had risen to eight million tons a year meaning the existing transport methods were busy and getting busier.
When the Penarth Dock was opened it offered some relief to the congestion blocking the canal or existing railways but it wasn't enough. Price rises to use the Bute Docks were about so shippers and coal traders joined together under David Davies of Ocean Colliers to make a modern port in Barry with rail connections.
Mr Davies took on the mighty Bute estate and won permission to build a new dock at Barry.
In July 1889, the company opened its first dock - the largest enclosed dock in the country and the company also built railways.
LINK