Aberllefenni


Aberllefenni is a village in the south of Gwynedd, Wales. It lies in the historic county of Merionethshire/Sir Feirionnydd, in the valley of the Afon Dulas, and in the community of Corris.
It is the location of Foel Grochan, a slate quarry which together with Hen Chwarel and Ceunant Ddu formed the Aberllefenni quarry, which extracted rock from mediaeval times until the beginning of the 21st Century. The quarry waste tips appear in the video when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, formerly of Led Zeppelin, performed there with their band in August 1994.
The less successful Cambergi and Hengae quarries lay about west of Aberllefenni, while the Cymerau and Ratgoed quarries lay to the north, connected to the Corris Railway at the village by the Ratgoed Tramway.
The Roman road between northern and southern Roman Wales, Sarn Helen, probably ran through the village; the terrace of houses known as Pensarn may be a reference to it. Sarn Helen ran north-west from the village along Cwm Hengae towards Dolgellau.
The village is the site of a field study site for secondary school pupils.

History

Plas Aberllefenni was a mediaeval manor house, but the older section was demolished in the 1960s and only a later wing is still standing.
The quarry reservoir, Llyn Cob, was once known as Llyn Owain Lawgoch, after the last male survivor of the princely house of the Kingdom of Gwynedd.
Just north of the village once stood Pont Cymerau, one of the ancient bridges of Wales, which crossed the Afon Dulas just upstream of where it is joined by the Nant Ceiswyn.
The Aberllefenni Brass Band was active from the mid-1880s until the outbreak of the First World War.

Corris Railway

Aberllefenni railway station was a station on the former Corris Railway, a narrow gauge railway which ran from Aberllefenni to. The station was open from 25 August 1887, until the end of passenger services, in December 1930. It was the northern terminus of passenger services for the entire of this time, and the northern limit for steam locomotive working from 25 August 1887 until the railway's closure on 20 August 1948. The track was lifted between Aberllefenni and in November 1948.
The site of the former station was used for the construction of council houses in the 1960s, apart from the passing loop, which was used to provide parking spaces on the road. The road serving these council houses was named Maes-yr-Orsaf, in memory of the station.
Two horse-worked tramways extended the railway beyond Aberllefenni Station:
Aberllefenni Station was used as the basis for on the fictional Skarloey Railway and can be seen illustrated in the book Four Little Engines.