Afon Ogwen at Llandygai

Two of Thomas Telford’s roads converge at Llandygai, a small village on the outskirts of Bangor. Telford’s Chester to Bangor trunk road meets his London to Holyhead road here, with the latter taking precedence from here onwards as it snakes through the middle of Bangor, crosses the Menai Strait via Telford’s suspension bridge, and runs across Ynys Mon to the port of Holyhead.

Both roads were built in the first quarter of the 19th century, following the Act of Union that brought Ireland under control of the British Crown. As Britain’s military and colonial administrators tried to assert control over Ireland from Dublin, the need for quicker delivery of mail to and from London made modern roads a necessity. Telford was commissioned to build both the A5 from London to Holyhead, and a second mail route along the North Wales coast. Both of these roads followed the paths of old Roman roads.

As the Chester to Bangor trunk road reaches its end here in Llandygai, the road crosses the mighty Afon Ogwen, fifty feet or so below. The Ogwen runs down from Llyn Ogwen, a lake that sits up in the mountains between the Carneddau and Glyderau, and flows into the Menai Strait not far from this spot, on land owned by the Penrhyn estate.