Hengoed Viaduct, Taff Trail, Maesycwmmer, Wales
N 51° 38.796 W 003° 13.244
30U E 484727 N 5721756
Hengoed Viaduct is a disused railway bridge. The bridge crosses the Rhymney River and Valley, and is now the start of the Taff Trail, and part of Celtic Trail and the National Cycle Network, Route 47, located at Maesycwmmer, Wales.
Waymark Code: WMD7TD
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/02/2011
Views: 3
The Hengoed Viaduct is one of Wales’s most striking monuments of railway engineering. One of the oldest surviving viaducts of its type, an iconic landmark which has dominated the landscape of this Welsh Coal Mining Valley for over 150 years. Consisting of 16 arches towering 120 feet high at its highest point and over 850 feet long. The Taff Vale railway opened in 1858, & closed in 1964.
The Bridge now carries the Celtic Trail & Taff Trail Footpath and the National Cycle Network Route 47 path, which runs over this impressive Viaduct, that spans the Rhymney River & Valley, This section of the Celtic Trail is know as the Taff trail, a traffic-free Cycle and foot path that runs through the valleys and connects country parks and heritage sites, The Taff Trail Takes just 32 minutes on a cycle, and 1 hour 25 minutes to walk.
The Celtic Trail runs for approx 100 miles From Newport to Fishguard, and takes a lot longer.
The Rhymney Valley area has a rich industrial coal mining heritage with large areas of newly landscaped land, regenerated from old industrial workings. This regeneration of this post-industrial landscape has been successful - woodlands and wildlife are now returning to an area once black with coal dust and littered with waste from the mines.
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