Afon Lwyd Weir

The Afon Lwyd river, meaning ‘grey river’ enters the park adjacent to the Italian Gardens and exits by Pontymoile. The Afon Lwyd river has reputedly the second highest rise and fall of the European rivers and in periods of heavy rainfall, the river quickly reaches its maximum and within a short timescale, becomes a raging torrent.

The weir and sluice gate mechanism were installed in the river to ensure that a forceful stream of water was constantly available to turn the water wheels, which powered the forges located nearby. Early iron making forges such as these, set up in the days before steam, were always sited close to fast flowing rivers to harness this natural power source.

It can be seen that the weir was originally constructed of hardwearing cobbles which, over a period of time have been undermined and have now slipped. The original slab still remains in the river and it is anticipated that there may be an opportunity to renovate this area in future years.

The park management is continuing to work with the Keep Wales Tidy Group and other voluntary organisations to undertake a number of river cleanups throughout the year. It is hoped that with the installation of a fish leap at Pontymoile weir the river will once again be a valuable habitat for trout and other fish.