Elan Valley dam, Rhyader

NOTES: The Elan Valley scheme was a project to supply clean water to Birmingham, some 20 miles away. The proposal was to dam the Elan and Caerwen rivers and originally three dams were constructed in Elan Valley by engineers Gray and Mansergh between 1893-1904. These comprised the Caban Coch with Garreg-ddu, Pen-y-garreg and Craig Coch dams. Three more were proposed in the Caerwen Valley, but postponed owing to the Second World War and with improvements to materials and engineering meant a much larger concrete dam could be built higher up the valley (the Caerwen dam officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1952).