Claerwen

The Claerwen reservoir and dam in Powys, Wales, were the last additions to the Elan Valley Reservoirs system built to provide water for the increasing water demand of the city of Birmingham and the West Midlands. The dam is a gravity dam built mainly of concrete, with the exterior dam face is dressed stone. The dam is a gravity dam built upon solid rock foundations as the pressure of the reservoir behind should be in equilibrium with the total weight of the dam itself thus causing complete stability.

Claerwen Reservoir
Claerwen Reservoir
LocationWales
Coordinates52°16′20″N 3°41′20″W
TypeReservoir
Basin countriesUnited Kingdom
Surface area3.688 km2 (1.424 sq mi)

The Claerwen dam was finished in 1952 and was given a late Victorian effect so that it blended in with the earlier dams in the valley. It was necessary to employ the services of Italian stonemasons as British ones were still at work in London during the post-war rebuilding process of the late 1940s.

Downstream face of Claerwen Dam

The dam took six years to complete and was almost twice the size of the other dams in the Elan valley. The Claerwen reservoir is almost the size of all the other reservoirs in the Elan Valley system combined. Officially commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, it was one of her first royal engagements as monarch.

Statistics
  • Height: 56 m (184 ft)
  • Length: 355 m (1,165 ft)
  • Building material: primarily concrete
  • Capacity: 48,300,300 m3 (1.06246×1010 imp gal)

Claerwen NNR

Claerwen National Nature Reserve is an expanse of mountain upland lying halfway between Rhayaderin in Powys and Pontrhydfendigaid in Ceredigion. The mainly peaty and acidic soil provides an environment home for many species of plants and animals which thrive in these conditions. These biomes include several highly oligotrophic lakes and ponds, raised mires and large areas that have seen little or any man-made changes.These include the nationally scarce water plantain (Luronium natans) as well as carnivorous plants such as Drosera rotundifolia, and Butterworts.[1] Is a known breeding site for Red kites the rare merlin .

In 2015 the dam was featured in the fourth episode of Series Twenty-two of the BBC motoring programme Top Gear. During the episode Richard Hammond winched a Land Rover Series up to the top of the dam, and down again, in mimicry of an advert once used for the vehicle, during a tribute segment for the Land Rover Defender.

References
  1. "Claerwen National Nature Reserve, Elan Valley Estate, Powys, East Wales". First Nature. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
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