Elan Valley

Elan Valley Dams

The Elan Valley is well known for the five dams that are present today. There were initially six reservoirs, two on the upper Claerwen were replaced in 1952 by one. The reservoirs were constructed between 1893 - 1904 to aid the growing population and demand for water in Birmingham. The water is supplied to Birmingham by gravity through a pipe of some 73 miles in length. Two large houses of some pretensions and literary interest were destroyed in the flooding of the valley, these were Cwm-Elan and Nantgwillt associated with the poet Shelley.

Caban Coch and the Garreg Ddu dams (No 1 & 2) - These dams are linked together to aid the water draw off at the Foel Tower as the Garreg Ddu is a submerged dam to maintain a constant water level for the Foel Tower so the total water contained between these two is 35,530 million litres. Caban Cock dam is 37 meters high by 186 meters wide.

Pen-y-garreg (No 3) - This dam is 37 meters high by 161 meters wide and containing 6,055 million litres.

Craig Goch (No 4) - This dam is 36 meters high by 156 meters wide and containing 9,222 million litres.

Claerwen (No 5) - This is the last of the dams built and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1952. It is constructed from concrete and dressed with stone to blend in with the other dams in the valley. This dam is 56 meters high by 355 meters wide and containing 48,300 million litres.