The Coming of the Railway and the Disruption of the Town

Since early 2011 major disruption has been caused to Caernarfon’s inhabitants by the regeneration work being carried on in the town. Although we all like to moan occasionally, it is, of course, only the latest in a long line of changes the town has experienced over the years.

What would we have done were we living in Caernarfon in 1869, when the then latest project was to extend the Bangor to Caernarfon railway line to join those of Porthmadog and Llanberis? By its sheer scale, that scheme would put today’s to shame.

Work began that May under the watchful eye of contractor Mr. Ridley, and barely a month into the project extensive embankments were being constructed on Morfa Seiont and the base for the track was being laid along the intended path by the gasworks and down to the Quay. Several houses in the vicinity of Segontium Terrace were in the process of being demolished and in the coming few weeks more were to be pulled down. At the time the intention was to build a new station, a “pick-up station” as it was called, under Segontium Terrace.

In late July a terrible event occurred which showed the consequences of such large-scale excavations in the centre of a built-up town; at noon on Tuesday the 21^st a huge landslip took place at the cutting near Turf Square, the Herald reporting that “the back buildings of two or three houses in Bangor-street gave way, and the whole mass came down with a tremendous crash.” It was known the structures were unsafe as they had been propped up with beams, but evidently the weight had been too much for them. Just before the collapse a servant girl had been inside one of the buildings; a narrow escape.

Shortly after eleven o’clock on Wednesday the 9^th of September, the residents of Segontium Terrace were alarmed to hear loud rumblings noises which resembled the roll of thunder. It was later found that part of the entrance arch of the new tunnel below theAlbertInn had collapsed, leaving a breach some dozen yards long and many feet high. The debris, which included a considerable quantity of earth and “seven strong cast iron girders,” lay in a heap on the track bed. It was presumed that recent heavy rain had loosened the soil above the tunnel, resulting in pressure on the new wall and causing it to bulge outward. It was also thought that resting the girders on walls which were not sufficiently strong and well-pinned could have contributed.

In December the Town Council discussed the possibility of covering the railway cutting fromTurf SquaretoCastle Squareand building a new street along its path, which would have added a handsome new shopping thoroughfare to the town.

By April 1870 most of the work had been completed, a barrier of earth by Hugh Humphreys’ premises in Castle Squarebeing the last remaining section to be removed. A month later, on the 29^th of May, a ballast engine made the first journey from one end of town to the other. Large crowds turned out to witness the event; many perched precariously on the wagons.

The final leg of the year long contract was the opening ceremony, which took place on the 6^th of July 1870 when the great and the good of Caernarfon joined the directors of the L.N.W.R. to celebrate its completion.