Lake Vyrnwy Dam
Lake Vyrnwy in Montgomeryshire in Powys is the most architecturally impressive of the Victorian water supply reservoirs of Wales, a reservoir of considerable scale created between 1880 and 1888 to supply water to Liverpool whose Gothic dam tower, the Victorian service buildings and the surrounding landscape of conifer forest and Welsh upland create one of the most atmospheric and most completely designed reservoir landscapes in Britain. The reservoir drowned the village of Llanwddyn and its community, one of the most completely documented cases of reservoir-related Welsh village clearance.
The straining tower in the middle of the dam, a Gothic structure of considerable architectural ambition, provides the visual centrepiece of the reservoir landscape and one of the most distinctive examples of Victorian architectural confidence applied to industrial infrastructure. The tower, with its pointed windows and castellated top, reflects the Victorian belief that engineering works of all kinds should aspire to architectural quality, and the result is one of the most photographed pieces of Victorian water engineering in Wales.
The RSPB reserve around the reservoir provides excellent birdwatching including breeding red kites, peregrines and the upland bird community characteristic of the surrounding moorland. The cycle trail around the reservoir circumference of approximately 16 kilometres provides an excellent outdoor activity in the beautiful lake and forest setting.