Thread by @OwsWills, At the gateway to Dinas Mawddwy, as the A470 snakes from the [...]

At the gateway to Dinas Mawddwy, as the A470 snakes from the capital to Conwy, it sweeps past a protected ancient monument – hidden from the road beyond.

A tiny, secret, moss-green, picture perfect fairytale of all a river crossing should be.

THREAD

Pont Minllyn, also known as Pont y Ffinnant or Pontrusk Bridge, dates to the early 1600s – the post-medieval period.

It spans the river Dyfi at a long-established crossing point, and was built to act as a 'packhorse bridge'.

Quick 'packhorse bridge' explainer

• Ferried pannier-laden horses across waterways
• One or more narrow (one-horse wide) stone arches
• Low parapets designed for panniers to pass over
• Built on major trade routes
• Succeeded by turnpike roads and canals in the 1700s

Quick 'packhorse bridge' explainer • Ferried pannier-laden horses across waterways • One or more narrow (one-horse wide) stone arches• Low parapets designed for panniers to pass over• Built on major trade routes• Succeeded by turnpike roads and canals in the 1700s

A stone construction, Pont Minllyn is a twin-arched bridge, consisting of radial voussoirs (see diagram), which spring from rock abutments on to a centre water pier, with cutwaters each side.

The upper structure of the bridge has been lost, carpeted instead in verdant green.

It was funded and built by Dr. John Davies, a leading late Renaissance scholar, who famously aided William Morgan in his translation of The Bible from Latin to Welsh.

Born 1567 in Llanferres, Denbighshire, the son of a weaver, Davies graduated Jesus College, Oxford in 1594.

Davies is traditionally associated with the parish of Mallwyd, Gwynedd, where he was rector from 1604 until his death in 1644.

He is buried at Mallwyd church, where a memorial was erected to him on the 200th anniversary of his death.