Abermawr
Abermawr
CYSYLLTIAD HANESYDDOL MEWN CYFATHREBU TRAWS-IWERYDD
Yn 1847 dewiswyd Abermawr gan Isambard Kingdom Brunel fel terminws gorllewinol Rheilffordd De Cymru a’r porthladd i Iwerddon a’r Amerig.
Ni chafodd hyn erioed ei wireddu – terfynwyd gwaith yn 1848 a datblygwyd Neyland ar y Cleddau yn ei le. Gwelwyd olion y gwaith yng nghoedwig Felin Dywarch tan y 1950au, a gwelir o hyd gwaith maen ar ochr y cwm a, pan fo’r llanw allan, tyllau yn y graig a dorrwyd ond ni ffrwydrwyd; hefyd darn o’r rheilfford lydan a ddechreuwyd ger Treffgarn.
Er yn draeth gwledig a garw, dewiswyd Abermawr eto yn 1862 fel man delfrydol i lanio cebl telegraff tanddwr o Wexford.
Gwellodd hyn gyfathrebu ag Iwerddon ac, ar 27 Gorffennaf 1866, daeth Abermawr yn rhan o rwydwaith cyfathrebu traws-Iwerydd pan gwblhaodd llong ager Brunel, y Great Eastern, osod y pumed cebl o dan yr Iwerydd rhwng Bae’r Drindod yn Y Tir Newydd a Valentia yn Iwerddon. Gellid yn nawr, drwy Abermawr, trawsyrru negeseuon rhwng Efrog Newydd a Llundain.
Copr a burwyd yn Llanelli ac Abertawe a ddarparodd graidd ddargludol y cebl a thrwy hwn trawsyrrwyd y negeseuon.
Gosodwyd ail gebl yn 1880 ond difrodwyd y ceblau gan stormydd mawr yn 1922-1923, a rhoddwyd y gorau i Abermawr fel gorsaf negeseuon – erbyn hyn mae’n dŷ haf.
Y stormydd hyn hefyd a dorrodd hen ffordd yr arfodir o Bencaer i Abercastell a groesai ar wal wrth gefn y traeth. Mae hanes lleol yn nodi taw myfyrwyr o Gaergrawnt oedd yr olaf i groesi’r traeth, gyda cheffyl a phaeton, tua 1923.
THE HISTORIC LINK IN TRANS-ATLANTIC COMMUNICATION
Isambard Kingdom Brunel chose Abermawr in 1847 as the western terminus of the South Wales Railway and harbour for Ireland and America.
This was never completed – work stopped in 1848 and Neyland was developed on Milford Haven instead. Evidence of works in Felin Dywarch woods survived until the 1950’s, and still to be found are un-blasted boreholes in the rocks at low tide and a masonry culvert high on the valley-side; also the broad-gauge railway started through Treffgarne Gorge.
Despite being a rough and rural beach, it was chosen in 1862 as a good site to bring ashore the submarine telegraph cable from Wexford.
This improved communications with Ireland and, on 27th July 1866, Abermawr became part of a trans-Atlantic communications network when Brunel’s steamship, Great Eastern, completed laying the fifth and ultimately successful cable under the Atlantic between Trinity Bay in Newfoundland and Valentia in Ireland. Now, through Abermawr, it became possible to transmit messages between New York and London.
Copper refined in Llanelli and Swansea provided the conductive core through which all the messages were transmitted.
A second cable was laid in 1880 but storm damage in 1922-1923 saw Abermawr abandoned as a relay station – it is now a holiday cottage.
These storms also broke through the old coast road from Pencaer to Abercastell that crossed the back of the beach on the sea wall. Tales are told of the last traffic to cross the beach being a group of Cambridge students in a horse-drawn phaeton in about 1923.
