Nant Ffrancon Pass
The Nant Ffrancon Pass in cuts through the mountains of Snowdonia in Caernarfonshire, carrying the A5 road up through the mountains between Bethesda, and Llyn Ogwen. It runs between two of the massifs in the Snowdonia range; the Glyderau and the Carneddau.
The summit at of the pass is at 1,024 feet at Pont Wern-gof, about one-third of a mile beyond the eastern end of Llyn Ogwen. From here the road descends through Nant y Benglog to Capel Curig and through to Betws-y-Coed.
Contents
Geography
Nant Ffrancon is a steep-sided glacial valley dropping to Bethesda between the Glyderau and the Carneddau. The valley starts in Cwm Idwal, carrying water from Llyn-y-Cwn through the Devil’s Kitchen and Llyn Idwal to join the Ogwen Valley below the Ogwen Falls on River Ogwen.
History
The original road through the Nant Ffrancon was constructed by Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn in the late 18th century, and at Capel Curig in 1801 he built a coaching inn, which is now Plas y Brenin, the UK National Mountaineering Centre.
The road of today through the pass is the A5. This is the Holyhead to London trunk road, which was re-engineered by Thomas Telford between 1810 and 1826 on a different track. Lord Penrhyn’s road largely followed the valley floor, but Telford carved much of his road out of the north-eastern slopes of the Nant Ffrancon, which approach enabled him to observe a maximum gradient of 1 in 14 along the whole route from London to Holyhead in order to facilitate the operation of horse-drawn mail coaches throughout. This was though the cause of difficulties in construction and in later maintenance.
On film
The pass has been frequently used as a filming location for British film-makers, including doubling for the Khyber Pass in the Carry On film Carry On up the Khyber, and for the Himalayas in the Doctor Who serial The Abominable Snowmen. The Pass was also used as a location in the 1950s film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.
Map
- Map: 53°8’54"N, 4°2’29"W
