News. . . .
18 Rhagfyr 2009
What lurks beneath – Cawdor site’s history and geology
In the recently re-submitted application for a supermarket on the Cawdor site, there is a long and detailed geological survey which makes for interesting reading.
As many local people will know, the site, and the stretch of land east of there, is very unstable. One of the main findings of the new Cawdor survey is that a great deal of work will be needed to shore up parts of the site, particularly where it meets the very steep slope going down to the river. The supermarket itself will require a lot of pile driving, and the authors of the report warn that great care will be needed not to cause further instability and damage to surrounding properties.
Subsidence on the Glanteifi flats site close to the proposed Cawdor supermaket site
Click photo for larger image
One of the most interesting aspects of the report deals with the history of the site, and it seems that much of the information was provided by Cawdor employees. Unfortunately, it seems that they forgot or did not know about a few rather worrying things.
Older residents will tell you that parts of the site were used as a rubbish tip, and that the tip itself was simply bulldozed flat before being covered in tarmac. The Cawdor report makes no reference to this.
The report does however deal with the old tannery which was a part of the site, and some investigation was carried out to try to find any remains or anthrax spores. None were found, but then it seems they weren’t looking in the right place.
The upshot of all this is that the site is a geological nightmare for any potential builder, and parts of it are almost certainly heavily contaminated.
So here is a more reliable version of recent local history…….
“The tannery operated up to WW1 and was situated where the two houses in Tanyard Lane now are, behind and to the side of them, and the leather was delivered through the tiny house next to no 2 Sunnyside, through to the back which is basically where Cawdor’s ‘pound’ now is.
The site of the carpark beyond and behind this was used as a dump for old vehicles, old fridges/freezers, etc.
The site of the old GC motor factors premises had petrol pumps, and the 2nd Cawdor pound in front of the bungalow to be demolished was used as a tip by the Cawdor Hotel who until approximately 1948 also ran a general transport business, which consisted mainly of milk lorries (14 or so) which eventually got moved out to the milk factory in Aberarad. So can you imagine what must be under there with the combination of hotel waste, petrol, milk slurry, transport rubbish etc. (The local children apparently used to go and shoot rats there!).
There is a maze of waterways under the site, left and right. The stream ran down Penlon Hill under the houses, to a gulley (now filled) where the new houses are and diverted upstream to land owned still by Dewi Davies. (These are on ‘yellow’ clay and apparently they recently had to pile drive 90ft to secure them, as 60′ was not enough) The Cawdor site and hotel are on ‘blue’ clay – water was also diverted under Glynest to Graig Street (there is apparently a well in No 1) But of course over the years any number of ‘breaks’ could have occurred.”
The last point about water courses is also taken up in the surveyors report, which says that the stream appears to have been filled in over the years, and it believes that in places there may be as much as 6 metres of rubble under the tarmac. No traces of a supposed culvert were found, but Cawdor staff believe one does exist. In the meantime, it seems, that water from the stream has built up into a kind of underground reservoir as it tries to find its way into the river. This helps make an already unstable site even more unpredictable.