New roof plan for historic archway (From South Wales Guardian)

New roof plan for historic archway

10:00am Sunday 23rd December 2012 in News

THE end may be in sight for the historic Betws Arch, community councillors have been told.

They welcomed the news county council workmen were planning to replace the archway’s “dangerous” roof with a new metal structure costing £1,250 in the first part of January.

But county councillor Ryan Bartlett warned: “I have been told that if the arch is vandalised again they may not be able to repair it and would have to consider its future.”

He added county council chiefs hoped a metal roof would prove more vandalproof than tiles.

Last year councillors called on the local authority to save the stone arch as “an important part of Ammanford’s heritage”.

The arch –around 200 years old – was transported piece by piece from Ammanford to its current home in the late 1960s.

The structure dates from the early 1800s, when the then Lord Dynevor renovated Tirydail House as a home for one of his daughters.