Hidden underneath Llandudno's Great Orme is a sunken reservoir with towering columns and arched roofs. Known at the Fach reservoir, it came to the rescue of the population as the town grew.
Steeped in history, the Fach had a link to St Tudno, the sixth century patron saint of of the seaside town, who lived as a hermit and survived on spring water. But it now lies unused and forgotten beneath the Great Orme.
But for centuries the spring waters from the reservoir were used by the area's miners and farmers.
But, as NorthWalesLive reports, rapid expansion in the 19th century, mainly driven by tourism, put a strain on resources, particularly water. Reservoirs were needed to avoid the “water famines” that had almost occurred as Llandudno’s population grew.
By 1875, the town was still mostly dependent on its springs. For a small charge, men pumped water manually from some of them for customers armed with buckets and pails. On Saturdays, according to local historian John-Lawson Reay, an extra pump-man was employed at 1/6d per day.
For fresh water people on the Orme relied on “Water Boys” who fetched supplies up the mountain on donkeys straddled with panniers to carry churns from Ffynnon Victoria, a large well just below the tram station.
In early 1863, an open reservoir capable of holding 3,500,000 gallons – enough to supply the town for 80 days – was completed on land near St Tudno’s Church on the Great Orme. It was fed by several springs, mainly Ffynnon Tudno, named after the town’s saint who reputedly occupied a small, 7ft sq cave nearby.
The spring is now no more than a trickle, but the water quality remains good and a local farmer insists his cows will drink nothing else.
The new Tudno Reservoir was a welcome addition and it failed to put the Water Boys out of business. Many homes on the Great Orme continued to rely on deliveries and “water famine” in these homes was never far away.
Officials then embarked on a grand scheme that, by the turn of the century would deliver a “magnificent water supply” to Llandudno.. There were two elements: a water main running from two Snowdonia lakes, Dulyn and Melynllyn, and two storage reservoirs in the town. An 1876 Act of Parliament paved the way, though a larger, 15-inch main was later added when supply proved inadequate.
Analysis of the water, by Professor Frankland in 1880, was positive. “It is a most excellent water for dietetic and all domestic purposes,” newspapers reported at the time. “It is wholesome and palatable and contains only a very small amount of vegetable organic matter. It is exceedingly soft and therefore well adapted for washing.”
Surface reservoirs were built at Llwynon, holding 48,000 gallons, and a larger one at Y Fach. This had a capacity of 936,000 gallons, the water being piped down from Ffynnon Tudno via its reservoir higher up the Orme.
Fach reservoir was officially opened by the Prince of Wales on June 17, 1880. Usually, it was only called upon in the peak summer season when demand was highest.
For more than three decades it remained an unremarkable facility. Over the years it was to become a slightly awkward addition to former farm fields and mines that were transformed into Happy Valley when Lord Mostyn donated the land to Llandudno to mark Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee in 1877.
As the area was landscaped, the focus fell on its reservoir. In 1914, plans were drawn up for a roof supported by the brick arches. And so the reservoir was discreetly tucked away from view and slowly forgotten.
Occasionally the Fach would appear in local newspapers. On November 12, 1925, the North Wales Chronicle reported how the reservoir - now underground - came to the town’s rescue when the 15-inch water main from Llyn Dulyn burst just above Talycafn bridge in the Conwy Valley. The pipe was quickly repaired but not without consequences. “A remarkable feature of the stoppage of supply is that after it was turned (back) on, several residents report the death of their goldfish,” reported a local paper.
When in use, water in Fach reservoir was 12ft deep when full. An overflow at 12ft 10in took surplus water to the sea. It wasn’t quite square, measuring around 140ft on one side and a little more on the other.
Today, just a shallow pool of murky water covers the reservoir’s sloping floor. Like Tudno reservoir, it has long been drained. Attempts to find a new purpose for the remarkable structure have come to nothing. Conwy Council owns the reservoir and has spoken to potential partners but it has no intention of selling it.
A spokesperson said: “There are currently no plans to sell the site. Over recent years we’ve been approached by a number of local businesses that have looked into using parts of the site. None were progressed and any such arrangements would have been via a lease, not sale.”
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