Free, but limited parking is available at N53° 08.020 W003°
48.542. The car park entrance is directly off the B5106 through the
gate. Note the gate opens towards the main road. (N53° 08.028 W
003° 48.500). Link to a photograph of the entrance.
The ‘Grey Mare's Tail’ waterfall or "Rhaeadr y Parc
Mawr" (Parc Mawr waterfall) which is rarely used, derives it name
from the fact that the falls are fed by a large stream which has
its source in the Gwydir Forest, and flows through the old Parc
Mine, about a mile to the south-east. Despite the name, it actually
comprises two falls, the water being split by a rock at the top.
Below the falls is a shallow plunge pool, and on leaving the wood
the waters flow under the road to eventually join the river
Conwy.
The wooland area in which the falls lie is known as Coed Felin
Blwm (Lead Mill Wood), and the remains of mill buildings can be
seen near the falls. Felin Blwm lead mill (a name now taken by the
adjacent house) was originally erected by the Gwydir Estate to
crush ore from Parc Mine in the Gwydir Forest and it is possible
that this is the mill listed in surviving 18th Century
Estate accounts. A later decline in lead mining, saw the mill
converted to a sawmill. Both lead and wood from this site was
transported down the river Conwy from Trefriw.
The waters of the falls are not especially pure because of the
minerals (not just lead) which are in the rocks of the Gwydir
Forest. When Sir John Wynn was laying out the ornamental gardens at
Gwydir Castle in the 1590s, he took a spur of water from above the
falls, channelling it along the hillside in a leat.
Many thanks to the Forestry commision for permission to place the
cache here.
Click here to view a video of the waterfalls taken on
02/01/2012.