Grey Mare's Tail, Conwy

About

The Grey Mare's Tail (Rhaeadr y Parc Mawr) is a waterfall on the very edge of the Snowdonia National Park near Gwydir Castle in Conwy County Borough, north Wales. It lies just off the B5106 road between the town of Llanrwst and the large village of Trefriw. The Welsh name, Rhaeadr y Parc Mawr, derives from the fact that the falls are fed by a large stream that has its source in the Gwydir Forest, and flows through the old Parc Mine, about a mile to the southeast. The name 'Grey Mare's Tail' was given to it by Lady Willoughby of Gwydir Castle, possibly "in compliment to Lord Byron and the Staubbach" (Byron compared the 900 ft Staubbach Falls in Switzerland to the long white tail of the pale horse upon which death is mounted in the Book of Revelation) In all there are some ten types of waterfall, a horsetail being described as a fall where the descending water maintains some contact with bedrock. Despite its name, this waterfall actually comprises two cascades, the water flowing around both sides of a large rock at the top. However this was possibly not always the case — in 1895 Francis Frith published a postcard showing the "White Mare's Tail Cascade, Llanrwst". Despite the slightly different name ('white') and only showing a single waterfall — as opposed to today's twin cascades — it is probable from the woodland setting that this is indeed the same location. Below t

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