Esgair y Gader Cottage

Archive evidence from around 1900 refers to Birmingham Corporation commissioning a cottage described as being "at or near Cerig-Cwplau near Nanty Gader", in the parish of Llanwrthwl. This is believed to be the cottage later known as Esgair y Gader.

The building appears to have belonged to the same family of Birmingham Water Corporation cottages found elsewhere in the Elan and Claerwen Valleys. From the surviving remains and comparison with the other cottages, Esgair y Gader was almost certainly a two-storey red-brick house with a central projecting front bay, slate roof, brick chimney and lower side/service wings.

The cottage was lost beneath Claerwen Reservoir in the mid-20th century. In very low water the footprint reappears, giving a rare opportunity to study the house and its position in the original valley landscape.

In the late 1920s Esgair y Gader Cottage was home to Thomas Charles Edwards and his wife Sarah Jane Edwards (formerly Scott).

Their daughter Averina Mary Edwards, later Mary Davies, was born at Esgair y Gader Cottage on 30 October 1929. Her brother Thomas Charles “Tom” Edwards was born about a year later. Mary and Tom were the only two children born at the cottage.

As the family grew, they moved to Cerrigcwpalau because Esgair y Gader Cottage was too small. Sarah Jane had four children by the age of 22. Thomas Charles Edwards later died aged 83.

The cottage was also remembered within the Edwards family as “Brickhouse”, and has also been referred to as Corporation House. Care is needed with the name “Brick House”, as Llanfadog Cottage near Elan Village was also known by that name and is a separate property.

These photographs show the remains of Esgair y Gader Cottage exposed on the bed of Claerwen Reservoir during the very low water levels of 2026.

These reconstruction images are based on the exposed footprint, the surviving Birmingham Water Corporation cottages, historic mapping and the known landscape of the Claerwen Valley. They should be treated as an informed impression rather than an exact architectural record.

The old map marks Esgair-y-gader Cottage and shows its relationship with the valley track, ford and surrounding upland ground.