A4069
A4069 | |||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||
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From: | Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen (SN701121) | ||||||
To: | Llandovery (SN765342) | ||||||
Via: | Brynamman, Llangadog | ||||||
Distance: | 20.5 miles (33 km) | ||||||
Meets: | A474, A4068, A40 | ||||||
Former Number(s): | B4300, A40 | ||||||
Primary Destinations | |||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||
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Route
The A4069 is a cross-country A-road in east Carmarthenshire.
The road starts on the A474 in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen just north of a level crossing on a freight line. The road heads northeastwards, passing from village into village. The A4068 is met at a mini-roundabout in Brynamman, after which (still in the village) the road starts to climb up into the hills and finally crosses a cattle grid to enter open country, now in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
The road follows a winding route across the Black Mountain, finally reaching a summit of over 1600 feet near Foel Fawr. The descent is far steeper and more winding and we soon cross another cattle grid and continue into the valley below. We follow the river Sawdde for a few miles, crossing it at about the same point we leave the national park behind and presently reach Llangadog, the first place of any size on this side of the mountains. We reach a T-junction in the town centre where all three directions are numbered A4069.
The road to the left is a spur of about a mile. Heading northwest then west out of town, it crosses the Heart of Wales Line on the level by Llangadog station before bridging the River Towy and ending at the Square and Compass roundabout on the A40 at Ashfield.
The mainline of the A4069, meanwhile, turns right in Llangadog to follow the Bran upstream for a mile or so. The road then climbs out of the valley to cross the watershed between the Bran and the Towy, running above the latter for a few miles before descending onto its flood plain. We cross a tributary of the Towy, confusingly also called the Bran, before reaching Llandovery. Here the road goes along Broad Street and into the town centre, where it ends at a T-junction on the A40.
History
The current version of the A4069 came into existence in 1935 by taking over the B4300 from Gwaun-Cae-Gurwem to Llangadog, where it met the original route of the A40. After World War II that road was rerouted via Llanwrda along the other bank of the River Towy, so the A4069 took over its vacated route. This got the road to Llandovery and explains the spur to Ashfield.