A4244

The A4244 is a rural A-road in north Caernarfonshire, following a roundabout route to the north of the mountains.

Route

Passing Moel Rhiwen

The route starts on the A4086 near the foot of Llyn Padarn on the edge of Snowdonia. The junction was realigned at some point after 1971, and then converted to a roundabout in c2020. The route heads north and soon crosses the Afon Rhythallt, the river that flows out of Llyn Padarn, on a modern bridge, before bypassing the small settlement of Brynrefail. Continuing northeastwards, the road is fairly straight and has gentle gradients for the area, with plentiful evidence of realignment and improvement as it curves gently between wide verges. The route heads towards the prominent hill of Moel Rhiwen but bears left to avoid the worst of the climb, reaching a summit of around 180m on the lower slopes. It then descends, heading northwestwards across fields and passing a scattering of properties, and presently reaches a roundabout. Left is the B4366; ahead the B4547.

The A4244 turns right at the roundabout, almost doubling back on itself. There is still plenty of evidence that the road has been greatly improved as it sweeps eastwards, bypassing the tiny settlements of Pentir and Rhyd-y-groes. For the final mile or so, the route turns northeastwards once more, making a somewhat steeper descent through patches of woodland before crossing a small stream at the bottom. The B4409 soon turns off to the right and A4244 makes a final slight climb across the fields. Presently it passes the turn for Bangor services and ends immediately afterwards at a roundabout on the A5. A short distance to the left is the A55, The North Wales Expressway, with the A5 meeting at J11; the services technically belong to the Expressway, but have a somewhat out of the way access route.

History

The B road predecessors to the A4244 in 1944

The entire route was originally unclassified. In the 1920s the middle section became part of the B4366 and then the northern section became the B4409 a few years later. The southern section of the route then became part of the B4547 in 1934. The road retained its Class II status for many years but was eventually upgraded to become the A4244 in the 2000s, although the road had already been heavily upgraded on the ground.

The original line of the various B roads that came to form the A4244 deviates in many places from the current alignment. Some sections of the old road are still fully open to traffic as unclassified routes, some are little more than private driveways, and in many places the road has been so thoroughly rebuilt that the original alignment has completely disappeared. Starting at the southern end, both the A4086 and A4244 have been realigned through the junction. The old junction lies to the north east at the southern end of the old Pont Pen-y-Llyn. The B4547 (as was) then ran through Bryn Refail before turning hard right onto the current alignment at the northern end of the bypass. Just before the staggered crossroads at Bryn Rhydd, the old road winds off to the right between the houses It then swept round to the right before turning left at the old junction which had a different stagger.

At the next junction, the B4547 used to turn right at a T junction, before doubling back to the left at the next junction, the section of A4244 between being completely new, and including another new junction along the way. On the long run down to the roundabout, a layby on the right indiciates the original alignment, as does the loop of old road at the Rhiwlas junction. Immediately after the roundabout, the old road ran closer to the farm at Glanrhyd, and then forked left to make the long loop to the south. As noted above, both Pentir and Rhyd-y-groes have been bypassed, with the old road through Pentir now forming two dead ends, as does the northern end of the old road at Rhyd-y-groes. Continuing north, some wide verges (often thickly wooded) and a couple of laybys show other minor realignments. The whole road has then been moved slightly to the west on the descent to the bottom of the valley, with some of the old road traceable in the trees, but much of it thoroughly overgrown.

The climb back towards the A5 is largely an online improvement, but just before the services, the original line of the B4409 forks left, and remains open as far as the police depot. Beyond the A55 it survives as no more than a gently curving field boundary, before the A5 picks it up and loosely follows it to Llandygai, where the B4409 and A5 originally met at the south end of the village.