When Thomas Telford built the Holyhead road he arranged that there were 'depots' along the way. These were alcoves in the side wall to store graded broken stones - all there, so that a man with just a shovel and a wheelbarrow could patch up any potholes quickly. These were built every few hundred yards, more of them where road conditions meant more wear and tear. I reckon there could have been about 800 depots originally between Chirk and Holyhead.How many still survive? I tried to make a note, and take a
photograph, of all that I saw along the way. I counted up each day and the total of those reported here was 270. Now, I have gone back through the notes and photos in more detail and found I had more. On the first count there were 308 but that included a number of 'possibles'. 'Possible' either because there was so much overgrown vegetation that I really couldn't see the depot shape in the wall, or because it seemed the wrong size. I have reviewed these again, mainly by reference to whether I could find a depot marked at that point on the early (usually 1880s) large scale OS maps. This review led to revising my number of depots to exactly 300.
This compares with 333 found in the Quartermaine, Trinder and Turner survey in 1999. Why the difference? I was conscious that these weren't always that obvious, especially when overgrown, and fairly strict that I had to see traces of the back wall to be sure (or, as above, could find the depot on an old map), and it's entirely possible that I missed a few. Quartermaine et al may have counted some which I ruled out, and it would have been easier for them to find depots in a few stretches of road that have been closed off since their survey and the old road has all been overgrown, such as at Dinmael. It is of course entirely possible that some depots have just disappeared in the meantime, in the course of works by adjoining landowners or the highway authorities. However, it is fair to say that these depots are now, by and large, respected and preserved. At least 22 of them have been entirely rebuilt with modern walls (I've still counted these, on a Trigger's Broom axiom). The depots have survived better in the countryside because properties built up along the road in the urban areas have inevitably created new roadsides. It's actually quite amazing that as many as 300 survive when these are 200 years old; they now form one of the distinctive features of the A5 across North Wales.
What do they do now? I counted 34 which house road signs. There are 12 telephone poles, 4 bus stops and various other bits and pieces of street furniture. Betws-y-Coed makes very good use of them for benches and pot plants. None is used for its original purpose, except perhaps temporarily.
Many are well preserved, especially through Snowdonia and on Anglesey. My pictures above are just a few of the better ones.
Others are tumbling down, overgrown, or both. In the interest of balance, I include below a few pictures of these, too.
