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River Dore

Rivers of HerefordshireUse British English from November 2012Wye catchment
Road Bridge over the River Dore geograph.org.uk 1555277
Road Bridge over the River Dore geograph.org.uk 1555277

The River Dore (Welsh: Afon Aur lit: 'the river of gold') is a tributary of the River Monnow in Herefordshire, England. It rises on Cusop Hill, in the foothills of the Black Mountains, close to the border between England and Wales. It flows for 12 miles (19 km) through the villages of Dorstone, Peterchurch, Vowchurch, Abbey Dore and Pontrilas, before reaching the Monnow near Llangua. The Monnow itself is a tributary which flows into the River Wye at Monmouth. The name Dore probably derives from the Welsh word dŵr, meaning "water". The word was later interpreted by the Norman French as "d'or", meaning "golden", and the river valley, through this misunderstanding, then became known in English as "Golden Valley".The river is noted for its fishing, including trout and grayling. In 2006, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust initiated a programme to clear the river of invasive mink, and repopulate it with water voles.As of 2022, there is a legal challenge against the building of an intensive poultry farm livestock unit which would contribute to the pollution to the river and also of the Wye, of which it is a tributary.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article River Dore (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.95 ° E -2.8666666666667 °
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Address

Pen-y-Llan Farm Level Crossing

A465
HR2 0BG
England, United Kingdom
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Road Bridge over the River Dore geograph.org.uk 1555277
Road Bridge over the River Dore geograph.org.uk 1555277
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Nearby Places

Pontrilas railway station
Pontrilas railway station

Pontrilas railway station is a former station which served the Herefordshire villages of Pontrilas and Ewyas Harold, and was a little distance from Grosmont, in Monmouthshire, Wales. It was located on the Welsh Marches Line between Hereford and Abergavenny. The Golden Valley Railway ran from here through to the Midland Railway line at Hay on Wye. The station is now a private house with attached self-catering holiday cottage created from the former waiting room.The station closed in 1958 (see Pontrilas). The remaining railway infrastructure includes the operating signal box. The sidings are still in use for infrastructure work and, less often, as a freight loop. It is at the end of the long climb from Abergavenny; freight and steam specials on this route provide a noisy spectacle coming through the station site. In the southbound direction the long section between Pontrilas and Abergavenny frequently results in trains being held here awaiting a clear run into Abergavenny. The branch line junction and bridge, crossing the A465 onto the Golden Valley Railway, has been demolished in road widening - only the abutment to the bridge remains. During the 1990s rail freight operated to this set of sidings, delivering wood to Pontrilas Sawmill. Plans were even mooted to open a short siding into it; this would have had to cross the A465 or replace the missing Golden Valley bridge so was unlikely. Freight traffic ended when British Rail closed its Freightliner service. A large online model railway retailer - OnTracks.co.uk – was based in the business unit below the signal box. The unit is now occupied by Golden Valley Hobbies who operate a similar online store. There are plans to open a new station for the village.In March 2020, a bid was made to the Restoring Your Railway fund to get funds for a feasibility study into reinstating the station. This bid was unsuccessful. In 2023, the local authority said plans to reopen the station had been shelved as they claimed it was poor value for money. The local authority also claimed that most passengers using the station would have instead used another station or the local bus network.