The Big Arch is a Grade II listed building in the Torfaen local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 13 September 1994. House.

The Big Arch

WRENN ID
strange-latch-bone
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Torfaen
Constituency
Torfaen MP: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Lab)
Country
Wales
Date first listed
13 September 1994
Type
House
Address
The Big Arch, The British, Pontypool, Abersychan
OS grid reference
SO 259 034
Coordinates
51.72527, -3.07278
Source
Cadw listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Big Arch is a bridge made of sandstone and brick. It features a semi-circular arch that is 11 meters wide and consists of five rings of engineering brick. The arch spans 36 meters and was built as a cut-and-cover tunnel. The revetment walls that create the portals are made of bull-nosed sandstone and are arranged in an unusual L-plan to support the embankment, which is angled in relation to the arch. The corners of the L-shape are rounded, and the walls are slightly battered, sloping steeply to the ground from points near the track bed level.

Local climate

The Big Arch sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,020 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 81% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 75% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 20 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • No related consent applications matched
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

See all similar buildings →

this building   1 similar   nearby listed buildings

Nearby listed buildings

  1. British Colliery Pumping Engine House Grade II 215 m
  2. Former British Ironworks office and foundry quadrangle Grade II* 295 m
  3. Former Goods Shed of Abersychan and Talywain Station Grade II 310 m
  4. High Street Baptist Church Grade II 478 m
  5. Waterloo Cottage Grade II 496 m
  6. Church of St Thomas Grade II 582 m
  7. Former colliery engine house at ETM Steel Fabrication Grade II 781 m
  8. Garndiffaith Railway Viaduct Grade II 863 m
  9. Chimney Grade II 1.0 km
  10. Rising Sun Bridge Grade II 1.3 km