William Maddocks, Architect of the 'cob' at Porthmadog
William Maddocks was the architect of the 'cob' at the town of Porthmadog which is in fact named after him. The 'cob' closed of the tidal flow to the large river allowing the port to flourish as a ship building centre in the 19th century.
Born in 1773, William Maddocks was the son of a wealthy London family with strong links to North Wales. As he reached adulthood Maddocks began several ambitious building plans around the Traeth Mawr Estuary.
One such plan was the creation of the 'cob' at Porthmadog where the construction of a great embankment was planned to reclaim land lost to the sea in the estuary. Also included in William Maddocks building plans was the construction of a town, Tremadog, with the two planned to serve as the preferred departure point for travel to and from Dublin in Ireland.
The project almost bankrupted the Maddocks family when Holyhead was instead chosen as the preferred route to Ireland. The family was saved from financial ruin however by the growing slate trade from Blaenau Ffestiniog and the construction of the slate railway linking the two towns created one of the largest slate exporting regions in the world.
The town of Tremadog was eventually renamed Porthmadog although it is often referred to as Portmadoc as well.
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