The natural attractions at Devil’s Bridge have inspired cultural responses for centuries, including from painters, poets, writers and photographers. In the 1600s and 1700s, many artists searched for ‘the sublime,’ and ‘picturesque’: aspects of nature, art, buildings, language, style, or other objects that were awe-inspiring and beautiful.
From the 1800s onwards, the scenery and atmosphere at Devil’s Bridge provided many artists with the challenge of capturing the sublime and picturesque creatively. They also attempted to make people experience the same feelings of awe, terror, or a loss for words as they did. Notable early examples include the poet William Wordsworth who wrote ‘To the Torrent at the Devil’s Bridge, North Wales’ in 1824, the travel writer George Borrow, and the pioneering photographer Francis Bedford who took black-and-white images of the waterfalls in the late 1800s. More recently, the television crime drama ‘Hinterland’ used this scenery and the sometimes dark atmosphere of Devil’s Bridge, choosing some of the waterfalls and plunge pools as filming locations.
The falls have also provided a less artistic but still valuable service to the community. The need for electricity in the area before the days of a public supply gave rise to an early attempt to use the power of the water falling down the waterfalls for electricity. This type of power is known as hydroelectric power, or HEP for short. Although this HEP scheme has fallen into disuse, the remains of the cast-iron pipework can be seen next to the falls below the Hafod Hotel.