CAMBRIDGE COUNTY GEOGRAPHIES
CARNARVONSHIRE
DA
140
C A R . N A R r O N
Ore at Oi-iue^ He a&
PHYSICAL MAP OF
C ARlsTARVOlSr
CAMBRIDGE COUNTY GEOGRAPHIES
General Editor: F. H. H. GUILLEMARD, M.A., M.D.
CARNARVONSHIRE
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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g^ Gux\\ev^3
Cambridge County Geographies
CARNARVONSHIRE
by •'•' . '
J. E. LLOYD, M.A.
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
OF NORTH WALES
With Maps, Diagrams and Illustrations
Cambridge :
at the University Press
191 1
CambrtUgr :
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
PREFACE
Though the author cannot claim a native's familiarity
with the county of which he has here essayed to tell the
story, long residence in it has given him an interest in its
physical features and its history which he hopes is in some
measure reflected in the following pages. Yet, pleasant as
the task has been, it could never have been accomplished
without the aid of many kind friends who have given him
valuable expert guidance in unfamiliar fields. The chapter
on Geology owes much to Mr Edward Greenly, F.G.S.,
and that on Natural History to Professor K. J. P. Orton.
Help has also been given in various ways by Mr Harold
Hughes, A.R.I.B.A., Mr G. J. Williams, one of H.M.
Inspectors of Mines, Mr E. R. Davies, Secretary of the
County Education Committee, Mr J. T. Roberts, Clerk
to the County Council, Professor T. Winter, Dr J. Lloyd
Williams and the Rev. T. Shankland.
J. E. LLOYD.
June 1 4/£, 1911.
CONTENTS
PAGE
1. County and Shire. Meaning and Origin of the name
Carnarvonshire ....... i
2. General Characteristics. Position and Natural Con-
ditions ......... 2
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries ..... 7
4. Surface and General Features . . . . .11
5. Watersheds. Rivers. Lakes ..... 20
6. Geology . . . . . . . . .28
7. Natural History . . . . . . -35
8. A Peregrination of the Coast ..... 40
9. Coastal Gains and Losses. Coast Protection . . 54
10. Climate ......... 62
11. People — Race, Language, Population . . -67
12. Agriculture ........ 72
13. Industries — Mines and Quarries . . . .78
14. Shipping. Ports. Fisheries ..... 84
viii CONTENTS
PAGE
15. History of the County to the Edwardian Conquest. 87
1 6. Later History of the County ..... 93
17. Antiquities ........ 99
1 8. Architecture — (a) Ecclesiastical .... 107
19. Architecture — (b) Military . . . ~ . . 116
20. Architecture — (c) Domestic . . . . .123
21. Communications — Past and Present. Roads and
Railways . . . .. . . .127
22. Divisions — Ancient and Modern. Administration . 137
23. Roll of Honour . . . . " . . 141
24. Chief Towns and Villages of Carnarvonshire . . 151
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
View near Capel Curig ....... 3
Bettws y Coed ........ 6
Llanfairfechan ........ 7
View on the River Glaslyn ...... 9
Sychnant Pass . . . . . . . .13
The Precipices of Carnedd Dafydd . . . . 15
The Pass of Llanberis . . . . . . -17
Snowdon from Llyn LI y daw . . . . . .18
The Conway near Trefriw . . . . . .20
Fairy Glen, River Conway . . . . . .22
Bridge on the Dwyfor (Rhyd y Benllig) . . -23
Aberglaslyn Pass . . . . . . . -24
Llyn Idwal . . . . . . . . -25
Dolbadarn . . . . . . . . .27
Great Orme's Head and St Tudno's Church . . -33
Llandudno Bay . . . . . . . -4'
Penmaen Mawr ........ 43
Menai Straits : the Swellies ...... 45
The Rivals (Yr Eifl) 48
St Tudwal's Islands . . . . . . -5'
Llanbedrog Point . . . . . . . .52
Moel y Ge'st 53
Aberglaslyn Bridge . . . . . . -57
x ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Tremadoc . . . . . . . . .58
Portmadoc Harbour ....... 59
Llandudno Lighthouse . . . . . . .61
Crib Goch and Cwm Glas ...... 65
Weapons of the Stone and Bronze Ages ... 69
Black Cattle (University College herd) . . . -75
A Snowdonian Cottage . . . . . . -77
Penrhyn Slate Quarries . ^>t.i ...... _. . . .-80
Workers in the Penrhyn Quarries . . . . . 82
Gimlet Rock 83
Pwllheli Harbour . . . . ',-- Vl "-'"I • ' 8^
The Con way Estuary ..... ! ,,f> • 86
Criccieth Castle . . . . . .,•/.. • 94
Carnarvon Castle . . . ... , if -. 98
Rhos Lan Cromlech, near Criccieth . . _.,- . 100
Cromlech at Cefn Amwlch . . . . .. . 101
Stone Circle, Penmaenmawr . . . . - . .102
Treflys Church . . . . . .,.,..-,. 106
Bangor Cathedral and University College New Buildings 109
The Bangor Pontifical (illuminated page) . . . 110
The Bangor Pontifical (showing old music) . . .112
Clynnog Church . . . . . . . .113
Llanengan Church . . . . . . . .115
Carnarvon Castle from the River Saint . . . .117
Carnarvon Castle : Qyeen Eleanor's Gate . . .119
Conway Castle: Interior. . . . . . .120
Dolbadarn Castle . . : . . . . .122
Plas Mawr, Conway . . . . . . . Ti4
Plas Mawr: Queen Elizabeth's Room . . •/•••'• • I25
Holyhead Road and Llyn Ogwen ..... . . 130
Menai Suspension Bridge . . . . . .131
Britannia Tubular Bridge . . . . . . 134
Conway Tubular Bridge. . . . . . . 135
ILLUSTRATIONS xi
PAGE
Sir John Wynne of Gwydir ,44
Dewi Wyn o Eifion ,48
leuan Glan Geirionydd ..... -149
Aber Falls ,52
Abersoch Harbour ..... jr..
University College Old Buildings, Bangor . . .155
Beddgelert Bridge . . . . . . . .156
Swallow Falls, Bettws y Coed I5g
Eisteddfodic Gorsedd in Carnarvon Castle . . .160
Black Rocks, Criccieth ..... !6i
Penrhyn Castle ...... 163
Llyn Craf'nant, near Trefriw . . . . . .167
Diagrams ,68
MAPS
Carnarvonshire, Topographical . ... . Front Cower
„ Geological .... Back Cover
England and Wales, showing Annual Rainfall . . 63
The illustrations on pp. 3, 9, 15, 22, 25, 27, 45, 57, 75, 77,
82,98, 101, 109, no, 112, 113, 119, 120, 135, 144, 148, 149,
1.52, 1 60 and 163 are from photographs supplied by Mr J. Wickens
ot Bangor ; the rest from photographs supplied by Messrs F. Frith
and Co., Ltd., of Reigate. The portrait of Sir John Wynne
(p. 144) is reproduced from The History of the Givydir Family by
kind permission of Messrs Woodall, Minshall, Thomas & Co.
i. County and Shire. Meaning and
Origin of the name Carnarvon-
shire.
Shire is an Old English word which has long been
used to denote a large division of the country, shorn off or
separated by boundaries from the rest of the land. It is
a share, to use another related word, of a wider area.
From it is derived the Welsh word sir, for which the
equivalent swydd is sometimes found, denoting first, office,
and then, the sphere within which an office is exercised.
Previous to the Norman Conquest of England, shire
was the English term regularly used. The Normans,
however, brought with them the name county, signifying
the district ruled over by a count, and applied this to the
shire, which they took to be a very similar institution.
Hence it is that we speak indifferently of Carnarvonshire
or the County of Carnarvon, of the Shire Hall and of the
County Council. The two terms now have precisely the
same meaning.
Carnarvonshire is the county which has its centre in
the town of Carnarvon on the Menai Straits. The town
has a much longer history than the shire, for there was a
fort here, near Llanbeblig church, in Roman times, and it
L. c. i
2 CARNARVONSHIRE
is this which the name commemorates. Carnarvon is
properly " Y Gaer yn Arfon," the fort in Arvon, i.e. in
the region fronting Anglesey.
All the shires of Wales are of much later origin than
those of England. In the days of Welsh independence,
the country was divided into cantrefs and commotes, each
of much smaller extent than the English shire. The
turning of Wales into "shire ground " was a part of the
process of conquest. Carnarvonshire belongs to the earlier
of the two sets of Welsh counties, namely, those constituted
by Edward I after his defeat of Llywelyn, the last native
Prince of Wales. It came into existence in March 1284,
as the result of the Statute of Rhuddlan, sometimes known
as the Statute of Wales. By this act three Welsh cantrefs
and two commotes were grouped together under the
Sheriff of Carnarvon and a new county was created.
2. General Characteristics. Position
and Natural Conditions.
Mountains and the sea have made Carnarvonshire
what it is, and have given it a character of its own that is
hardly matched by any other county in Southern Britain.
It has the longest coast-line of any Welsh county with
the exception of Pembroke, and its mountains reach a
height not attained elsewhere south of the Tweed.
These are the natural features which made it in the
Middle Ages the "strength of Venedotia" (cadernid
Gwjnedd), a sure retreat in time of invasion, and, with
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 3
the adjacent isle of Anglesey, which it protected from
attack, the chief seat of the power of the princes of North
Wales. An expedition into Snowdon, as the English
then styled the whole district, was a hazardous affair and,
until Edward I used his fleet to second the efforts of his
army, usually had little result.
View near Capel Curig
The county shares the mild and humid climate of the
western coast of Great Britain and this, with the great
extent of upland which it contains, has from the earliest
times made it a region of pastoral rather than agricultural
pursuits. The pastures of Eryri, or Snowdonia, were of
wide renown in the time of Giraldus Cambrensis, who
says that they were reputed sufficient to feed all the
i — 2
4 CARNARVONSHIRE
flocks and herds of Wales. While the district has its
craggy heights and desolate moors, it has also rich valley
bottoms like Nant Ffrancon and the Vale of Nantlle,
affording the best of herbage. It still, notwithstanding
the changes effected by modern agriculture, preserves its
character as a stock-raising country, and such crops as
are grown are chiefly subsidiary to this end. The annual
yield of wheat is very small, but a fair quantity of barley
and turnips is raised for feeding purposes, while the crop
of oats is considerable. Little more than one seventh of
the surface of the county is under any kind of cultivation,
the rest being grass land, moor, rock, marsh, scrub, and
woodland.
Carnarvonshire is, in respect of situation, an essentially
maritime county, but it has never been remarkable for its
seaboard industries. Neither its seaports nor its fisheries
have ever been important elements in the development of
the district, though the rise of slate quarrying has of late
led to the opening of new ports and somewhat helped
the growth of the old. History shows, in fact, that the
Welshman has not, as a rule, taken kindly to the sea.
In spite of its persistent beating at his gates, he has always
regarded it as a strange and mysterious thing, best left to
itself, and he has never cared to reap from it the harvest
of food which it yields to the adventurous mariner. No
doubt the want of good natural harbours has been a
further handicap in Carnarvonshire, for much of the coast
is rocky and inhospitable, but this will not entirely explain
the comparative lack of sea-faring enterprise, which has its
origin in deep-seated racial habits.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 5
The mountain, on the other hand, is the natural home
of the Welshman and, while he has always roamed over
it freely in the character of shepherd, he has of late come
to still closer quarters with it as quarryman and miner.
The mineral wealth of Carnarvonshire is very great, and
during the nineteenth century the slate and granite
quarries of the county have placed it in a new position as
one of the leading industrial areas of Great Britain.
Bethesda, Llanberis, and Nantlle annually produce great
quantities of roofing slates; quarried, split, and dressed by
a race of workmen whose skill is hereditary, and who
have an honourable reputation throughout Wales for
industry, thrift, intelligence, and love of learning. The
quarry district extends across the county boundary to
Festiniog in Merionethshire, with an outlier at Corris at
the other end of that county. It is, industrially, the
salient feature of North-west Wales and its influence is
felt in every movement affecting the Welsh-speaking
community, whether it be religious, literary, or educa-
tional.
Since the romantic movement at the end of the
eighteenth century awoke men to an appreciation of the
wilder beauties of nature, North Wales, and in particular
Carnarvonshire, has been recognised as one of the most
beautiful and attractive regions in the British Isles. It is
not the mere height of its mountains, considerable as
these are, which has drawn the sightseer to this region,
but the rich variety of natural forms, the contrast of wood,
rock, and water, picturesquely thrown together, as seen
for instance in Nant Gwynant and at Bettws y Coed.
6
CARNARVONSHIRE
Tourists at first came on foot or by coach ; and since the
opening of the Chester and Holyhead railway the loco-
motive has brought them in ever-increasing numbers, until
the August invasion of visitors, doubling for the time
being the population of the coast towns, has now become
a feature of the first importance in the life of the district.
Bettws y Coed
In Carnarvonshire the new towns of Llandudno, Pen-
maenmawr, and Llanfairfechan have been created by this
passion for mountaineering and sea-bathing, while many
of the remote hamlets of Lleyn are beginning to find their
profit in the letting of summer lodgings, as the lover of
solitary landscape is driven further and further afield by
the bustle of the more frequented resorts.
SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries.
Carnarvonshire forms so striking a feature of the map
of Wales that one is hardly prepared to find that it is one
of the smallest of Welsh counties. Its area, including
lakes and streams, but excluding tidal estuaries and land
Llanfairfechan
between low and high water mark, is1 365,930 acres — a
figure which makes it the ninth Welsh county in respect
of size, surpassing only Anglesey and Flintshire in the
north and Radnorshire in the south. It is most nearly
approached in dimensions by Pembrokeshire, which, like
it, sends out arms into the western seas and so gives an
impression of extent not warranted by actual measurement.
8 CARNARVONSHIRE
Among English counties, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire
are nearest to it in area ; it exceeds Middlesex, Rutland,
and Huntingdonshire. Its greatest length is from the
headland of Braich y Pwll in Lleyn to Penrhyn Bay near
Llandrillo, a distance of about 55 miles; lines running
north and south are much shorter, the longest being that
from the Great Orme's Head to Migneint mountain,
which is 25 miles, and that from Bangor to Portmadoc,
amounting to 20.
The county is of well-marked shape, projecting for
some 25 miles from the north-west corner of the Welsh
mainland in a south-westerly direction and ending with a
kind of snout at Braich y Pwll, off which lies the isle of
Bardsey, the westernmost point of North Wales. Its
long and tapering lines suggest the head of a greyhound,
with ears at Llandudno, eyes near Carnarvon, and nostrils
at Aberdaron. The river Conway makes a silver collar
and the Hiraethog region a sturdy neck.
Formed out of ancient Welsh tribal divisions, Carnar-
vonshire has, for the most part, natural boundaries clearly
marking it off from the neighbouring counties. North,
west, and south, it is hemmed in by the sea, its lengthy
coast-line stretching from the mouth of the Conway to
that of the Glaslyn. The channel known as the Menai
Straits, which for twelve miles winds between it and
Anglesey, is narrow, and in places less than a quarter of
a mile across, but the salt water sweeps it from end to
end at all states of the tide. On the eastern side the
main body of the county is separated from Denbighshire
by the river Conway, a noble river flowing through a
SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES
9
well-defined strath into a wide estuary. It is only in the
south-east corner, where the county abuts upon Merioneth-
shire, that the boundary needs more careful definition, and
even here it follows natural features. Running up the
Glaslyn to Cerrig y Rhwydwr it then keeps the course
of the Dylif 1 to the cliffs of Yr Arddu. From this point
its line is that of the watershed, passing over the tops of
View on the Glaslyn
Cynicht, Moel Druman, Moel Farllwyd, Moel Penamnen,
and Y Gamallt to the meeting place on the moorland of
Migneint of the three shires of Carnarvon, Denbigh, and
Merioneth.
1 The district between the Dylif and Llyn Dinas, being the hamlet of
Nanmor in the parish of Beddgelert, was transferred from the county of
Merioneth to that of Carnarvon in 1888.
10 CARNARVONSHIRE
Three small portions of the county lie east of the
Conway and, were it a mere question of simplicity of
grouping, would be more suitably assigned to Denbigh-
shire. All three were, in fact, included in the ancient
cantref of Rhos, one of the main constituents of that
county, but for various reasons have come to be associated
with Carnarvonshire. The largest of the three was once
the commote of Creuddyn, divided from the rest of Rhos
by the marshy flat which extends from Llandudno Junc-
tion to Llandrillo. Popular tradition avers that in olden
time it was along this level tract that the Conway found
its way to the sea, and thus explains the connection of the
peninsula with the county of Carnarvon. History has a
much less startling tale to tell. Until the overthrow of
Llywelyn by Edward I, Creuddyn was always reckoned
a member of Rhos, and it was that monarch who, in
constituting Carnarvonshire by the statute of Rhuddlan
in 1284, modified the old arrangements by uniting the
commote to the new county west of the Conway. His
reason for doing so is not recorded, but it is to be
remembered that at that time, and for long afterwards,
Denbighshire had no existence, but was represented along
the Conway by the marcher lordship of Denbigh, over
which Edward had no direct authority. One may,
therefore, presume that for military reasons he wished to
keep full control of the mouth of the Conway and of the
site of the ancient castle of Degannwy. If this was the
case, Carnarvonshire owes to the military exigencies of
the thirteenth century its power to draw to-day as a rating
authority upon the valuable revenues of Llandudno.
SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES 11
A little north of Llanrwst, another portion of the
county projects across the river into the county of
Denbigh. This is the township of Maenan in the parish
of Eglwys Fach1. In 1284 Edward I, wishing to build
a castle on the site of the Cistercian Abbey of Aberconwy,
acquired this township from Earl Henry of Lincoln, the
lord of Rhos, and gave it to the abbey in lieu of the old
site and of lands in Creuddyn which he also took over.
Maenan thus ceased to form part of the lordship of
Denbigh and came under the authority of the Sheriff of
Carnarvon.
The third detached portion of the county is the parish
of Llysfaen2, midway between Llandudno and Rhyl,
which on the landward side is entirely hemmed in by
Denbighshire. This district appears also to have been
granted away from Rhos at the time of the Conquest and
to have been brought under the sway of the Carnarvon-
shire authorities.
4. Surface and General Features.
No county in England and Wales has a more
diversified surface than Carnarvonshire, where in the
space of four miles one may travel from the meadows of
Beddgelert, but little above the sea level, to the summit of
Snowdon, 3560 feet high. An ancient writer, describing
1 A small portion, known as the Abbey, is extra-parochial.
2 With this formerly went the township of Eirias, on the east side of
Colwyn Bay, but in 1888 it was transferred to Denbighshire.
12 CARNARVONSHIRE
the part of the county which lies opposite to Anglesey,
pictures it as made up of four parallel belts, rising tier
above tier to the topmost crag of Eryri. First came the
sea-board, then the champaign or plain country, next the
wooded slopes, and last of all the rugged strength of the
mountains. These divisions may conveniently be applied
to Carnarvonshire as a whole. It has its 117 miles of
sea-coast, sometimes bordered by majestic cliffs, but more
often skirted by marshes and sand-flats. Next we have
the region of farms, with tilled fields rising gently from
the sandy beaches. If we fix the upper limit of this
region at 500 feet, it will be found to account for about
250 of the 572 square miles which make up the land
surface of the county. The woodlands clothe the lower
slopes of the mountains from 500 to 1500 feet, or, to
speak more accurately, did so in the ancient days, before
sheep deprived the hillsides of their clothing of scrub
and brushwood. This region occupies about 220 square
miles and is now the seat of the slate-quarry industry, as
well as a ranging ground for sheep and mountain ponies.
Last of all, we come to the lonely mountain ridges,
spreading themselves here and there and forming a long
backbone for the county. Seventy square miles of
Carnarvonshire lie above the 1500 feet level.
It will be well to consider the conformation of the
county in greater detail. Its characteristic feature is the
Snowdonian range, which stretches from Conway Moun-
tain to Cam Boduan without a break save such as are
afforded by mountain passes, and curves from sea to sea in
the form of a great amphitheatre. The best view of this
14 CARNARVONSHIRE
mountain chain is to be obtained from Anglesey, whence
on a reasonably clear day the range may be seen at one
glance from Penmaenmawr to the Rivals, forming a
picture not easily effaced from the mind of him who has
once looked upon it. There are several gaps, notably
those formed by Nant Ffrancon, by the pass of Llanberis,
by the Rhyd Ddu Valley, and by Bwlch Derwyn, but
only the last of these is broad enough to affect in any
way the impression of unity.
The higher ground begins at once at the mouth of the
Conway with Conway Mountain and Penmaen Bach,
which have their feet in the waters of the Irish Sea.
After the slight gap of the Sychnant Pass (517 feet), a
gradual ascent begins, which at 2000 feet reaches the bold
and striking crest of Tal y Fan. A spur thrown out to
the north-west touches the sea at Penmaenmawr, where
granite rocks rise steeply from the beach to a height of
1550 feet. South of Tal y Fan the chain is slightly
dented by the Pass of the Two Stones (Bwlch y Ddeufaen,
1403 feet), through which passed the old Roman road to
Carnarvon ; thereafter it pursues its upward trend, through
Drum (2528 feet) and the rounded hump of Foel Fras
(3091 feet), to the lofty summits of Carnedd Llywelyn
(3484 feet) and Carnedd Dafydd (3426 feet). These are
hardly inferior in height to Snowdon itself, but, despite
some fine precipices, lack the advantages of the better
known mountain in respect of isolation and grandeur of
outline.
At this point we come to the first of the great
Snowdonian passes, traversed by the old coaching road
16 CARNARVONSHIRE
between Shrewsbury and Holyhead. This is formed by
the valleys of the Ogwen and the Llugwy, which run
north-west and south-east respectively from a watershed
1000 feet high. Singularly majestic scenery is the result
of the driving of this cleft through the heart of Snowdonia,
and lakes, torrents, and waterfalls enhance the appeal to
the imagination of the sheer walls and soaring pinnacles.
Another solid section of the great range follows, with
Tryfan (3010 feet), Glyder Fach (3262 feet), and
Glyder Fawr (3279 feet), summits no less notable
for their impressive beauty than for their actual height.
Glyder Fach1, in particular, is a chaos of rocks, vividly
described by Charles Kingsley in Two Tears Ago —
"a region where the upright lava ledges had been split
asunder into chasms, crushed together into caves, toppled
over each other, hurled up into spires, in such chaotic
confusion that progress seemed impossible."
The pass of Llanberis next intervenes and at Pen y
Gwryd (900 feet) branches off in two directions, eastward
to Capel Curig and the Llugwy valley, southward to
Beddgelert. The southern branch, now known as Nant
Gwynant (the true form is, however, Nanhwynen), serves
to open a connection with the pass of Cwellyn and Rhyd
Ddu and thus to isolate the great central mass of Snow-
donia, with the loftiest and most celebrated of its summits,
known to the Welsh as T Wyddfa, the (Giant's) Tomb2.
Snowdon is a cone of volcanic ash, with three deep
1 Confused by Kingsley with Glyder Fawr.
2 The Welsh distinguish Eryri, the region (Snowdonia), from T Wyddfa,
the summit (Snowdon).
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 17
" cwms " carved out of its sides, and outlying peaks and
ridges, such as Lliwedd, Yr Aran, Crib Goch (The Red
Comb) and Crib y Ddysgl (The Dish Comb), which form
the tremendous foreground of the famous prospect from
the summit and give grace and dignity to the aspect of
the mountain, as viewed from below.
The Pass of Llanberis
The third of the passes dividing the Snowdon range
is that which runs from Beddgelert to Carnarvon, with
Cwellyn Lake, stretched at the precipitous base of
Mynydd Mawr, as its central feature. High mountain
walls hem it on the western, no less than the eastern side,
culminating in Moel Hebog (2566 feet), which looks
down upon the village of the famous grave. Beyond this
L. c.
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 19
point the ridge, running westward, is well defined ; it has
the Vale of Nantlle in a fold on the northern slope, dips
down to 450 feet at the gap of Bwlch Derwyn and
reaches the sea in majestic cliffs at Garn y Mor, the
westernmost of the three graceful peaks of the Rivals1.
While the mountains of Snowdonia thus occupy most
of the county, there is one portion of it which, as regards
surface, has quite other features. The tongue of land
which stretches out to the west and separates the bays of
Carnarvon and Cardigan lies comparatively low, and the
sea breezes blow across it unimpeded from shore to shore.
Lleyn, to give it the name by which it has been known
for centuries, has no heights of any importance, save for
the isolated Carn Fadryn (1217 feet), and is a land of
fertile fields and meadows, where the tillage of the soil is
profitable, and the prospect is sylvan and alluring rather
than bold and romantic. It has much in common with
Anglesey, but has no Irish traffic to connect it with the
outer world, and thus retains the old-world isolation
natural to its position. Aberdaron, 15 miles from the
nearest railway station, is the " Ultima Thule " of North
Wales, a byword among all Welshmen for the remote-
ness of its situation and the rustic simplicity of its people.
1 "The Rivals" is a corruption of the Welsh "Yr Eifl," meaning
"The Forks."
2 — 2
20
CARNARVONSHIRE
5. Watersheds. Rivers. Lakes.
It is a natural result of the character of Carnarvonshire
as a mountain mass almost surrounded by the sea that its
rivers run short and rapid courses and are mountain
torrents, for the most part, rather than rivers in the
ordinary sense of the term. The Conway is the one true
The Conway near Trefriw
river of the county, with a broad valley, a winding,
leisurely course, and a considerable estuary. If, however,
the rivers are unimportant, the lakes are numerous and of
great interest, and it is to them, quite as much as to its
mountains, that the district owes its fame for natural
beauty.
The chief watershed is that which parts the streams
running north into the Irish Sea and Carnarvon Bay from
those running south into Cardigan Bay. From Braich y
Pwll Head to the Rivals this line keeps close to the
northern coast, save for one southward bend to Cam
Fadryn. It then follows the main ridge of the Snowdonian
range, passing through Llanaelhaearn, Bwlch Mawr,
Graianog railway crossing, Garnedd Goch, Pitt's Head,
and the Snowdon summit to Penygwryd. Here it parts
company with the central chain, making its way south to
the neighbourhood of Cynicht, where it again bends to
the east, forming for a while the county boundary.
North of Penygwryd, the main ridge acts as the water-
parting between the Conway and the streams which flow
into Beaumaris Bay.
The Conway (Welsh " Conwy ") is one of the best
known rivers in the British Isles. Its name is one which
goes back to Roman times, and it must have fixed men's
attention in every age as the moat drawn by nature for
the defence of the Snowdonian fastnesses. It was
On a rock, whose haughty brow
Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood
that the poet Gray placed the prophet-bard who foretold
in sombre verse the fate of the successors of Edward I;
while another famous poet, Edmund Spenser, speaks of
Conway, which out of his streame doth send
Plenty of pearles to decke his dames withall.
It rises in the moorland tarn of Llyn Conwy and, after
winding its way past Yspyty Ifan, bends sharply to the
Fairy Glen, River Conway
WATERSHEDS RIVERS LAKES
23
left and sinks from the highland region of Mid Wales to
its own charming valley in the cascades of Bettws y Coed.
First, we have the Conway Falls, a famous salmon leap,
next the delicate beauty of the Fairy Glen, and lastly the
reaches at Bettws itself, where the level strath begins,
amid towering heights clad with trees to the very summit.
Bridge on the Dwyfor (Rhyd y Benllig)
Henceforward the Conway is a quiet, meandering stream,
which at Trefriw has its first taste of the sea, and there-
after is navigable for small craft, as it pursues its devious
way past the old Roman fortress of Caerhun and the ferry
(now a bridge) at Talycafn to the sands and marshes of its
estuary.
The other rivers of the county are of less note. The
24
CARNARVONSHIRE
Ogwen, after passing through the lake of that name,
spreads itself across the verdant flats of Nant Ffrancon,
sweeps round the foot of the great Penrhyn quarry, and
enters Beaumaris Bay through the glades of Penrhyn
Park. The Saint1 carries the waters of the Llanberis
lakes to the Menai Straits at Carnarvon. The Gwyrfai,
an ancient local boundary, flows from Llyn Cwellyn past
Aberglaslyn Pass
Bettws Garmon and Bont Newydd (a " new bridge "
which has long ceased to justify its name) to a more
westerly point on these Straits. The Llyfni is the stream
of the Nantlle Valley, with a short course, but a substan-
tial volume of water. In South Carnarvonshire, the Erch
1 Seiont is not a true traditional form, but was invented by some
antiquary, who thought it nearer to Segontium than the common Saint.
Llyn Idwal
26 CARNARVONSHIRE
helps to form the harbour of Pwllheli ; the Dwyfach and
Dwyfor meet, like two ancient lovers long parted from
each other, a little while before they finish their course
for ever ; and the Glaslyn, springing from the very heart
of Snowdon, passes through the lakes of Nant Gwynant
to Beddgelert and the far-famed pass of Aberglaslyn, where
in olden times, before the making of the Portmadoc
embankment, it found its goal in the expanse of Traeth
Mawr.
The county is remarkably rich in lakes and fully
deserves to be known as the Lake District of Wales.
They are found at all levels, from Llyn Dinas, near
Beddgelert, which is only 176 feet above the sea, to the
little tarn known as Llyn y Cwn (The Hounds' Lake),
under the shoulder of Glyder Fawr, which pours its
waters into the Devil's Kitchen at a height of 2500 feet
above sea level. The longest is Llyn Padarn, the lower
of the two Llanberis lakes, which has a length of two
miles, and other considerable pieces of water are Llyn
Ogwen, Llyn Cwellyn, Llyn Llydaw, Llyn Cawlyd and
Llyn Eigiau. Dulyn and Melynllyn, the " Black Lake "
and the " Yellow Lake," cradled in the naked rock,
supply Llandudno with water, while Cawlyd discharges
the same office for Conway and Colwyn Bay. While
some of the Carnarvonshire lakes thus play a most
necessary part in the life of to-day, others are bathed in
the light of romance and have become famous in story.
The dark cliffs which encircle Llyn Idwal are supposed
to have witnessed the murder of a prince of that name,
the son of the great chieftain^Owen Gwynedd, and popular
28 CARNARVONSHIRE
fancy (most probably without warrant) connects Llyn
Geirionydd with the great sixth-century poet Taliesin,
a modern monument on its banks keeping the tradition
alive. Between the two lakes of Llanberis, on a rocky
eminence, stands the ruined fortress of Dolbadarn, and
another historic spot between two lakes is Bala Deulyn
(The Junction of the Two Lakes) in the Vale of Nantlle,
where Edward I once kept court, and where, long ages
before, as legend runs, the bewitched Lieu, disguised as
an eagle perched on an oak, fell into the lap of the
enchanter Gwydion and by him was released from the
spell which had kept him in miserable bondage.
6. Geology.
The different rocks which show themselves on the
earth's surface are of various ages, and it is the business of
the geologist to classify them and arrange them in chrono-
logical order. This he does by observing their bedding
or stratification ; the lowest in the series of beds is the
oldest, the newest that which lies uppermost. Owing to
the folding and consequent tilting of the beds, followed by
the wearing away of the higher deposits, the older, low-
lying strata may not only be exposed, but may even be
lifted up into considerable mountain masses. Thus it
happens that Wales, though one of the most mountainous
parts of Southern Britain, contains some of the oldest
geological formations, and Carnarvonshire shares very fully
both characteristics.
NAMES o»
SYSTEMS
SUBDIVISIONS
I Metal Age Deposits
Eecent I Neolithic „
Pleistocene | Palaeolithic „
\ Glacial „
(Cromer Series
Weybourne Crag
Chillesford and Norwich Crags
Red and Walton Crags
Coralline Crag
Miocene Absent from Britain
(Fluviomarine Beds of Hampshire
Bagshot Beds
London Clay
Oldhaven Beds, Woolwich and Reading
Thanet Sands [Groups ,
( Chalk \
Upper Greensand and Gault
Cretaceous 4 Lower Greensand
Weald Clay
* Hastings Sands )
Purbeck Beds
Portland Beds
Kimmeridge Clay
Corallian Beds
Jnra<t<5lr> J Oxford Clay and Kellaways Rock
" Cornbrash
Forest Marble
Great Oolite with Stonesfield Slate
Inferior Oolite
Lias — Upper, Middle, and Lower
Rhaetic
Keuper Marls
Trlaaqif. J Keuper Sandstone
^ Upper Bunter Sandstone
Bunter Pebble Beds
Lower Bunter Sandstone
Magnesian Limestone and Sandstone
Permian -j Marl Slate
Lower Permian Sandstone
Coal Measures
— . i Millstone Grit
Carboniferous i Mountain Limestone
Basal Carboniferous Rocks
CHARACTERS OP ROCKS
Superficial Deposits
Sands chiefly
Clays and Sands chiefly
Chalk at top
Sandstones, Mud and
Clays below
Shales, Sandstones and
Oolitic Limestones
Red Sandstones and
Marls, Gypsum and Salt
I Red Sandston
j Magnesian Li
nes and
mestone
Sandstones, Shales and
Coals at top
Sandstones in middle
Limestone and Shales below
Devonian
] MPJ?"r I Devonian and Old Red Sand-
1 Lo'wer J —
(Red Sandstones,
Shales, Slates and Lime<
stones
Silurian
{Ludlow Beds
Wenlock Beds
Llandovery Beds
} Sandstones, Shales and
Thin Limestones
Ordovician
/ Caradoc Beds
j Llandeilo Beds
' Arenig Beds
f Shales, Slates,
Sandstones and
Thin Limestones
Cambrian
C Tremadoc Slates
J Lingula Flags
1 Menevian Beds
I Harlech Grits and Llanberis Slates
(Slates and
Sandstones
Pre- Cambrian
No definite classification yet made
1 Sandstones,
•j Slates and
( Volcanic Rocks
30 CARNARVONSHIRE
The oldest rocks in the county are those which are
known as pre-Cambrian ; it is believed that this series
was laid down in an inconceivably remote age and then
subjected to long ages of pressure and metamorphic
change and denudation, until in course of time the
Cambrian deposits, long considered the oldest sedimentary
rocks, were spread over them. The coast from Braich y
Pwll to Forth Dinllaen is made up of pre-Cambrian rock,
and two other strips, running the one from Bethesda to
Llanllyfni and the other from Bangor to Carnarvon, may
possibly be of the same antiquity.
Next in order comes the Cambrian formation,
occupying most of the region between Clynnog and
Llanfairfechan ; it is of great importance to the county as
including, between masses of hard, dark grit, the valuable
beds of slate which count for so much in the economy of
the country. Within this area are the open quarries of
Bethesda, Llanberis, Moel Tryfan, and the Vale of Nantlle.
In addition to this main mass, the county also includes a
corner of the great Merionethshire area of Cambrian rock,
which crosses Traeth Mawr and shows itself around
Tremadoc and Portmadoc. The Portmadoc rocks are
rich in the fossils, or petrified animal and vegetable
remains, which are characteristic of this epoch ; the
Lingulella or tongue-shell, for instance, is plentiful in the
cliffs of Yr Ogof Ddu, near Criccieth.
Geologically, however, the bulk of Carnarvonshire
belongs to the Ordovician system, which claims the main
axis of the county from Aberdaron to Conway, and
includes all the higher mountains except Elidyr Fawr.
GEOLOGY 31
The hard Ordovician grits and slates were deposited above
the Cambrian rocks, and are well represented throughout
Wales. But they do not exhaust the contents of this
formation. Fortunately for the lover of striking scenery,
enormous beds of lava and volcanic ash, as much as
3000 feet thick in some places, are interposed between
the sedimentary strata, a process which provided the
alternation of soft and hard rock which is necessary for
the grandest effects of earth-sculpture. Here and there the
sources of these lavas have been disinterred and remain as
hard, granite-like bosses like Carn Boduan and the Rivals.
The next formation in order of time is the Silurian,
widely diffused throughout Wales, but only represented
in this county by a small section of the Denbighshire
area, which crosses the Conway near the mouth of that
river. After the close of the Silurian period, there came
another very long interval, marked, so far as this corner of
Britain is concerned, not by further deposits, but by vast
changes in those already laid down. Great movements
of the crust of the earth, whose general direction was
from the south-east, crushed and folded the strata, induced
in some of them the readiness to split evenly in certain
directions which is the essence of a good slate, and probably
raised them all above the level of the primeval sea so as to
form a mountainous land.
- »By this time, though the beds of which the greater
part of the surface of England is composed had still to be
laid down, the material basis of Carnarvonshire was very
largely completed. It is, indeed, likely that, after the
process described above, most of the area was submerged
32 CARNARVONSHIRE
beneath the sea of the Carboniferous period and received
a deposit of limestone. But this was subsequently exposed
to the air and worn away, except the two fragments
which remain in the Great and Little Orme's Head and
the coastal strip from Carnarvon to Nantporth, near
Bangor. The Great Orme is a characteristic bit of
limestone scenery, with its terraced cliffs, its many caves,
and its short, smooth herbage — " a wide, wild stretch of
splendid barrenness," as the late Bishop Walsham How
called it, "a treeless expanse of grey rock-ledges and
mossy turf, and low, weather-beaten gorse bushes." Since
the Carboniferous period, the mass of rocks forming
Carnarvonshire has been subjected to many influences :
there has been more than one elevation and planing down
of the surface, followed at last by the carving out of the
existing hill and valley system. This last stage probably
followed the time when the chalk deposits were being
laid down over the greater part of England and came at
the end of the Tertiary period, so that at the beginning
of the Pleistocene Age, the Snowdonian region had
attained something like its present form.
Yet, although the mountains of the district had taken
shape and the now familiar glens and rivers had formed
themselves, there were some important differences between
Pleistocene and modern Carnarvonshire. The region
was, in the first place, not maritime ; the Irish Sea and
St George's Channel were at this period dry land and the
rivers of Snowdonia fed much greater rivers which wound
their way through these now submerged tracts to a sea
coast far out in the Atlantic Ocean. Anglesey was not
L. C.
34 CARNARVONSHIRE
an island, but a tableland, with the Straits, perhaps, as a
valley separating it from the highlands to the south.
Welsh legend tells of a time when the Lavan Sands,
between Beaumaris and Penmaenmawr, were a fruitful
plain, overwhelmed by the resistless ocean in one great
devastating sweep ; and in truth it is not so long ago, as
geological time is reckoned, that this tract was submerged,
only that the process was much more gradual than the
popular tale would suggest. Another feature of the
Pleistocene Age in this part of the world was the existence,
during a portion of the time, at any rate, of great glaciers
like those of Switzerland and Norway, which were formed
on the higher ground and slowly worked their way down
the valleys. According to the late Sir Andrew Ramsay,
Snowdon was the centre of six glaciers, radiating in all
directions, and the traces of their activity may still be
observed in the surrounding region. The surface of the
rocks has often been rounded and smoothed by the action
of the moving ice ; and scratches, all pointing, so far as
the same valley is concerned, in the same direction, show
where the embedded stones, like a graver's tool, made
their mark as they were carried along. Isolated blocks
of stone, too, stranded in places far from their parent
source, are evidences of the power of the glacier to
transport to great distances the rocky masses which fell
upon it from above. Other proofs of glacial action are
the rock-basins, such as those in which Llyn Dulyn and
Llyn Llydaw lie, scooped out of the mountain side by the
grinding ice ; and the glacial drift — the accumulation of
sand, gravel, and clay, interspersed with great boulders,
GEOLOGY 35
which covers many acres of the surface of the county.
The drift was possibly deposited at a time when not
merely glaciers held sway, divided by ridges of bare rock,
but when the whole country was enveloped in a thick
ice-cap, like that which veils in eternal snow all the peaks
and ridges and cliffs of Central Greenland.
Next came the waning of the glaciers. As they
shrank into the recesses of the mountains, their last
survivors left the concentric moraines which still form a
belt across the mouths of Cwm Idwal, Cwm Glas, and
similar glens. Since that time the forces of nature have
been slowly but busily removing the traces left by the
Glacial Period, cutting away the glacial deposits, silting
up the lakes, splitting the ice-rounded rocks and bringing
about their decay, so that the mountains are gradually
assuming the aspect that is characteristic of ordinary land
surfaces exposed to the action of the air.
7. Natural History.
Both the flora and the fauna of Carnarvonshire are of
special interest, owing to the occurrence in this remote
corner of the British Isles of many forms elsewhere rare
or extinct. Careful records made by local observers over
a long series of years have brought out many important
facts in this direction.
The character of the flora of a district is determined
not only by climate and altitude above the sea, but also
by geological formation, since plants vary greatly in their
ability to find nutriment in particular soils. The principle
3—2
36 CARNARVONSHIRE
that each formation has its special flora is very well illus-
trated in Carnarvonshire, where there is a small but
thoroughly "characteristic limestone area, and an important
Alpine region. The limestone region lies around Llan-
dudno and includes the Great and the Little Orme's
Head. Here are to be found the wild cabbage, the vernal
squill, the rock Hutchinsia, the white beam tree, the wild
madder, the rock samphire, the rock-rose, the catchfly, and
the spotted cat's ear. The wild cotoneaster (C. vulgaris),
of which this is the sole habitat in Great Britain, was
discovered here in the eighteenth century, but it has almost
disappeared of late years and threatens, like the royal fern,
which has gone irretrievably, to fall a victim to the mis-
guided zeal of collectors. The other interesting botanical
area is supplied by the higher ground in the Snowdonian
district. Owing to the calcareous volcanic ash which
occurs so frequently at these high altitudes, there is a rich
Alpine flora, characterised by the presence of many rare
as well as beautiful plants. Such are the mountain
spiderwort, Lloydia, found on the cliffs about Llyn Idwal
and on the sides of Snowdon, but nowhere else in these
islands, the purple and the snow saxifrage, the rose-root,
and, among ferns, the green spleenwort and the very rare
Woodsia ilvensis.
Both the limestone and the Alpine areas are note-
worthy for the rarity of heather and foxglove. These,
however, grow plentifully on the older sedimentary rocks
of the county, where also brambles and ferns, and in
particular the parsley fern (Cryptogramme crispa), are to
be found in great abundance.
NATURAL HISTORY 37
The mountains of Carnarvonshire still afford shelter
and a breeding ground for the last remnants of several
species of animals and birds which once graced the wood-
lands and commons of the British Isles. The relatively
mild climate allows these species to live throughout the
year in the most exposed situations.
Although the bear and the beaver have only left place-
names to record their existence, and the wolf has been
extinct for centuries, the wild cat1 has only recently
disappeared. The marten, polecat, and badger are
still to be found, the two former however only in the
most remote districts. The least sign of one or other
species leads to a hot pursuit by keepers into the rocky
recesses of the mountains where these creatures bring up
their families in the summer. The fox and otter are
relatively common, as are moles, shrews, all the rats and
mice (voles), with the exception of the dormouse and
harvest mouse. The black rat has only recently become
extinct, and found one of its last retreats in this district.
Besides the common hare, the blue or mountain hare,
which becomes white in winter, is common on the moun-
tains, where it has been introduced from Scotland. The
coast is occasionally visited by seals.
Passing to the birds, the county is situated on both
the well-known lines of migration, running north and
south, and east and west from Great Britain to Ireland.
In the winter time, many northern and continental birds
come to take advantage of the mild climate. In the warm
1 There is a Carreg y Gath (Cat Rock) near Pentir.
38 CARNARVONSHIRE
season the majority of British summer visitors reach Car-
narvonshire, although frequently not in large numbers.
A few of these which are common in England or further
east, such as the nightingale, wryneck, lesser whitethroat,
yellow wagtail, and certain warblers, are only rare stragglers
to this county.
In the mountain passes one may yet watch the
magnificent flight of the raven, the buzzard, and the
peregrine, or hear the musical call of the still rarer
chough (once plentiful at the mouth of the Conway) —
the last isolated members of these species which have
managed to escape the pursuit of the collector and the
gamekeeper. The golden eagle still occasionally visits
the crags which derive from it their name of Eryri. But
although these and other birds are protected in Carnarvon-
shire, the law must be rigorously enforced for the next
few years if these species are to be preserved in this
county, or, in fact, in Wales.
In the winter the mountains and the high cwms are
nearly deserted ; of the small birds the common wren
seems alone able to brave the worst winters, and can be
heard singing above 2OOO feet, even in January. But in
the spring great numbers of birds return ; meadow-pipits,
ring-ouzels, dippers, grey- wagtails, stonechats, wheatears,
sandpipers, curlews, snipes, missel thrushes, hedge-sparrows,
cuckoos, and swifts are all common through the summer,
whilst the golden plover, redshank, and others are not
infrequently met with. Nowhere can the peculiar ways
of the cuckoo be so readily observed as in this treeless
upland region ; the female with her string of attendant
NATURAL HISTORY 39
males can easily be kept in sight on the bare hillside for a
considerable time.
The contour of the country tends to keep many birds,
mainly migrants, isolated in certain valleys or defiles, and
thus one is able to observe with exceptional facility with
what remarkable tenacity not only given species but given
races of birds cling to certain places. For example, the
garden warblers come in large numbers annually to the
Aber valley ; the pied flycatcher is common in the
Conway and Llanberis valleys, but very rare in Nant
Ffrancon : the whinchat is not seen in many suitable
sites, but may be found year after year breeding in numbers
in some small area in one of the valleys. The constancy
of the return indicates that not caprice but some subtle
attachment of the race to the actual place is the cause
of the choice.
In the winter the shores are visited by vast numbers
of waders and ducks. Most commonly the ringed plover,
dunlin, redshank, curlew, oystercatcher, sanderling, and
occasionally grey plover are to be seen. Of the duck, the
wigeon is probably the most numerous, but mallard,
shoveller, tufted duck, golden-eye, sheld-duck and pochard
are continually met with. The goosander and redbreasted
merganser visit the sea and inland lakes ; the eider-duck
and brent goose are not infrequently off the shore, and
even the American hooded merganser has not only been
seen but shot in the Menai Straits.
40 CARNARVONSHIRE
8. A Peregrination of the Coast.
The coast-line of Carnarvonshire presents as charming
a diversity as one could wish to see. For nearly a hun-
dred and twenty miles it winds its way past beetling cliff
and by sandy marsh and wooded height, scarce keeping
its character for three miles together. If we commence
our peregrination in the north-east, neglecting the
detached portion at Llysfaen, we shall find that we enter
the county near Llandrillo yn Rhos, where the sluggish
Afon Ganol creeps through its sluices to the sea. Imme-
diately afterwards we encounter the solid bulk of the
Little Orme's Head, in Welsh Creigiau Rhiwledyn, a
limestone mass which rises sheer out of the waters. It
has caves which can only be reached by boat, and its steep
cliffs have proved fatal to many an unheeding wanderer.
Rounding the point, we are in the curve of Llandudno
Bay, which stretches from the Little to the Great
Orme in a bow of sand, once edged by green turf and
haunted only by the seagull and curlew, but now beset
by row upon row of tall lodging-houses and in the
months of July and August dappled with a motley crowd
of pleasure-seekers. Next comes the Great Orme itself,
flat-topped, and from a distance appearing of no great
interest, but wonderfully picturesque when one gets close
under its shelving rocks and sees them rise in massive bulk
tier upon tier above one's head. Since 1879 it has been
possible to drive round the Head along a specially
constructed road which gives easy access to every part,
and its summit can also be reached by a funicular railway.
42 CARNARVONSHIRE
In Welsh it is known as Pen y Gogarth, from'the ancient
estate of the bishops of Bangor which lay on the south-
western side and is now known as Gogarth "Abbey."
The Great Orme's Head is a peninsula and the isthmus
which connects it with the mainland is a sandy flat, well
known in Welsh literature under the name of "Morfa
Rhianedd," i.e. The Ladies' Marsh. Tradition has
nothing very explicit to say as to the origin of this name,
but it connects the marsh with the history of Maelgwn
Gwynedd, the sixth-century ruler of these parts attacked
in so outspoken a fashion by the British writer, Gildas.
Maelgwn died of the " yellow plague," and the legend
relates that the plague came from Morfa Rhianedd in
the form of a yellow monster, the mere sight of which,
through the keyhole of the door of Eglwys Rhos, was
the death of the proud tyrant. Maelgwn's castle of
Degannwy was not far ofF, standing south of the marsh
on a rocky boss set back a little from the shore of the
Conway. It was a famous stronghold in later ages, in
the fierce conflict between Welsh and English, but,
in spite of its long history, the remains on the site are
very scanty.
Near the busy railway centre of Llandudno Junction,
the county boundary crosses the Conway. The river is
here about half a mile broad, and one listens with due
respect to the wonderful tale of Llywelyn of Nannau,
who is said to have killed the parson of LlansantfFraid
by shooting an arrow at him across the water ! The
heights around Conway town are a picturesque setting
for romantic stories of this kind; they rise in towering
A PEREGRINATION OF THE COAST 43
pinnacles from the sandhills of the Morfa, where in past
ages many a stiff encounter took place between Welsh
patriot and English invader, and in our own time many
a mimic fight has been planned for the instruction of
citizen soldiers quartered here for military training. As
we proceed westward, the coast grows more and more
precipitous. Penmaen Bach (The Little Headland) and
Penmaen Mawr
Penmaen Mawr (The Great Headland) both rise directly
out of the sea, which beats incessantly upon their rugged
flanks and often threatens to undermine the high road
circling round them. Between the two the mountain
D
slopes are studded with the lodging-houses and cottages
of the long straggling village of Penmaenmawr. The
Great Headland is one of the most striking landmarks of
44 CARNARVONSHIRE
the district, forming the eastern buttress of the Snowdonian
range as seen from the north. It is deeply scarred by
granite quarries, which have the merit of providing a
livelihood for the villages below, but also lie under the
reproach of fast eating up the great prehistoric fortress
beloved of antiquaries.
Beyond Penmaen Mawr, the coast takes yet another
form. The foot-hills of Snowdon retreat a little distance
from the shore and leave a belt of fertile meadow and
plain, which intervenes between the mountains and the
broad inlet of Beaumaris Bay. The Bay itself changes
in character, its tumbling waves giving place at low water
to the sandy expanse of Traeth Lafan (The Lavan
Sands)1, where in bygone days the coach route to Ireland
ran for three miles across the sandbank to Beaumaris
ferry. Fields line the edge of the salt water at Llan-
fairfechan and Aber, to be succeeded, when the mouth
of the rushing Ogwen is passed, by the fair woods of
Penrhyn Park. As Bangor is approached, the Bay narrows
into the channel of the Menai Straits, which winds
in and out between high wooded banks like a veritable
river. It is indeed known to the Welsh as the river
Menai (yr Afon Fenai) and, owing to its tidal peculiari-
ties, behaves at times like a strong stream making for the
sea. For the tidal wave from the Atlantic which makes
high tide around the British coasts, entering the straits at
Aber Menai, near Carnarvon, forthwith sweeps along the
channel and is not checked at the other end for some two
1 Probably so called from the species of sea-weed known as " laver "
(Welsh "llafan").
46 CARNARVONSHIRE
hours, that being the length of time the mass of tidal water
has taken to surround the isle of Anglesey. As the tide
ebbs, the set of the waters is in the opposite direction and
the "river" runs from Bangor to Carnarvon.
Bangor pier and ferry mark the entrance of the Straits
and thence it is but a little way to the Suspension Bridge,
one of the earliest triumphs of British engineering skill,
and so cunningly designed as, while amply fulfilling its
purpose, to enhance rather than detract from the beauty
of the scene in which it lies. The Tubular Bridge,
carrying the London and North Western line to Holyhead,
belongs to a somewhat later age ; it has not the grace and
lightness of its elder sister, but is not without a certain
massive dignity. Between the bridges is the whirlpool
known as the Swellies, born of the contest between the
two opposing tides and decidedly dangerous to small craft.
Its old Welsh name was Pwll Ceris, the Pool of Ceris,
and its terrors were well known to the medieval bards,
one of whom says that to attempt to cross it was no
better than to put one's life to the hazard of a throw at
dice1. Once out of the boiling waters, the navigator
passed into the beautiful reach which curves towards
Port Dinorwic and now divides the woodlands of Vaynol
Park from the sunny lawns of Plas Newydd. At Port
Dinorwic there is a slate wharf, where of old stood
Y Felin Heli, the Saltwater Mill, of which the wheel
was turned, not by a running stream, but by the ebbing
Menai. From this point the straits grow broader and
the banks slope more gently to the water.
1 "Val rhoi hoedl ar y dis" (Gr. Hiraethog).
A PEREGRINATION OF THE COAST 47
Carnarvon stands at the mouth of the river Saint, in
a pretty situation, the natural charm of which has been
heightened by the handiwork of man. At the back is
the sturdy mass of Twthill, a fragment of pre-Cambrian
rock which gives a touch of antique rudeness to the scene.
In the foreground is the tidal estuary of the river, fringed
on the one side by the hanging woods of Coed Alun1 and
on the other by the masts of the many vessels which here
ship slate from the inland quarries. Between hillside and
river lies the ancient town, with its lines of ancient walling,
and, best of all, its magnificent castle, reckoned the
finest ruin in the British Isles, and associated with many
a romantic scene in the history of Wales. A few miles
to the west the Menai meets the sea, in surroundings
which are strikingly contrasted with those of its eastern
mouth. Two long points of shingly sand form a pair
of contracted jaws for the channel, while between them
runs the narrow passage of Aber Menai, often crossed by
the princes of North Wales in their journeyings from their
fastnesses of Snowdon to their capital of Aberffraw.
From Aber Menai the Carnarvonshire coast bends
southward in the shallow curve of Carnarvon Bay. The
mountains are at first a distant background, separated from
the sea by the well-tilled fields of Arfon, which drop
gently down to the water level. Only the prehistoric
hill-fort of Dinas Dinlle, half consumed by the waves,
breaks the even sweep of the coast-line. But, as Clynnog
is approached, the serried ranks of Snowdonia draw closer,
leaving but a narrow margin for tillage and habitation,
1 Alun, not Helen, is the old form.
48
CARNARVONSHIRE
and at last the triple-crowned Rivals forbid all further
progress and the great cliffs of Garn y Mor, dropping a
thousand feet to the sea, nobly flank the Snowdonian
barrier. For the next few miles there is no lack of
variety. Carreg y Llam (The Rock of the Leap), a noted
haunt of seabirds, juts into the ocean ; Forth Nevin and
Forth Dinllaen are two delightful bays of clean, smooth
The Rivals (Yr Eifl)
sand hemmed in by lofty, grass-grown banks which curve
gracefully around them. Forth Dinllaen is a natural harbour
unsurpassed in North Wales and has often been discussed
as a possible rival to Holyhead. But as yet no Irish trains
run to this remote corner of Lleyn and, while the man of
business may regret the failure to utilise natural advan-
tages, the lover of nature can let the eye rest upon a scene
A PEREGRINATION OF THE COAST 49
of peace and harmony in which there is no discordant
feature.
The coast of Lleyn is, for the most part, rocky and
little visited. Its isolation makes it a favourite haunt of
birds and beasts, such as the seal, the raven, and the shear-
water, which are not to be found in the more frequented
regions. When the end of the promontory is reached,
the rocks become formidable cliffs, past which rushes with
impetuous force the swift current of Bardsey Sound. This
was the land terminus of the old pilgrim route to Bardsey,
the "Isle of the Saints," where at St Mary's Chapel,
now ruined, the wayfarers prayed for a safe passage to
their destination before they committed themselves to the
mercy of the deep. Close by is the Maen Melyn or
Yellow Rock of Lleyn, another notable landmark of the
district, once known throughout Wales for its brilliant
colouring, as the poet Dafydd Nanmor shows when he
uses it as a simile to describe the golden tresses of his
Llio, the lady of the primrose and the honeysuckle
locks 1.
Bardsey is the largest and best known of the islands
of Carnarvonshire. In Welsh it is called Ynys Enlli,
which has been explained as Benlli's Island, from an
ancient mythical hero of Wales, better known in con-
nection with the Vale of Clwyd. It lies two miles off the
mainland, and is about i^ miles long and three-quarters of
a mile broad. The northern portion is mainly occupied
by a hill, which rises to a height of 545 feet, but slopes on
the westward side to a little plain which has room for a
1 Mae'n un lliw a'r maen yn Llyn.
L. C. 4
50 CARNARVONSHIRE
few farms. The southern limb, on which is the lighthouse,
lies lower, while between the two is a neck of land on
which is the ordinary landing place. It is, beyond a
doubt, the most secluded spot in North Wales. Owing
to the difficulty of the passage, communication with the
mainland is uncertain and irregular, and many of the
younger inhabitants have never left the island. In
return, it enjoys some immunities ; tithes, rates, and taxes
are almost unknown, and it is not disturbed by the
turmoil of parliamentary elections. It was this isolation
which led to the settlement here in early ages of Celtic
monks, or "saints," who desired to withdraw as far as
possible from the strife and dust of the world and who
are said to rest here in their thousands. Off the south-
west corner of Bardsey there is a famous reef, known
to medieval Welsh mariners as Ffrydiau Caswenan,
where legend reported that Arthur's ship Gwenan had
once been cast away.
The coast-line now trends to the east and brings one
in a little while to the harbour of Aberdaron, strewn with
bright-coloured pebbles, flanked by lofty cliffs, and pro-
tected from the sea by the Seagulls' Islands (Ynysoedd y
Gwylanod). Art has as yet contributed nothing (if we
except the venerable Norman church) to the interest of
this old-world village, but its natural attractions would
make the fortune of a more accessible spot. The next
remarkable feature of the coast is the Rhiw Mountain,
rising steeply from the sea to a height of nearly 1000
feet; no sooner is this passed than we are at Forth
Neigwl, stigmatised by sailors as Hell's Mouth, a long,
A PEREGRINATION OF THE COAST 51
straight stretch of sandy beach upon which the Atlantic
rollers are driven by south-westerly gales with tremendous
force. At the eastern end oi this the other promontory
of South Carnarvonshire juts out into the sea, a level
tableland, which shows a fine cliff-face at Y Pared Mawr
(The Great Wall) and, a little further on, a waterfall
St Tudwal's Islands
tumbling into the sea (Pistyll Cim), but is otherwise
unremarkable.
Rounding the Cim headland, we come upon the two
islands of St Tudwal. Of these the smaller and western,
the true name of which seems to be Ynys y Meirch (The
Horses' Isle), is narrow and precipitous, and offers little
foothold for anything but the lighthouse which now
4—2
52
CARNARVONSHIRE
crowns it. The eastern islet has from time to time
been inhabited ; it contains the ruins of a chapel, utilised
by a modern hermit, and it has some little extent of
grazing ground for sheep. North of the islands is the
excellent anchorage of St Tudwal's Roads, a shelter
in rough weather for the small craft of Cardigan Bay, and
especially welcome by reason of the absence of good road-
Llanbedrog Point
steads in the neighbourhood. The little river Sochjnakes
its way into the Roads amid many sand-dunes, which
give a very distinctive character to the little summer
resort of Abersoch. Sand is greatly in evidence at
this part of the coast, and it may be doubted whether
there is a finer beach in Wales than that which, backed
by tall sand-hills which shut out every trace of human
A PEREGRINATION OF THE COAST 53
habitation, stretches in an unbroken line from Abersoch
to Llanbedrog Point.
At Llanbedrog the unfrequented portion of the county
is left behind and the eye rests on familiar scenes. The
coast curves round in a great arch of sand to Pwllheli, an
ancient borough and market-town which of late has also
Moel y Gest
become known as a watering-place. Two rivers, the
Erch and Rhyd Hir> unite to form the harbour, and
hard by, guarding the entrance, stands the granite boss
of Carreg yr Imbill, or the Gimlet Rock. Winding
streams, lofty fir trees silhouetted against the sky, and a
glimpse of distant hills make up the fascinating back-
ground. There is little here to suggest the craggy
54 CARNARVONSHIRE
strength of Snowdonia, whose summits lie far away on
the horizon. But, as one approaches Criccieth, the
features of the northern side of the county begin to
reappear. The moors and hillocks of Western Eifionydd
pass into the great spurs thrown southward by Moel
Hebog; Criccieth Castle, dominating that pleasant little
town, fronts the sea on its rocky pedestal, while between
it and Portmadoc towers Moel y Gest, a fit outpost of
the battalions of Eryri. By the time that the mouth
of the Glaslyn has been reached, we are in the heart of
Snowdonia once more, and nowhere does the majesty
of Y Wyddfa show to fuller advantage than from the
embankment which carries us into Merionethshire.
9. Coastal Gains and Losses. Coast
Protection.
The story of the coastal gains and losses of Carnarvon-
shire is one which it is not easy to tell simply, with due
regard to established facts, for this is a favourite field of
legend and romance, and old traditions have become so
intertwined with modern arguments that it is well nigh
impossible to disentangle them.
The popular account, going back into the middle
ages, is that Beaumaris Bay was once a fertile plain,
ruled over by Helig ap Glannog and watered by the river
Ell, which discharged itself into the sea beyond Puffin
Island. Helig's palace stood in the midst, to the north
of Penmaenmawr, where its site is marked by the great
COASTAL GAINS AND LOSSES 55
stones, exposed at very low tides, which are still known
as Llys Helig (Helig's Court). One fateful day, there
was a great inundation, which swept this fair land from
end to end and for ever buried it in the bosom of the
ocean. Helig and many of his people were able to escape,
and met to mourn their overwhelming loss at Trwyn
yr Wylfa (Weeping Ness). Another memorial of the
catastrophe is alleged to be preserved in the name Traeth
Lafan, which is for Traeth Aflawen, the Melancholy
Shore1.
Romantic as is this tale, it belongs to the region of
folklore, and not to that of history. It is known that
Anglesey was already an island, divided from the main-
land by a formidable tidal channel, when the Romans
first appeared in this part of the country. But in still
earlier times, in the Neolithic Age, for instance, it is quite
likely that this shallow bay may have been dry land.
Sir John Wynne, in the seventeenth century, records the
discovery here, at very low tides, of roots of oak and ash
such as are found in the submerged forests of Cheshire.
It is, in fact, probable that for ages the land has here-
abouts been gradually sinking, and the process is still
going on, to the great peril both of the highway and
of the London and North Western railway line. At
one point below Penmaen Mawr, the railway company
have abandoned the struggle with the ever-encroaching
waves and, instead of seeking to barricade the line against
them, have allowed them to pass freely under the per-
manent way, which here takes the form of a bridge.
1 For a more probable derivation, see p. 44.
56 CARNARVONSHIRE
The road authorities also have found their task one of
great difficulty where the road is not protected by the
railway.
At the other end of the Menai Straits, too, it is
clear that the sea has been gaining upon the land.
Leland, writing in the sixteenth century, says that near
Aber Menai " the sea hath eat up a little village on
Carnarvon side," and the aspect of Dinas Dinlle would
certainly suggest that it had for ages been exposed to the
devouring fury of the waves. A little further south is
Caer Arianrhod, a cluster of rocks about half a mile
below low-water mark, which tradition has long pointed
out as a submerged castle, once the brilliant court of the
beautiful, but far from virtuous, Lady Arianrhod.
On the south coast, we have to set against these losses
substantial gains won by engineering skill from the power
of the sea. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century,
the Traeth Mawr was what its neighbour, the Traeth
Bychan, remains to this day, an expanse of marshy estuary,
which stretched in one dead level, save for a few islands
of rock, from Penmorfa to Llanfrothen and from Aber-
glaslyn to the sea. Sir John Wynne of Gwydir, a man
of active and enterprising disposition, conceived the idea
as early as 1625 of reclaiming this tract by means_of an
embankment, and endeavoured to draw into his design
the famous Welsh engineer, Sir Hugh Myddleton of
Denbigh. But Sir Hugh had other fish to fry and,
moreover, appreciated better than his brother baronet the
difficulties of the undertaking. Accordingly, the scheme
slumbered until in the first decade of last century, an
Aberglaslyn Bridge
58
CARNARVONSHIRE
epoch of general development in North Wales, it was
taken up by William Alexander Madocks, M.P. for
Boston. Having purchased the estate of Tanrallt, Mr
Madocks in 1800 first cut off from the Traeth the
Penmorfa section, occupying about two thousand acres,
and turned into arable land what had before been a salt
marsh. On one corner of this reclaimed portion he built
Tremadoc
a new town, styled Tremadoc from its founder ; he pro-
vided it with a central square, a market hall, an assembly
hall, and a church, connected it by road with Beddgelert
and Nevin, and transferred to it the fairs of the district.
The issue showed how difficult it is to forecast the future
of a city ; in a few years Tremadoc was altogether eclipsed
by its still younger sister, Portmadoc, which, without any
COASTAL GAINS AND LOSSES 59
fostering care, grew into an important town as the result
of the ordinary working of economic causes. In 1808
Mr Madocks obtained an act of parliament for the carry-
ing out of his more formidable enterprise, the building of
an embankment across the mouth of the estuary and the
reclaiming of the land as far as Aberglaslyn. This task
Portmadoc Harbour
he completed in 1811 at a cost of about £ 100,000*; the
"cob," as it is termed locally, links by a solid road the
two sides of the Traeth and protects about four thousand
acres of land from the ravages of the ocean. In 1821 he
obtained a second act of parliament for the making of a
harbour at one end of the embankment and it was here,
1 The poet Shelley, then living at Tanrallt, was one of the subscribers.
60 CARNARVONSHIRE
under the lee of Moel y Gest, that the seaport sprang up
which, as the result of the stimulus of the Festiniog slate
trade, has reduced Tremadoc to insignificance.
Navigation around the Carnarvonshire coast is difficult
for more than one reason. The region between the Great
Orme's Head and the Menai Straits is one of extensive
sandbanks, through which the navigable channels have
a narrow and tortuous course. The pier constructed at
Bangor in 1896 had to be carried out far into the Straits
ere deep water was reached, and steamers plying from
Beaumaris to Llandudno find it best to eschew the direct
route and to pass close to Puffin Island.
Around the promontory of Lleyn the rock-bound
coast is full of danger for mariners, although there are not
many islets and sunken reefs. The sands of Portmadoc
bar, too, need to be carefully negotiated. Against these
dangers there is fully organised protection. The pilotage
arrangements of the Menai Straits are in the hands of five
Commissioners, whose authority extends from Penmon
to Carnarvon Bar. The Royal National Lifeboat
Institution has five stations in the county — at Llandudno,
Porth Dinllaen, Abersoch, Pwllheli, and Criccieth, and its
boats are frequently called upon for service. There are
also three principal lighthouses, one under the coritrel of
the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and two under
that of the Elder Brethren of Trinity House. That at
Llandudno (managed from Liverpool) is situated on the
north-west corner of the Great Orme's Head at a height
of 325 feet above the sea, and has a light visible for a
distance of 24 miles and helpful to the numberless vessels
COASTAL GAINS AND LOSSES
61
which sail from or make the mouth of the Mersey.
Bardsey Island also has a lighthouse, the keepers of which
share the solitude of the island folk and yet have no dealings
with them, being usually ignorant of Welsh, the only
tongue spoken by the natives. This lighthouse shows a
fixed light, visible for 17 miles, and serves to indicate to
Llandudno Lighthouse
ships coming up St George's Channel the course they
must take if they wish to keep clear of Cardigan Bay.
The way to Pwllheli and Portmadoc is guarded by the
St Tudwal's light, raised 1 5 1 feet above high water mark
and flashing at fixed intervals, visible for a distance of
19 miles.
62 CARNARVONSHIRE
10. Climate.
Carnarvonshire belongs to the western climatic area
of Great Britain, that in which insular, as opposed to
continental, conditions have their fullest effect. It is
greatly exposed to south-westerly winds, carrying much
moisture, because they come from the sea, and this, with
the mountainous character of the central portion, induces
a high rainfall. On the other hand, it is protected from
much of the cold, dry wind, blowing from the continent
of Europe, which brings about a low winter temperature
in the east of England and Scotland, and consequently
it has an equable climate, not varying very greatly during
the year. Its skies are apt to be cloudy, even when no
rain falls, and less sunshine falls upon it than on the
plains of the east.
The salient feature of British climate is the passage
from the middle Atlantic towards Scandinavia of what
are known as cyclones, i.e. air-whirlpools revolving round
a centre, while at the same time travelling as a whole in
a north-easterly direction. These are borne along as the
result of a general drift of air in this direction, prevalent
over the whole of Britain, except when an anti-cyclone —
that is, an area of comparatively calm air, producing heat
in summer and frost in winter — extends over this part
of the world. The south-westerly breezes, coming from
a semi-tropical region of the ocean, are moist and warm
and, as they move north, bring with them rain, to which
are added high winds during the passage of a cyclone.
ENGLAND & WALES
ANNUAL RAINFALL
(The figures gi<ve the approximate annual rainfall in inches.}
64 CARNARVONSHIRE
Striking against the mountain ranges of Wales, this warm
current is driven upwards and in the process becomes
cooled and parts with much of its moisture as rain ; so
that the Welsh highlands have a high rainfall for a
double reason, their nearness to the source of rain and
their capacity for producing further condensation.
Carnarvonshire well illustrates the causes which produce
a wet climate or the reverse. Over the central mass of
Snowdonia, for the reasons given above, the rainfall is
very high, rising rapidly from 40 inches to more than
100 as we leave the coast. A fall of 167 inches was
recorded on Crib Goch, a spur of Snowdon, in 1909.
Skirting this central region is a belt of more moderate
rainfall, including Criccieth, Carnarvon, and Bangor, with
figures ranging from 30 to 40 ; in this tract the effect
of the high background is only partially felt. Lastly, the
outlying regions of the county, such as Lleyn and the
Llandudno peninsula, escape altogether from this influence
and have a rainfall of about 30 inches in the year, in
common with a considerable tract of the English plain.
In compensation for the moisture of its climate,
Carnarvonshire, like the rest of western Wales, enjoys
mild seasons, the cold of winter and the heat of summer
being alike assuaged by the neighbourhood of the ocean.
The sea absorbs and gives out heat more slowly than
the land : hence it is colder in summer and warmer in
winter than the surface of the soil, and these qualities
are communicated to the neighbouring lands, making an
insular climate more equable than a continental one.
Temperature is represented on maps by isothermal lines,
o
L. C.
66 CARNARVONSHIRE
drawn through places which have the same reading of
the thermometer, and one of the most striking features
of the British climate is the way in which in December
and January these lines run north and south, instead of
east and west, i.e. parallel to the equator, as we should
expect them to lie, if nearness to the sun were the only
element to be considered. The winter climate of North
Wales is substantially the same as that of South Wales,
Devon, and Cornwall, and it is shared by the Isle of Man
and the west coast of Scotland. Within the limits of the
county itself, the same rule holds good. In January, the
coldest month of the year, the greatest warmth is found in
Lleyn, where the average temperature is 42° Fahrenheit,
as at Waterford, Holyhead, Cardigan, and Torquay. The
next coldest region, with an average of 41°, is the Snow-
donian, which goes with Dublin, the Isle of Man, Gower,
and Exmoor. Colder still is the Conway Valley, which,
with an average of 40°, is matched by the Pentland
Firth, the Firth of Clyde, Central Wales generally,
Swansea, and Cardiff. A similar tendency is to be
observed in the summer months, though not to so marked
an extent; in July, the Conway Valley and Snowdonia
have the same average temperature, viz. 60°, as the Lake
District and Carmarthenshire, while Lleyn, which Js at
this time the cooler end of the county, takes its place,
with an average of 59°, side by side with Pembrokeshire,
Anglesey, and the valley of the Tyne.
These figures, of course, take no account of height
above the sea level. As soon as we begin to rise,
temperature sinks, at the rate of i° Fahrenheit for every
CLIMATE 67
270 feet, and accordingly the slopes of the Snowdonian
hills are much colder than the valleys which lie at their
feet. Snow rests on the higher summits until May or
June, particularly in sheltered gullies or where there
is a steep northward face over which the sun has little
hold, and no doubt it was the sight of these snowy cliffs
gleaming in the distance which led English sailors,
cruising in the surrounding seas, to give the whole
group the name of Snowdon, or Hill of Snow.
ii. People — Race, Language, Popula=
tion.
All the great migrations into Britain have been,
so far as is known, from the south and east, where
access from the continent is easy. It was south-eastern
Britain, with its low-lying plains, well fitted for agri-
culture, which always attracted invaders, and, as the
result of their conquests, the other races were being
perpetually driven north and west, into the highland
and pastoral parts of the country. Accordingly, these
regions now contain the oldest element in the population
of the island, as is shown alike by history and by the
physical characteristics of the modern inhabitants.
The great bulk of the dwellers in Carnarvonshire
are Welsh-speaking Welsh. But it would be a great
mistake to suppose that they are therefore of one race
and one physical type, representing the Britons dislodged
from the south-east by the English invasion. History
68
shows that more than one race has been established from
time to time among these hills, and observation leads
to the belief that each has, in varying degree, transmitted
its characteristics to the present population.
Students of prehistoric remains divide the ages which
preceded the beginning of recorded history into the
periods known as the Old Stone Age, the New Stone
Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. During the
first two, man had not learnt the art of casting metal
into forms serviceable for domestic use and for war, and
was therefore compelled to make his weapons and cutting
tools of stone. In the Old Stone Age he could only chip
and roughly fashion the stones of which he made use;
the New Stone Age marks a great advance, for he had
now acquired the art of grinding and polishing his
material, so as to produce a fine cutting edge and a
smooth surface. The next step forward was the dis-
covery of bronze, a hard compound of two soft metals,
copper and tin ; this enabled him to improve his equip-
ment greatly. Finally, at a period which in Britain did
not long precede the dawn of history, and in Carnarvon-
shire may have been coeval with the Roman invasion,
bronze was rejected as the metal of common use in
favour of iron, and an epoch began which has lasted
to our own day, for iron is still in request for every
purpose requiring strength and solidity.
We need not here consider the civilisation of the Old
Stone or Palaeolithic Age, for none of its remains have
been found in Carnarvonshire, and it is most probable
that the present-day population contains no descendants
Weapons of the Stone and Bronze Ages
i and 2 are Palaeolithic ; 3, 4 and 5 Neolithic ,
6 is a Bronze Age palstave
70 CARNARVONSHIRE
of the Palaeolithic race. But with the New Stone or
Neolithic Age it is very different. The folk who then in-
habited Britain have left abundant traces of their presence
in the district ; the cromlech was their characteristic
burying-place ; their weapons have been picked up from
time to time; and in 1880 a cave in the Great Orme's
Head was explored which contained skeletons of this
people, with the perforated teeth of wild animals which
they had worn for ornament. The Neolithic race was
short in stature and of dark hair and complexion, being
not unlike that which now inhabits Spain, and these
are the features for which we most look, therefore, in
endeavouring to trace their modern representatives.
The Bronze Age shows a totally different physical
type ; it saw the arrival in Britain of tall, fair-haired men,
who not only had knowledge of the use of metals, but had
different burial customs, interring the bodies of their dead
(which were often burnt) in urns and stone coffins instead
of in grave chambers. Bronze Age remains are as common
in the county as those of Neolithic Age, and it is certain
that the Bronze Age race invaded and settled in this part
of the island. Indeed, it is believed that they were the
people who introduced Celtic speech into Britain, the
earlier or Neolithic folk having a language of a different
type, which has become extinct.
Nevertheless, the facts collected by scientific observers
as to the present physical type of Carnarvonshire would
seem to show that the Bronze Age invasion did not, any
more than the later Roman and English, displace the old
population. For the prevailing type in this county, as
PEOPLE— RACE, LANGUAGE, ETC. 71
also in Anglesey and Merionethshire, is short and dark.
Admixture with fairer and taller races there has certainly
been, for the short, dark type of Southern Europe is much
more definitely so than that of any part of Wales. But
comparison with England as a whole brings out the fact
that there is more of the Neolithic element here than to
the east, which is just what the history of Wales would
lead us to expect. The Neolithic, or Iberian type, as it
has been called from its Spanish air, is best represented in
the secluded districts, such as Beddgelert, which have not
been greatly influenced by foreign immigration.
According to the census of 1901, 12,165 °f tne
inhabitants of Carnarvonshire spoke English only, 55,955
were familiar only with Welsh, while 49,346 were able
to make use of both languages. Thus it would appear
that, of the population over three years of age (to whom
the language schedule was confined), about 90 per cent,
were Welsh-speaking and only about 10 per cent, ignorant
of that language. The county thus takes its place in that
solid block of western Welsh counties, including also
Anglesey, Merioneth, Cardigan, and Carmarthen, in which
Welsh is spoken by about 90 per cent of the population.
This predominance of Welsh shows itself in every part of
the county, with the exception of the Llandudno area
and — curiously enough — Bardsey Island1, where the Welsh
speakers form but 50 per cent, of the whole.
The total population of the county, as ascertained in
1911, was 125,049. It has increased continuously since
1801, when it was 41,521, except for slight decreases in
1 For a partial explanation, see p. 61.
72 CARNARVONSHIRE
1881-1891 and 1901-1911. No doubt, the two main
factors producing this increase have been the development
of quarrying and the rise of seaside summer resorts. In
respect of its population, Carnarvonshire holds the second
place among the counties of North Wales, being a little
outstripped by Denbighshire; of the South- Welsh counties
Carmarthenshire and, of course, Glamorganshire have the
advantage of it. It has about 220 persons to each square
mile of its surface, but, in point of fact, this figure gives
no clue to the real state of things. Extensive tracts of the
county are as thinly populated as any region in Southern
Britain, and the bulk of the population is concentrated
along the coast-strip from Colwyn Bay to Clynnog, with
the valleys of the Ogwen, Saint, Gwyrfai, and Llyfni,
which are the region of the quarry villages. Moreover,
the period of the year at which the census is taken, viz.
the beginning of April, excludes altogether those who
resort to the county for health's sake in the summer
months, and thus a very important element in the economic
life of the county is left out of account.
12. Agriculture.
It will be understood, from what has been said in
previous sections, that various causes have united to reduce
agriculture to a subordinate place in the economy of
Carnarvonshire, and further, to make the tillage of the
soil subordinate to the raising of stock. A moist climate
has always been unfavourable to the growth of corn, and
AGRICULTURE 73
especially of wheat ; the rocky hill sides, with their thin
coating of soil, do not repay cultivation, and of late other
occupations have absorbed the energies of the worker.
In 1901 the quarry men and miners outnumbered the
farmers and farm labourers of the county by about 5000.
Taking the figures of the year 1909, we find that
172,369 acres were under crops or laid out as permanent
pasture, being less than half of the entire acreage of the
county. The rest was mountain or heath land, most of
it used for grazing, but not subjected to any kind of
agricultural treatment. This equality of area between
tilled and untilled land is not remarkable for a Welsh
county ; there are several, indeed, which show a con-
siderable preponderance of unreclaimed soil, such as
Merionethshire and Brecon. But in England the only
analogous case is that of Westmorland, and the contrast
is striking with such a county as Lincolnshire, which has
under crops and pasture 1,500,000 acres out of a total of
1,700,000.
On further analysis of the figures, it appears that
permanent grass accounts for 122,811 acres and the
various crops for only 49,558. Less than one-seventh
of the surface of the county is, therefore, subjected to
the plough, and a comparison may again be made with
Lincolnshire, one of the great English corn-growing
counties, where the arable land is nearly two-thirds of
the whole area. The chief Carnarvonshire crop is oats,
which occupies 10,606 acres ; barley rises to 4964 acres ;
wheat is represented by the insignificant figure of 262.
There are 3552 acres of potatoes and 2929 of turnips and
74 CARNARVONSHIRE
swedes. No county in England and Wales, except
Anglesey and Westmorland, produces less wheat.
According to the census of 1901, 7446 men and 857
women were engaged in agricultural work in the county,
which amounted to about 15 per cent, of all having any
active occupation. The number had not increased, but
on the contrary had substantially decreased, since 1891.
The number of horses returned in 1909 was 9735, of
cattle 53,956, of sheep 298,573, and of pigs 1 5,307. The
most noteworthy feature of these figures is the high pro-
portion of sheep, but this, while unusual from the English
standpoint, forms a regular incident of Welsh rural
economy. The small mountain sheep, which is the usual
breed of the county, is remarkably hardy, and prospers
with comparatively little care on the rough furze-clad
moors and stony slopes of Snowdonia. Lambing in the
early spring, and washing, and shearing in the early
summer, are the occasion of some anxiety to the breeder,
but for the most part the sheep are left to themselves,
and the fine flavour of Welsh mutton is largely due to
the fact that they find their own food in the choice
herbage of the mountain sides. Each farm adjoining the
unenclosed mountain has its own " liberty," or sheep-
walk, and also its special earmark, cut into the sheep's
ear for purposes of identification ; the farm sheep-dog, a
marvel of animal intelligence, knows his master's sheep
and can be trusted to collect them together, when this
is necessary, with the minimum of supervision.
The horses include many of the mountain pony type,
which run wild on the hills with the sheep and are
o
0
76 CARNARVONSHIRE
known as merlins (Welsh "merlyn," pi. "merlod").
They are under twelve hands in height, and their small
size makes them serviceable as pit ponies, for the drawing
of loads in low-roofed colliery workings.
Carnarvonshire cattle are mostly of the black North
Wales breed, which is a variety of the general Welsh
stock specially associated with the island of Anglesey and
the adjoining country. They have long horns, sleek and
glossy coats, and graceful outlines ; and besides being a
good dairy breed, they produce excellent beef.
The county is to a very large extent one of small
holdings. In 1909, out of 6356 agricultural tenements
within its limits, 1508 did not exceed five acres in extent,
being the largest number under this head in any county
in Wales. There were only 19 farms which ran above
300 acres. Very many of the quarrymen have a little
holding on which they grow potatoes and keep a cow,
and the farms are often worked by the farmer and his
relatives without the help of any hired labour.
The climate is not very favourable for the growth of
fruit and green vegetables, and of Carnarvonshire it still
remains true, as in days of Giraldus Cambrensis, that little
use is made of the soil for orchards and gardens. The
Welsh cottages, the slate roofs and solid stone walls of
which seem to harmonise so well with the landscape in
which they are set, have, as a rule, no bright profusion of
country flowers to adorn them.
In the middle ages the district was well wooded, and
the lower slopes of the mountains were covered with such
a growth of copse and thicket as may still be found in the
Aber valley. Drws y Coed, the " Pass into the Wood,"
AGRICULTURE
77
at the head of the Nantlle valley, formerly led into a
thickly wooded glen, now bare of foliage and given up to
copper mining. Sheep have probably been the chief
agency in stripping the hillsides of their ancient glory,
for their nibbling of the young shoots would put a stop
to natural forest growth and, when once the mischief had
begun, the strong south-west winds would complete the
A Snowdonian Cottage
work, blighting the patches of woodland that remained
and preventing the growth of new timber. The Conway
valley, especially on its western or sheltered side, is the
only considerable wooded area in the county, though
there are also woods at Boduan, Glynllifon, Vaynol,
and Penrhyn. Some 11,716 acres in the county were
occupied by woods and plantations in 1905.
78 CARNARVONSHIRE
13. Industries — Mines and Quarries.
Quarrying is the chief industry of Carnarvonshire, as
is evident from the fact that in 1901 by far the largest
class of occupied males in the county consisted of persons
employed in connection with mines and quarries, who
numbered 12,098, while of these less than 500 were
miners. This is the only industrial occupation which
gives employment to a large number of hands, for there
is now no manufacture or other important commercial
enterprise in the county.
Mining is not very extensively carried on. The
total number of persons returned in 1909 as engaged in
or about the metalliferous mines of the county (slate
mines being excluded) was 367, and the total value of
the ore produced during that year was £17,483. Man-
ganese is mined at Rhiw near Aberdaron, copper at
Drws y Coed, iron at Bettws Garmon in Snowdonia, and
lead and zinc at various points in the Conway Valley.
In most cases the industry is at present at a low ebb,
and many of the best-known mines of the county, such
as the copper mines under the summit of Snowdon-and
around Beddgelert, have not for years been much worked.
The author of Beddgelert^ its Facts, Fairies, and Folklore
(1899) quaintly says of the Snowdon mine : "it has been
worked under several different names from time to time,
but the name which shall give it fortune has yet to be
given it."
INDUSTRIES 79
The story of Carnarvonshire quarrying is very different.
In 1909 there were 99 quarries of various kinds in the
county and 10,169 persons employed in or about them,
to which should be added six slate mines, occupying 331
persons1. Slate quarries took, of course, the first place,
the total output of slate in the county for the year being
of the value of £644,593. At the same time, limestone
made a fairly respectable appearance with an output worth
£42,611, and the various igneous rocks yielded £144,116.
It may be said, therefore, that the mineral wealth of
Carnarvonshire is turned to very good account.
The good qualities of North Wales slate for roofing
purposes, its lightness, strength, and durability, have long
been known, but it is little more than a hundred years
since the development of the slate-quarrying industry into
one of prime importance in this district. Richard Pennant,
first Baron Penrhyn, was the principal mover in the
matter. In 1782 he opened up the quarry at Cae Braich
y Cafn in the Ogwen valley which has become the great
Penrhyn Quarry, employing over 2OOO workmen. In
order to provide for the shipment of the slates, he con-
nected the quarry with Bangor by means of a tramway,
and formed at the mouth of the little river Cegin a
capacious harbour, known as Port Penrhyn. The Penrhyn
slates, which are of a deep blue colour, are known
throughout the world for their merits as roofing slates,
and are also in request for making writing-slates, monu-
mental slabs, mantelpieces, and similar objects. The
1 In these, situated near Festiniog, the slate is not worked in open
quarries, but underground, in the Merionethshire fashion.
80
CARNARVONSHIRE
Dinorwic quarry, near Llanberis, was opened about the
same time by Mr Assheton Smith ; though not the best
known, it is now the largest undertaking of the kind in
the county, employing nearly 2800 men. The slates,
which resemble those of the Penrhyn quarry in colour
and general quality, are despatched by rail to the
Penrhyn Slate Quarries
quarry harbour at Port Dinorwic. Next to Bethesda
and Llanberis, the most important slate centre is the Vale
of Nantlle, where a number of quarries belonging to
different owners employ in the aggregate about 1500
men. Nantlle slates are shipped from Carnarvon, with
which town they are connected by the London and North
INDUSTRIES 81
Western railway. There are also slate quarries on the
slopes of Moel Tryfan, between Nantlle and Carnarvon.
Notwithstanding labour conflicts, some of which have
been protracted, and a reduced demand for slate as roofing
material, Carnarvonshire, with the adjoining region of
Festiniog, still holds its position as a leading industrial
area, and in respect of the production of slate is not
approached by any other region in the British Isles. The
slate-yielding rock is first detached from the mountain
side in large blocks by blasting, then conveyed to slate-
mills or cabins, where it is split and cut to the required
shape by men who have remarkable manual dexterity
in this work, and finally loaded into trucks which carry
the slates to the port of shipment. Slate quarrymen
are not paid according to time, but enter into "bargains"
with the management, agreeing to turn a specified
section of the quarry into slates for a stipulated sum.
The workers on the face of the rock have "partners"
in the splitting sheds, who share the bargain and
deal with the slates sent to them by their comrades.
Subsidiary industries which have grown out of the principal
one are the making of school slates and the enamelling
of slate for decorative purposes. So plentiful is the
material that in many parts of the county a slate fence,
bound with stout wire, is found to be the cheapest and
most durable land-boundary.
Next in importance to the slate quarries come those
in which the hard igneous rocks of the county, popularly
known as granite, are worked. Their produce is chiefly
used for paving, either in the form of small blocks or
L. c. 6
Workers in the Penrhyn Quarries
INDUSTRIES 83
"setts" or in loose chippings for macadamised roads.
The two Penmaenmawr quarries treat in this way the
diorite of that massive headland and employ between
them nearly 1200 men. At Trevor, under the shadow
of the Eifl mountain, some 350 quarrymen deal with a
granite correctly known as augite porphyry. Another
so-called granite is worked at the Gimlet Rock, near
Gimlet Rock
Pwllheli, the true name in this case being diabase, and
here and there throughout the county small quarries may
be found in which igneous rock is being picked out for
road-making. In all not far short of 2000 men are
occupied in this species of quarrying.
Lastly, one may mention the limestone quarries, em-
ploying about 500 hands. These are principally in the
6—2
84 CARNARVONSHIRE
detached portion of the county lying east of Colwyn Bay.
The two quarries at Llysfaen, where the Carboniferous
limestone ridge juts out into the sea, are the chief source
of occupation in that parish and supply an industrial back-
ground to the summer resort of Old Colwyn.
14. Shipping. Ports. Fisheries.
Although so largely sea-girt, Carnarvonshire has never
had important maritime interests. During the period
of rule of the independent princes, Aber Menai and
Aberdaron were used as ports of embarkation for Ireland,
but there was little general traffic along the coasts. The
establishment of castles, with dependent boroughs, at
Conway, Carnarvon, and Criccieth made a difference,
setting up a demand for foreign commodities which led
to a measure of intercourse by sea. But Beaumaris was
for ages the chief seaport of this part of North Wales,
being in fact the ancient customs centre of the whole
coast from the Conway to the Mawddach. Conway,
Carnarvon, Aberdaron, and Pwllheli were small trading
centres doing a little trade with Ireland and Chester.
Shipping is not at present an important element in
the economy of the county. Its maritime activity is
in a large degree incidental to the land industries, that
is to say, its ports are chiefly engaged in disposing of the
products of its quarries. Bangor ships the slates of the
Penrhyn quarries, Port Dinorwic those from Llanberis,
Carnarvon those of the Nantlle district, and Portmadoc
SHIPPING PORTS FISHERIES
85
and Degannwy those of the Festiniog area. The slate
wharves, except those of Carnarvon, are privately owned,
but Pwllheli harbour and Bangor pier are the property of
the respective corporations. The customs centre of the
district is at Carnarvon, the area of control extending
far beyond the limits of the county to Holyhead and
Aberystwyth.
Pwllheli Harbour
Although the sea-board and the rivers of the county
are well stocked with fish, it cannot be said that fishing
is an industry extensively or profitably exercised by Car-
narvonshire men. Only 143 persons were stated in 1901
to be employed in fishing in the county. The principal
kinds of sea-fish are to be found in abundance around the
coast; mackerel, cod, whiting, turbot, brill, plaice, sole,
86
CARNARVONSHIRE
mullet and herring are all well represented ; hake, haddock,
and halibut alone being rare visitors in the district. In
the Conway estuary, the sparling or smelt is found in
great quantities in the spring. Most of these fish are
caught by trawlers from Hoylake and the Isle of Man,
though a little local fishing is carried on at Conway,
The Conway Estuary
Pwllheli, and Criccieth. The freshwater fish of_ the
county are nearly all of the order of Salmontdae; salmon
and salmon-trout are caught in the larger lakes and rivers,
while trout are abundant in the smaller. The "torgoch"
(i.e. red belly), or Welsh char, is found in Llyn Cwellyn
and the Llanberis lakes.
HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 87
15. History of the County to the
Edwardian Conquest.
The Romans came into this district at a fairly early
stage in their conquest of Britain, for they were bent on
subduing Anglesey, where there was a large population,
much under the influence of the Druids. Suetonius
Paulinus was the first general to cross the Straits, but his
victory yielded him no fruit, owing to the sudden rebellion
of the British in his rear, and it was Julius Agricola who
actually brought both island and mainland under the
Roman yoke. The people on the shores of the Menai
were a mixture of Goidels and Iberians, probably speaking
an Irish dialect, and should be distinguished from the
Ordovices of eastern North Wales. They became en-
tirely subject to the Romans, but yet were not so wholly
cowed as not to require careful watching. Two small forts
were built in the district, the one at Caerhun, known as
Conovium, the other at Carnarvon, known as Segontium,
and it is certain that troops were kept in permanent occu-
pation of these posts for very many years. A military
road ran west from the great garrison town of Deva
(Chester) and, crossing the Conway at Caerhun, pierced
the Snowdonian range at Bwlch y Ddeufaen, whence it
passed on to Carnarvon. Help was thus easily obtained
in time of need from the headquarters of the Twentieth
Legion on the Dee.
When, after an occupation of about three hundred
and fifty years, the Romans withdrew from Britain, this
corner of the island was held by men of Goidelic speech,
88 CARNARVONSHIRE
known to the Welsh as " Gwyddelod." There came
from the North about this time a chieftain named
Cunedda, whose followers were Welsh-speaking, and
whose victories made that tongue supreme in North
Wales. According to tradition, the Goidels of Snowdonia
fought obstinately ere they were overcome and made
their last stand in Nanhwynen ; this was probably under
Cunedda's grandson, Cadwallon of the Long Hand.
Cadwallon's son Maelgwn is known as one of the five
kings attacked by the sixth-century author, Gildas. He
was a powerful ruler, who bore sway over all North-west
Wales, and who seems to have made the rock of
Degannwy the centre of his realm. Gildas describes him
as one of the mightiest kings in Britain ; in his time,
therefore, the mountains of Carnarvonshire must have
given the law to no small part of Wales. He died about
550 and his name is still commemorated in that of Bryn
Maelgwn, near Degannwy.
By this time Christianity had reached the county, for
Maelgwn, though, according to Gildas, a man of many
sins, professed the Christian faith and had for a time
actually been a monk. Nothing is known of the first
preachers of the gospel in this neighbourhood ; probably
they came hither in the train of Cunedda and his family.
The earliest ecclesiastics whose names have been pre-
served are the "saints" (i.e. monks) of the sixth and
seventh centuries who founded the important and ancient
churches of the district. Thus Daniel, or Deiniol, set
up the monastery or "clas" of Bangor, Beuno that of
Clynnog, Trillo that of Llandrillo, and Hywyn that of
HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 89
Aberdaron. These monasteries in time acquired a great
deal of landed property, so_that in the middle ages much
of the land in this county belonged to the churches of
Bangor and Clynnog. The pastures of the Great Orme
belonged to the former and to the latter many a rich
manor in Lleyn. Bangor also became the episcopal seat
of Gwynedd, outstripping its rivals at Holyhead, Abergele,
and Towyn.
The descendants of Cunedda and Maelgwn ruled this
district for many generations. The main body of the
county represents three ancient cantrefs, i.e. Arllechwedd,
Arfon, and Lleyn, and one ancient commote, viz.
Eifionydd1. Of these the first two remained in the
hands of this family until the time of Edward I, there
being but one break in the line of direct male inheritance,
when Merfyn the Freckled succeeded in the ninth
century in right of his mother. During a considerable
part of the eleventh century, the old dynasty was out of
possession ; the strong and masterful Gruffydd ap Lly welyn,
a doughty opponent of Edward the Confessor, was in
power until his death in 1063, and then other alien rulers
held Gwynedd for a time. But in 1081, as the result of
a victory won in South Wales, Gruffydd ap Cynan, of
the old stock, finally established himself upon the throne,
which was afterwards held without interruption by his
descendants. He had previously fought a battle in the
county, at Bron yr Erw, near Clynnog, in 1075, which
had turned out disastrously for him and had driven him
back as an exile to Ireland, the land of his birth.
1 For their situation, see p. 138.
90 CARNARVONSHIRE
After defeating his rival Trahaearn, Gruflydd had to
contend with the Norman invaders of North Wales, who,
in the reign of William II, nearly succeeded in conquering
the whole district. Their first leader was Robert of
Rhuddlan, who was, however, killed by the Welsh on the
Great Orme's Head, not far from his castle of Degannwy,
in 1088. Next came Earl Hugh of Chester, who built
castles at Bangor and Carnarvon, as well as in the Isle of
Anglesey. An unlucky expedition to the Menai Straits
in 1098, in which his brother earl of Shrewsbury was
slain, led Hugh to abandon his designs and to agree to
accept homage from Gruffydd ap Cynan for Anglesey and
the opposite coast. No doubt he realised that without a
strong fleet, which the Normans did not possess, this
quarter of Wales could not be subdued.
Gruffydd lived to a great age, shook ofF the yoke of
the earl of Chester, held his own against the power of
Henry I, and at his death in 1137 left to his sons a
kingdom which stretched as far as the Dee valley. He
was succeeded by his eldest son, known as Owain
Gwynedd (1137-1170), who had a brilliant reign and
whose power rested on the possession of Snowdonia. No
foreign alarms now disturbed the glens of Eryri and, if
the echoes of war were heard there, it was only as the
result of civil strife. Owain and his brother Cadwaladr
were often at variance, and the latter in 1144 brought a
Danish fleet from Dublin to Aber Menai to vindicate his
rights, but the quarrel was patched up and no conflict
then took place. The two brothers were buried in
Bangor cathedral, side by side with their father GrufFydd.
HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 91
The halcyon days of Owain were followed by a
period of strife among his sons and grandsons. Rhodri
ab Owain gained the upper hand in the neighbourhood
of Bangor and Carnarvon, and Giraldus Cambrensis found
him in possession when he made his tour of Wales with
the archbishop of Canterbury in 1188. But shortly after-
wards there appears upon the stage the greatest of Welsh
princes in the person of Llywelyn, son of lorwerth ab
Owain, who in 1194 won two notable victories here-
abouts, at Aberconwy (Con way) and Porthaethwy (Menai
Bridge), which launched him upon his triumphant career.
From 1 20 1 until his death Llywelyn the Great was
undisputed master of Anglesey and Snowdonia, and from
this centre carried on bold operations throughout North
and South Wales. Once only did his power here receive
a check, namely in 1211, when King John appeared
with an army at the mouth of the Conway, sent his men
to Bangor to burn the cathedral and carry off the bishop,
and forced Llywelyn to make a complete submission to
him at Aber. This was, however, but a temporary defeat ;
the quarrel between John and the barons enabled the
prince of Gwynedd to recover himself, and henceforth his
authority was unchallenged in these parts. He issued
charters from Carnarvon, endowed an abbey of Cistercian
monks at Conway, had a court (where his wife Joan died)
at Aber, and castles at Criccieth and Degannwy. He
spent his last hours in the precincts of Conway Abbey
and was buried there in the monastic habit.
Llywelyn's son David had a short but stirring reign
(1240-1246), which he closed at his father's court of Aber.
92 CARNARVONSHIRE
He had to bear the brunt of the hostility of Henry III,
who in 1245 brought a great army to Degannwy. The
campaign was as ill-starred as most of that monarch's
warlike enterprises : provisions ran short, and on one
occasion the English had the mortification of seeing their
enemies loot a vessel laden with wine which, through bad
steering, had grounded on the Conway Marsh, instead of
under the castle walls, on the opposite bank. Henry
gained nothing by this expedition, but David's death in
the following year threw all into confusion, for he left no
son, and Gwynedd west of the Conway fell to two of his
young nephews, who were as yet no match for the power
of the King.
The next stage in the history of Carnarvonshire was
reached when in 1255 tne nephews quarrelled, and at
Bryn Derwyn, in the pass which leads from Llanllyfni to
Dolbenmaen, the abler of the two, Llywelyn ap GrufFydd,
won a signal triumph which was the beginning of a long
and honourable career. Like his grandfather, the last
Llywelyn found his chief support in the fastnesses of
Snowdonia, of which he never lost his hold until the
ill-fated year of his death. Degannwy belonged to a
different region, to the ancient cantref of Rhos, and had
not the same history ; Llywelyn did not win it from -the
English until 1263, when he reduced the garrison by
famine, and in 1277, as the result of the first war with
Edward I, it slipped from his hands again. But west of
the Conway he was always supreme. Criccieth, Carnar-
von, Dolwyddelan were among his courts ; Conway
Abbey was benefited by his gifts. It was at Conway
HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 93
that the treaty of 1277 was signed, which left the prince
with his original dominions, but took from him the four
cantrefs between the Conway and the Dee. And it was
on the Menai Straits, probably near Bangor, that the
disaster befell the English in 1282, as they were crossing
a newly-made bridge of boats, which almost turned the
scale in Llywelyn's favour. Not until he fell, in a
skirmish near Builth at the end of the year, did Car-
narvonshire yield to the English power.
16. Later History of the County.
After the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd and the
execution of his brother David, Edward I set himself to
organise the government of the conquered country. In
March, 1284, by the Statute of Rhuddlan, he created a
number of new counties and of these Carnarvonshire was
one. A sheriff and coroner were appointed for each one,
and a Justice of Snowdon, with authority over the
counties of Anglesey, Carnarvon, and Merioneth, while
an exchequer was established at Carnarvon, which thus
became the capital of North-west Wales. Another im-
portant measure was the building of castles ; strong
fortresses being erected at Carnarvon, Criccieth, and
Conway. The building of the last named involved the
dislodging of the abbey and its transference to Maenan,
on the other side of the Conway. Around the castles
boroughs were established — a new feature in the life of
the district, for the Welsh had no towns in the days
94 CARNARVONSHIRE
of their independence. Carnarvon, Criccieth, and Con-
way received their charters in 1284 and thus became
little foreign colonies of traders, who supplied the needs
of the men of the castle and, in time, did business also
in market and fair with the Welshmen of the surrounding
country.
Criccieth Castle
Although the intentions of Edward were good, -he
was often badly served by his ministers, and the oppres-
sion of these led to a general revolt in Wales at the end
of 1294. A notable feature of this movement was the
sudden attack upon Carnarvon, in which the sheriff of
Anglesey was killed and the town and castle burnt to
the ground. Edward was forced to undertake anew the
LATER HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 95
conquest of Wales and he spent the Christmas of this
year at Conway in far from cheerful circumstances.
Fortunately for him, the Welsh were soon afterwards
defeated in a pitched battle at Maes Madog (January,
1295), near Llanrwst, just outside the county boundary.
In 1301 Edward created his son and heir prince
of Wales. The young prince had been born at Car-
narvon in 1284, during the course of the conquest, but
there is no foundation for the popular story that he was
presented to the Welsh as their prince at the time of his
birth. The revival at this time of the title borne by
Llywelyn ap Gruflydd was very much of an afterthought,
and was probably intended to give Wales a more inde-
pendent position1. The prince came to Conway and
there received the homage of the great men of Carnar-
vonshire. Among those who did homage at Flint was
Sir Gruffydd Llwyd, lord of Dinorwig, who in 1322 led
a rising against Edward II which had the sympathy of the
men of Arfon, but was not successful.
Edward III was never prince of Wales, but in May,
1343, he raised his son, the famous Black Prince, to the
dignity. On this occasion there was a formal investiture,
the prince receiving the golden diadem, gold ring, and
silver rod which were the ancient symbols of his office.
The creation of a new prince (there had been none since
1307, when Edward II became king) led to many legal
inquiries and one result was the compilation of the survey
1 Llywelyn's predecessors were styled princes of North Wales, i.e.
Gwynedd, and he was the first formally to assume the title of Prince of
Wales. The crown recognised it in 1267.
96 CARNARVONSHIRE
of 1352, included in the MS. known as the Record of
Carnarvon. In this there is a minute account of the
state of the county in that year, similar to that contained
in the Domesday Book of William I, and it appears from
it that the Black Prince drew the same rents and services
from the freemen and the serfs of the district as had been
rendered to his Welsh predecessors. Pwllheli and Nevin
owe their origin as boroughs to grants of the Black Prince.
During the fourteenth century the country became
more peaceful and settled. The manufacture of a coarse
frieze grew to be of some importance in the country and
Carnarvon and Beaumaris exported the produce of fulling
mills (Welsh, pandy), such as those at Castellmarch,
Crewyrion, and Trefriw, although the trade never rose
here to the height it assumed in South and Mid Wales.
At the end of the century a period of strife is once more
entered upon. The great rising of Owain Glyn Dwr,
which for ten years taxed all the resources of the English
crown, affected Carnarvonshire, in common with every
other district in Wales, and some of its notable incidents
took place within the county. Such were the surprising
capture of Con way castle by the Welsh on Good Friday,
1401, when the garrison were at church in the town, the
attack upon Carnarvon by a Breton force in 1403, -and
the signature at Aberdaron in February, 1406, of the
famous agreement between Glyn Dwr, Northumberland,
and Mortimer to divide England and Wales between
them1. The shores of Merioneth and Cardigan were,
1 Shakespeare, following Holinshed, wrongly locates this incident at
Bangor.
LATER HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 97
however, the chief centre of Glyn Dwr's power and,
except for a brief tenure of Conway in 1401, the Car-
narvonshire castles were never in his hands.
The remainder of the story of the county must be
told briefly. Despite the overthrow of Glyn Dwr,
neither the Welsh language nor the Welsh spirit died
out in this district and many Carnarvonshire men, under
Sir William Stanley, had the satisfaction of helping at
Bosworth to win a crown for the Welshman, Henry
Tudor. The country was far from well governed : "so
bloody and ireful were quarrels in those days," says Sir
John Wynne of Gwydir in narrating the history of his
house, "and the revenge of the sword at such liberty, as
almost nothing was punished by law, whatsoever hap-
pened." Sir John's ancestor, Maredudd ab Ifan, left his
old home at Cesail Gyfarch in Eifionydd and removed to
Dolwyddelan, for, said he, " if I live in mine house in
Eifionydd, I must either kill mine own kinsmen or be
killed by them." The Act of Union and other measures
of Henry VIII were intended to remedy these disorders
by bringing about a closer connection with England.
The Welsh counties were for the first time included in
the system of English parliamentary representation, and
in 1541 two men bearing famous names appeared as first
representatives of the county of Carnarvon at Westmin-
ster, Sir Richard Bulkeley being the knight of the shire
and John Puleston M.P. for the boroughs.
In the great Civil War, Carnarvonshire was predomi-
nantly royalist, like most districts in Wales, and the castles
of Carnarvon and Conway, having been fortified for the
L. c. 7
98 CARNARVONSHIRE
king, held out until the collapse of his fortunes. Car-
narvon was taken in June, 1646, by General Mytton,
who had the help of Colonel Glynne of Glynllifon and
Sir William Williams of Vaynol. Conwayhad been greatly
strengthened by John Williams, Archbishop of York, of
the Penrhyn family, but the place was afterwards trans-
ferred to Sir John Owen of Clenenneu and it was he who
Carnarvon Castle
surrendered it in November, 1646, to the parliamentary
forces. The first and most important stage of the~Civil
War was now over, but the county also played a part in
the struggle of 1648, when the royalist party made an
attempt to reopen the war. Sir John Owen raised a force
for the imprisoned Charles, which was, however, met and
defeated on June 5th near Llandegai, Sir John and many
other prisoners falling into the hands of the victors.
LATER HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 99
Through such vicissitudes did the district pass ere it
attained the peace and prosperity of recent times. During
the eighteenth century it was a rustic, secluded area, in
which the tides of life flowed but sluggishly; the nine-
teenth saw a great development of industrial energy, of
sightseeing traffic, of religious and literary and educational
effort.
17. Antiquities.
In an area where there have been very few racial
changes and revolutions, and where reverence for the
past has always been strong, one might expect to find
abundant memorials of bygone ages, and 'such is in fact
the case. Carnarvonshire is rich in prehistoric antiquities,
which until lately have been preserved by the popular
feeling that it was unlucky and dangerous to interfere
with them.
Of these relics of the past none are more striking
than the cromlechs of the county. These wonderful
erections were undoubtedly sepulchral, and constructed by
the Neolithic folk for the burial of their more illustrious
dead. The leading feature of the structure is the roof,
always formed by a great stone slab or capstone, which
rests upon three or more stones placed vertically and
known as supporters. Cromlechs are known by many
names, such as "Arthur's Quoit" (a favourite description),
"The Altar" and "The Shelter Stone" (the original
meaning of cromlech], but these names are the product of
7—2
100
CARNARVONSHIRE
popular fancy and tell us nothing of the real purpose of
the structures.
The county contains about a dozen cromlechs, in
Rhos Lan Cromlech, near Criccieth
various stages of ruin. Some have but the capstone left,
the supporters having gone within recent memory. The
best preserved are that on the Great Orme's Head, the
two near Clynnog, the two near Criccieth, and that at
ANTIQUITIES
101
Cefn Amwlch in Lleyn. In the case of the two at Four
Crosses and Porthlwyd, the capstone has slipped off the
supporters. No remarkable discoveries have been made
Cromlech at Cefn Amwlch
in connection with any cromlech in this county, but that
at Fach Wen, near Clynnog, is noteworthy as having
small cup-like hollows on the upper surface of the cap-
102 CARNARVONSHIRE
stone, a feature known elsewhere, but very unusual in
Wales.
Another type of megalithic monument is furnished
by the standing stone or maen-hir^ often elaborated into
a stone avenue or circle. These remains were at one
time to be found in great abundance on the moors above
Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr, but many have been
Stone Circle, Penmaenmawr
broken up or have ceased to be recognisable. OF the
two standing stones which gave its name to Bwlch y
Ddeufaen, one is now prostrate, and stone circles here-
abouts described by the older antiquaries have become
difficult to find. But the circle known as "Y Meini
Hirion " (The Long Stones), at the back of Penmaen-
mawr, still makes an impressive picture; about ten of
ANTIQUITIES 103
the stones remaining in position on the well-defined
circumference of a circle measuring about 80 feet across.
The date and purpose of these relics of olden time have
not yet been determined, but the present tendency is to
regard them as late Neolithic. They were certainly in
position long before Caesar's time.
In the Bronze Age bodies were cremated and the
ashes buried in earthenware vessels beneath barrows or
cairns. Burials of this kind have come to light at Pen-
maenmawr and at Llystyn, near Dolbenmaen; and the
many " carneddau " (cairns) scattered over the moun-
tainous part of the county were, no doubt, Bronze Age
burying-places.
Prehistoric forts or camps of refuge are well repre-
sented in the county. That on the summit of Tre'r
Ceiri, the eastern peak of the Rivals, is one of the finest
in Great Britain. It stands 1600 feet above the sea and
commands a wide View of Arfon and Eifionydd. The
wall is a solid rampart of unmortared stones, carefully
fitted together, with gates and a platform for the defenders
running along its inner side. Within the enclosure are
the remains of a great number of round huts, built loosely
of stone, and shown by excavation to have been occupied
about the time the Romans were engaged in the conquest
of North Wales. Within them charcoal was found,
showing that fires had been lit, and iron and bronze
implements, porcelain beads, and some bits of Roman
pottery were also unearthed. The spot was, of course,
too bare and bleak to have been permanently inhabited;
it was, no doubt, a tribal retreat used in case of emer-
104 CARNARVONSHIRE
gency in the summer. The great fort on the summit of
Penrnaen Mawr is of the same pattern ; it has, also, well-
built walls and many round stone huts, known to the
Welsh as cytiau. The same holds good of Pen y Gaer,
near Llanbedr y Cennin in the Conway Valley, and
Caer Seion, on Conway Mountain, all belonging, there
can be little doubt, to the tribes whom Agricola found
in possession of Snowdonia. There are other forts, of
which the history has not yet been unravelled, near
Llanddeiniolen, on Carn Bentyrch and Carn Fadryn, at
Forth Dinllaen, and in the neighbourhood of Llanwnda.
Both of the Roman forts situated in Carnarvonshire
have yielded remains, as has the line of road which
connected them. Caerhun has not been excavated to
any great extent; indeed, the parish church and church-
yard occupy much of the enclosure; but enough has
come to light to show that it was a small military station,
occupied by a detachment of the* twentieth legion.
The ruined building between the fort and the river was
a bath-house, heated from below in the usual Roman
fashion. Carnarvon was a somewhat larger fort, covering
about 5^ acres ; it was placed on the hill which rises
between Llanbeblig church and the modern town, and
the vicarage stands within the ancient walls. As~yet
there has been no systematic digging over the whole site,
but incidentally a good deal has been brought to the sur-
face, illustrating the history of the place in Roman times.
The most notable find was an inscription, now in the
Castle, recording the fact that about 200 A.D. a cohort
of auxiliary troops from the neighbourhood of the Meuse,
ANTIQUITIES 105
the Sunici by name, repaired a broken aqueduct. No
doubt, they formed at the jtime the garrison in charge of
Segontium. Roman coins have been found, some belonging
to the beginning and others to the end of the occupation
of Britain, so as to suggest long possession of the district.
On the road from Caerhun to Carnarvon four Roman
milestones have at various times been discovered, two
above Gorddinog, one at Ty Coch, Bangor, and one at
Llanddeiniolen. The Gorddinog stones, now in the
British Museum, marked the eighth mile from Conovium;
they were of different dates and separated by an interval
of about eighty years.
There are few remains of the long period which
intervened between the withdrawal of the Romans and
the Norman invasions. Building in stone went out of
fashion and the arts were generally at a somewhat low
ebb. Nearly all that the early Christian culture of
Carnarvonshire has handed down as evidence of its
existence is a number of Latin inscriptions, carved in
stone as memorials of the dead, and preserved, for the
most part, on sacred sites. There are, altogether, fifteen
of these inscriptions, of which the most noteworthy are
those of Penmachno, Cefn Amwlch, Llannor, Llanael-
haearn, Cesail Gyfarch, and Llystyn Gwyn. The last-
mentioned (discovered in 1902) has, in addition to the
Latin capitals, an inscription in what is known as the
Ogam character, which is common in Ireland and South
Wales, but otherwise only occurs once in North Wales.
All belong to the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries and
are definitely Christian in character; two (at Penmachno
106
CARNARVONSHIRE
and at Treflys) have the Chi-Rho monogram, i.e. the first
two letters of Christus^ two commemorate priests and one
(at Llannor) is believed to record the name of the founder
of Llangwynodl church.
It is singular that Carnarvonshire, though otherwise a
happy hunting-ground for the archaeologist, contains no
specimen of the so-called "Celtic" ornamentation found
Treflys Church
in other parts of Wales on old ecclesiastical sites and
ascribed to the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. There
are good specimens at Penmon, just across the Straits.
On the other hand, the county possessed until recently
one of the very few Welsh specimens of the "Celtic"
quadrangular bell ; it belonged to Llangwynodl and is
now in the Welsh National Museum.
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 107
18. Architecture— (a) Ecclesiastical.
The early churches of Wales were mostly built ol
wood, and it is not surprising that Carnarvonshire, in
common with the rest of North Wales, should possess
no architectural remains which can be referred to an
earlier date than the twelfth century. It has many
quaint, old-world churches, harmonising well with their
romantic surroundings, but few of these are really old, as
churches go, and most of the work is of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries.
Probably the oldest ecclesiastical edifice in the county
is the north aisle of Aberdaron old church. The church
consists of two parallel aisles, separated by arches of the
Perpendicular period, and is entered by a west door in
the northern aisle, which is of the round-headed type,
and thereby, as well as by the character of the ornament,
is shown to be of the Norman period of architecture.
There is another round arch on the north side of this
a[sle. Aberdaron is known to have been a very important
church, possessing a good deal of land and maintaining a
body of canons in the medieval period. The building
was probably erected in the twelfth century, when the
place was famous as a sanctuary and a port for Ireland.
Another interesting old church is that of Conway.
This has been since 1284 the parish church of the
borough, but previous to that year it was part of the
Cistercian abbey of Aberconwy. The Cistercian order
of monks, often known from the colour of their vest-
108 CARNARVONSHIRE
ments as White Monks, took their origin from the
monastery of Citeaux in France and in the twelfth
century spread widely throughout Europe. They prac-
tised a greater austerity than the monks of the old
Benedictine pattern, and discipline was kept up by regular
visitation of the various abbeys. The order became very
popular in Wales and the country suited their habits, for
they loved to settle in retired and solitary spots and had a
great liking for sheep-farming. Aberconwy was an off-
shoot of the famous abbey of Strata Florida, in Ceredigion ;
it was founded in 1186 at Rhedynog Felen, near Carnar-
von, but was moved a year or two later to the mouth of
the Conway. Llywelyn ab lorwerth was its great bene-
factor and gave it lands in all parts of his dominions. A
good deal of the present building was originally built in
the monastic period, for instance the three lancet windows
of the western face of the tower, with the doorway below,
the south wall of the chancel, with its two two-light win-
dows, and the two buttresses at the east end. All these
belong to the thirteenth century and are in the Early
English style of architecture. Other features of the
church belong to later periods, the east window and the
topmost section of the tower being of the fifteenth century.
This is also the date of the rood-screen, separating the
choir from the nave, a medieval feature of which there
are not many examples hereabouts.
The cathedral church of St Deiniol at Bangor occupies
a site which has been dedicated to ecclesiastical uses since
the sixth century, but the present building is not, as a
whole, of very great antiquity, and cannot compare in
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 109
interest or in dignity with the great cathedrals of England.
There are some remains visible of the Norman church,
in particular a blocked round arch in the south wall of
the choir, but nearly all the older work belongs to the
Early English restoration of Bishop Anian (1267-1305)
Bangor Cathedral
(with University College New Buildings in the distance)
or to the alterations made in the Decorated period (four-
teenth century). The cathedral as it stood in 1402 was
burnt to the ground by Owain Glyn Dwr and for the best
part of the following century it lay in ruins. Henry Dean,
who became bishop in 1496, began the pious task of re-
building; it is to him we owe the Perpendicular choir and
The Bangor Pontifical (illuminated page)
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 1 1 1
presbytery, with the east window. His work was worthily
carried on by his successor Skeffington (1509-1533),
who rebuilt the tower from the foundations and restored
the nave and the transepts, thus giving the fabric its
predominant character of a Perpendicular building. An
inscription on the west face of the tower records how
"Thomas Skevynton" caused this bell-tower and church
to be built in the year of the Virgin Birth, 1532. The
Reformation was followed by a good deal of neglect and,
in the early nineteenth century, by injudicious alterations.
Under Bishop Campbell (1859-1890), the whole building
was carefully restored and except for the central tower
completed, so that, if not an impressive cathedral, it is,
at any rate, now in fitting order and repair. Its total
length, measured within, is 214 feet.
Many famous men have been laid to rest in Bangor
cathedral, such as Gruffydd ap Cynan, his sons Owain
and Cadwaladr, and many bishops of the see. But there
are no tombs of special interest, for that pointed out as
Owain Gwynedd's is in the wrong position and can
hardly be genuine, and the building has seen so many
vicissitudes that it now contains few objects of historical
value. An exception must be made in favour of the
Pontifical, or service-book, of Bishop Anian, a manuscript
of great interest preserved in the cathedral library. It
was the bishop's manual, containing the liturgical forms
he needed for the discharge of his various duties and
recording, not merely the words, but also the musical
notes of the anthems used in the different services.
At Clynnog Fawr there is a fine Perpendicular church,
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ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 113
nearly 150 feet long. Reference has already been made
to the antiquity of the religious foundation here, but there
is nothing to suggest any great age in the church, which
is entirely the work of the latter half of the fifteenth
century. Among the interesting features of the building
are the rood-loft and screen, the former approached by
a spiral staircase in the thickness of the wall ; the sedilia
or canopied stone seats for the clergy in the chancel ; the
Clynnog Church
upper rooms over the north porch and the sacristy; and,
most remarkable of all, the separate building, connected
by a passage with the church, which was known as Capel
Beuno or Cell y Bedd. The detached building contained
the tomb of the founder, and at one time ailing children
were brought and placed upon it, to see whether they
would sleep, a sure presage of recovery. Another insti-
tution of the place was Cyff Beuno, a very ancient wooden
L.C. 8
114 CARNARVONSHIRE
chest, to which the farmers of Arfon paid tribute within
the memory of men now living, to ensure the fertility of
their flocks and herds.
There was an ancient monastic community of the
Welsh pattern at Beddgelert, famous for its hospitable
entertainment of the travellers in those wilds. At first,
it belonged to no recognised order, but in later times it
was treated as a priory of Augustinian canons, an order
who, while taking upon them monastic vows, did not
cut themselves off from the world, but performed clerical
duties. During Edward I's conquest of Wales, there was
a serious fire at Beddgelert and it was then, perhaps, that
the church was built of which a good deal survives in
the parish church of to-day. Of the early work one
may note in particular the two beautiful arches on the
north side of the nave, the severe but dignified three-light
east window, and the western doorway.
Bardsey Island, the "Ynys Enlli" of the Welsh, was
also a very ancient monastic refuge. Difficult of access
by reason of the strong tides, it was greatly in request as
a last retreat and resting-place for the medieval devotee,
and Meilyr the Welsh poet expresses his fervent wish to
be buried in "the fair isle of saints, in the midst of the
heaving ocean." The air was reported to be so healthful
that none died before his time, but each gave up the ghost
as he became the oldest inhabitant. The life was, no
doubt, simple and unpretentious, and all that remains of
such buildings as the monks may have had is a ruined
thirteenth-century tower.
The parish churches scattered up and down the county
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 115
have many points of interest, only some of which can be
briefly alluded to here. Llanengan (Perpendicular) has
an extremely fine rood-loft and screen, such as would
scarcely be looked for in so remote a situation. Llan-
gelynnin old church, remarkable for its situation on the
bare mountain side, 900 feet above sea level, has a stoup
Llanengan Church
or holy-water vessel near the door, which is said to have
been regularly used by the worshippers as late as the early
part of the nineteenth century. Dolwyddelan was built
by Maredudd ab Iran, ancestor of the Wynnes of Gwydir,
who died in 1525; it has an old knocker, said to be a
sanctuary ring (which fugitive offenders caught hold of),
a rood-screen, and a brass tablet to the memory of the
J— 2
1 16 CARNARVONSHIRE
founder and his wife. Llangwynodl (Perpendicular) is
remarkable as having three aisles, a rather unusual feature
in North Wales.
19. Architecture — (6) Military.
The northern half of Wales cannot compare with the
southern in the number of its castles, for it was held by
the Welsh, who were not great builders, until the age of
Edward I, while most of the southern districts were ruled
by feudal barons whose power rested on the possession
of castles. Thus Carnarvonshire has only five medieval
fortresses to show, viz. those of Carnarvon, Conway,
Criccieth, Dolbadarn, and Dolwyddelan. Nevertheless,
what is lacking in numbers is amply made up in distinc-
tion, for Carnarvon and Conway are among the most
impressive ruins of the kind in the British Isles.
Upon completing his conquest of this district, Edward I
chose Carnarvon, which had long been a residence of the
princes of Gwynedd, as the seat of the chief castle and
borough of North-west Wales. Work was commenced
on the ground as early as 1283, but whatever was accom-
plished in the next ten years came to nothing in -the
revolt of 1294, when town and castle were destroyed.
Operations were then resumed on a more substantial scale.
The town was furnished with a ring of walls, a great
part of which is still standing, and a new stronghold was
erected, the building of which went on until 1322, in the
reign of Edward II. The statue of Edward above the
u
118 CARNARVONSHIRE
main entrance was placed in position in 1320. The
architect appears to have been a certain Master Henry
de Elreton and the material used was limestone.
The castle is built on a rock which borders the river
Saint and it is separated on the other side from the town
by a deep ditch. Each of Edward's North Welsh castles
was planned so as to suit the lie of the land and no two
are identical in design. Carnarvon has been compared
to an hourglass; it is long in proportion to its breadth,
being about 300 feet by 120, and was originally divided
into two portions by a wall across the middle. There are
seven towers in the circuit of the castle walls, in addition
to the gatehouse. Of these the most noteworthy is the
beautiful Eagle Tower, overshadowing the mouth of the
river, in which is pointed out the chamber in which,
according to local tradition, Edward II was born in April,
1284. At that time, however, there can have been little
of the castle above ground, and, although the prince was
undoubtedly born at Carnarvon, this particular story must
be dismissed as baseless. The Exchequer Tower, opposite
the gatehouse, was the residence of the chamberlain of
North Wales and official records were kept there. The
Well Tower, between the Eagle Tower and the gate-
house, contained the very necessary provision for fresh
water. The Queen's Gate is a very imposing archway,
which once gave access to the " Maes," or field, between
the river and the town ; it is the traditional scene of the
presentation of the infant Edward as Prince of Wales to
the assembled Welsh, but, as has already been pointed
out, this incident must be regarded as pure legend. The
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY
119
castle has for many years been kept in excellent order and
there has also been a good^ deal of conjectural restoration,
so that internally it has not the air of romance of the ivy-
grown ruins of Conway and Beaumaris. In 1911 it
acquired a new association of interest as the scene of the
investiture of Edward Prince of Wales, a ceremony never
Carnarvon Castle : Queen Eleanor's Gate
(Scene of the Investiture oj 1911)
before carried out in Wales and planned on a scale of the
utmost magnificence.
The second important position fortified by Edward I
was the mouth of the Conway. Degannwy, on the
right bank, was the ancient stronghold of the district, but
it did not give control of Snowdonia, and accordingly
120
Edward crossed the river, ejected the monks of Aber-
conwy, and planted his new borough and castle on the
site of the Cistercian abbey. The building of Conway
Castle went on at the same time as that of Carnarvon,
Conway Castle : Interior
but, as it did not suffer in 1294, it was completed earlier ;
indeed, Edward spent in it the Christmas of that year.
Like Carnarvon, Conway was provided with town walls,
and these have been remarkably well preserved, forming,
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY 121
with the castle, a triangular or harp-like enclosure which
is intact to this day. The gates were known as Forth
Uchaf (Upper Gate), Forth Isaf (Lower Gate), Forth y
Felin (Mill Gate), Forth yr Aden (Curtain Gate), and
Forth Bach (Little Gate).
Conway Castle resembles that of Carnarvon in its
irregular oblong shape and it is of about the same size.
There is no gatehouse, for the main entrance was ap-
proached by a causeway from one side, leading to a
barbican and a small platform in front of the gate. In
the outer or western ward the chief feature is the great
hall, loo feet long ; two only of the arches of the roof
remain, but their ivy-draped ruins invest the scene with
an air of singular charm. There was no well, and water
was stored in a tank cut out of the solid rock. At the
east end of the hall was the chapel, separated from it by a
light partition only. In the inner or eastern ward were
the state apartments, having a platform at the further end
which overlooks from a great height the estuary of the
Conway. Eight massive round towers, of identical pattern,
surround the castle and preserve intact to this day the
picturesque battlements with which they were crowned
by their first builder.
Criccieth Castle is a much more modest structure than
either of the two just described. It is known that the
princes of Gwynedd had a stronghold here and there can
be little doubt that Edward I merely adapted the ancient
fabric to his own purposes. It occupies a striking situa-
tion, on the crest of a little hillock (the "crug" of the
name) which is almost surrounded by the sea ; two bold
122
CARNARVONSHIRE
towers flank the entrance and provide the chief strength
of the enclosure.
Dolwyddelan and Dolbadarn have been reduced to so
fragmentary a state that it becomes difficult to tell their
story with any degree of confidence. Neither plays an
important part in history and all that can safely be said is
Dolbadarn Castle
that Dolbadarn seems to have been built about the time
of Edward II to guard the plain of Arfon from attacks by
way of the Pass of Llanberis, while Dolwyddelan, simi-
larly defending the Conway Valley, may be in part a
native Welsh building of the thirteenth century, but was
much altered by Maredudd ab Ifan when he came to live
there in the sixteenth. The square tower, standing on
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY 123
its rocky knoll, is the oldest part of Dolwyddelan and
perhaps was part of the castle which Edward I is known
to have found here in 1282.
20. Architecture— (c) Domestic.
The houses of Carnarvonshire, both old and new,
are for the most part built of stone, of which there is an
abundant supply, and roofed with slate, that other char-
acteristic mineral product of the county. Scarcely any
of the old half-timbered houses are to be seen which so
pleasantly diversify the landscape in the well-wooded
counties of the border; brick, also, is not in favour out-
side the towns. Even in the remotest districts, slate
has displaced the old thatched roof, the older work being
distinguished from the newer by the use of a smaller and
rougher slate, certainly more picturesque than the smooth,
blue slate of modern commerce.
Of the older houses of the county, none can compare
as an elaborate memorial of a bygone age with Plas Mawr,
Conway. It is a true town-house, hemmed in on all sides
by the dwellings of plain citizens, yet built on a lordly and
dignified scale. It was built, or possibly developed out of an
older building, by Robert Wynne (1520-1598), an uncle
of Sir John Wynne of Gwydir, and is a good specimen of
a gentleman's house of the Elizabethan period. It consists
of an entrance lodge, a lower court with a stone staircase,
a middle block containing the banqueting hall, an upper
court, and the north block (the oldest portion) with the
Plas Mawr, Conway
ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC
125
state apartments. The interest of the building is greatly
heightened by the excellent state of preservation of the
interior; the oak panelling, the carved chimney-pieces,
the decorative plaster ceilings, the heavy furniture, all
help to carry the mind back to the era of its foundation
in the sixteenth century. In "Queen Elizabeth's Room"
Plas Mawr: Queen Elizabeth's Room
the arms and initials of the great queen are displayed upon
the chimney-piece, and throughout there is the greatest
profusion of heraldic and other ornament, no two ceilings
being alike in design. External features of interest are the
stepped gables, the tower with its fine view, and the lan-
tern window projecting in an angle so as to give light to
the courtyard. Plas Mawr is the property of Lord Mostyn,
126 CARNARVONSHIRE
but is leased by the Royal Cambrian Academy, who hold
in it their annual exhibition of pictures.
The house of Gwydir, not far from Llanrwst, has
famous associations, for it was the home of Sir John
Wynne, but little remains of the original mansion and
the place is now chiefly remarkable for the curious anti-
quarian relics it contains. Not far from Aberdaron, at
the extremity of Lleyn, is the farmhouse of Bodwrda,
which still preserves the graceful outlines of a well-built
Jacobean country house. Cochwillan, where the Griffiths
of Penrhyn lived before they moved to the better known
house, can still show the hall built for the family in the
fifteenth century, which to-day does duty as a barn.
Vaynol Old Hall is a Tudor mansion, and near it is a
domestic chapel of the same period.
There are a few old houses in Carnarvon and Con way
of the civic type, such as the Vaynol Arms, Palace Street,
in the former town, and the Aberconwy Temperance
Hotel in the latter, but the Carnarvonshire towns have
been for the most part rebuilt within the last 150 years
and have little domestic architecture to show of any great
antiquity. Many of the farmhouses, on the other hand,
though simply and plainly built, with an eye to solid
strength and protection from the weather rather than
lightness and grace, are extremely old and illustrate by-
gone methods of construction. Such are Cymryd near
Conway, Iscoed Isaf in the Nantlle valley, Bwlch Gydros
near Llangelynnin, and Hafod Lwyfog in Nanhwynen,
the last mentioned built in 1638.
COMMUNICATIONS 1 27
21. Communications — Past and Pre=
sent. Roads and Railways.
The earliest line of road laid across Carnarvonshire
would seem to have been that from Conovium to Segon-
tium, passing through Bwlch y Ddeufaen, which has
already been more than once mentioned. It connected
the Roman settlements of the east with the shores of
St George's Channel and was the precursor of the later
routes to Ireland. At a later period, probably, of
the Roman occupation, a branch was thrown off to
southward, which may still be traced from the neighbour-
hood of the Miners' Bridge on the Llugwy across the hills
to Pont y Pant and Dolwyddelan, and thence up Cwm
Penamnen to the county boundary. The objective of
this road was, no doubt, the* military station at Castell
Tomen y Mur, near Trawsfynydd. Like many Roman
roads in Wales, this was known as uSarn Elen," i.e. Elen's
Causeway, and a legend was told of its making at the
behest of a mythical Queen Elen of the Hosts, who
married the Emperor Maximus.
Little attention was given to road-making in medieval
Wales and it was rather the Welshman's object to make
access to his mountain refuges as difficult as possible.
It was not until the country had been thoroughly subdued
to English rule that regular ways of communication with
the new settlements around the castles were set up. Even
then, there was hardly any wheeled traffic ; land carriage
was chiefly by means of pack-horses, driven along narrow
128 CARNARVONSHIRE
mountain and forest tracks ; and wherever a waterway was
available for transport purposes, as for instance from
Trefriw to Conway, advantage was taken of it. A good
deal of importance attached to the ferries across the
Menai Straits, of which there were five, at Aber Menai,
Talyfoel (near Carnarvon), Moelydon, Garth, and Beau-
maris. The first two belonged to the crown, in succession
to the princes of Gwynedd, and were sold to the borough
of Carnarvon in 1874. Moelydon and Beaumaris were
also crown property, but the latter was acquired by the
corporation in the reign of Elizabeth and formed a con-
siderable element in the prosperity of the place. Garth
ferry was an appurtenance of the bishopric of Bangor until
purchased by the borough of Bangor at the time of the
erection of the promenade pier.
A royal post to Ireland existed as early as 1574. It
passed through Chester, Denbigh, Conway, and Beaumaris
to Holyhead. Sir John Wynne thus described its course
from Dwygyfylchi to Llanfairfechan in a tract written
about 1625. "The way, beginning at the seashore within
the parish of Dwygyfylchi, is cut through the side of a
steep, hard rock, neither descending nor ascending until
you come to Seiriol's Chapel, being about a quarter
of a mile from Clipyn Seiriol, and all that way is two
hundred yards above the sea, over which if either man or
beast should fall, both sea and rock, rock and sea, would
strive and contend whether of both should do him the
greatest mischief. And from the chapel aforesaid the
way is cut through the side of a gravelly, rocky hill, still
descending until you come again to the seashore within
COMMUNICATIONS 129
the parish of Llanfair." The road, which in places was
hardly three feet broad, was kept in repair by a hermit,
who lived on the alms of wayfarers and an annual
collection in the neighbouring churches.
From that day to this the road round the precipice
of Penmaen Mawr has been a matter of anxious concern
to those responsible for the safety of traffic along the
coast of Carnarvonshire. After many attempts to im-
prove the old road, Parliament voted £2000 in 1769 for
the making of an entirely new one, and a few years later
this was constructed by John Sylvester at a considerably
lower level than the former roadway, but still about 300
feet above sea level. From Aber to Beaumaris the route
lay across the Lavan sands, and this portion of the road
also had its dangers from the ease with which at nightfall
or in a foggy atmosphere travellers might be cut off by
the inflowing tide. At such times it was customary to
ring the bells of Aber church in order to give guidance
as to the right direction to be taken.
With the closer connection between Great Britain and
Ireland which culminated in the Act of Union in 1800,
the need of better provision for the Irish mail-coach traffic
became urgent, and a new route was adopted which avoided
the ferry at Conway and the dangers of Penmaen Mawr
and the Lavan sands. The enterprise and public spirit
of the first Lord Penrhyn laid down a road of the first
class along Nant Ffrancon and the Llugwy valley, so
that the mails henceforth came by way of Llangollen,
Corwen, Pentre Foelas, Bettws y Coed, Capel Curig, and
Bangor. An inn and stables were built at Capel Curig,
L. C. 9
COMMUNICATIONS
131
which was to be the half-way stage between Pentre
Foelas and Bangor, and the crossing to Anglesey was
removed from Beaumaris to Porthaethwy or Bangor
Ferry, where the road ended at "Jackson's Inn" (now
the George Hotel).
This new route not only brought about the rapid
disuse of the Aber passage, but it also diverted from
Menai Suspension Bridge
Chester and Conway important traffic which had hitherto
gone that way. The result was a concerted effort to
improve the old or northern road, and in 1826 this line
of communication was put upon an entirely new footing
by the opening of the Conway Suspension Bridge, super-
seding the ferry, and the making of the Penmaen Bach
loop, as a substitute for the toilsome ascent of the Sychnant
9—2
132 CARNARVONSHIRE
Pass. Both routes were at the same time relieved of the
troublesome crossing at Bangor Ferry by the building of
the great Menai Suspension Bridge, also opened in this
year 1826. The Suspension bridges were the work of
the gifted Scotch engineer, Thomas Telford, who applied
in them a principle then entirely novel, namely that of
suspending the roadway from massive iron chains resting
on stone piers and secured at each end in the solid rock.
The following figures will illustrate the magnitude of
the task involved in the construction of the Menai Bridge :
length from pier to pier, 579 feet; height of road above
water, 100 feet; total weight of ironwork, 2186 tons;
total cost, £120,000. Suspension bridges have since
become fairly common, but the two over the Menai
and the Conway were pioneer structures of this type
and the former still retains its interest as a triumph of
engineering skill which in no way injures but rather
enhances the beauty of its natural surroundings.
Besides the Irish coaching route, there was another old
line of communication in the county, namely, the road
from Dolgelly and Harlech to Carnarvon. According
to the maps and road-books of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, it entered the county by way of
Traeth Mawr and thence ran through Penmorfa, Dol-
benmaen, Garn, Llanllyfni, and Llanwnda. A new road
has been constructed along a considerable part of this
route, but the old one may still be traced in the neigh-
bourhood of Pantglas, running parallel to it along the
slopes of Mynydd Craig Goch.
The early years of the nineteenth century witnessed
COMMUNICATIONS 133
great activity in road-making in this district. It was at
this time that the road from Carnarvon to Beddgelert,
past Bettws Garmon and Rhyd Ddu, was constructed, as
also that from Carnarvon to Capel Curig, through the
Pass of Llanberis. These two were linked together in
1805 by the road through Nanhwynen (or Nant Gwy-
nant). Expectations that Forth Dinllaen might supplant
Holyhead as the port of embarkation for Dublin led Mr
Madocks, the builder of the Traeth Mawr embankment,
to make a good road from Beddgelert to that roadstead,
by way of Tremadoc, Criccieth, and Four Crosses. The
main road from Carnarvon to Pwllheli, through Clynnog
and Llanaelhaearn, is of the same period.
About the year 1830 the main road system of the
county was complete. It enjoyed a few years of un-
challenged supremacy and then began to be threatened
by the advent of the railroad, which has continued to
develop for the last sixty years and to extend into most
of the inhabited areas of the county. As in the case of
the high roads, Carnarvonshire owed its first railway to its
connection with the Irish traffic. The Chester and Holy-
head Railway, begun in 1845 and completed in 1850,
followed the older coach route and provided the county
with railway facilities from Conway to the Menai Bridge.
Side by side with the suspension bridges over the Conway
and the Straits, Robert Stephenson, the railway company's
engineer, constructed two Tubular Bridges, no less re-
markable as achievements in iron construction than the
structures of Telford, though planned on an altogether
different principle and, it must be admitted, scarcely
134
bearing comparison with their companions in beauty of
outline. The tubular bridges are rigid and may be de-
scribed as iron beams, hollowed to admit of the passage
of the trains. They rest, not upon arches, but upon
stone piers. The Britannia bridge has a central pier,
resting upon the Britannia rock in the middle of the
Straits. Like the Suspension Bridge, it is poised IOO feet
Britannia Tubular Bridge
above the level of the water and thus offers not the
slightest impediment to navigation at any point ; the
channel is IIOO feet across and the roadway of the
bridge has a length of 1841 feet. Both here and at
Conway the tubes for the up and the down line are
separate, so that each bridge is really double. The
Britannia bridge was opened for traffic in 1850, the
Conway bridge, which is much smaller, in 1848.
COMMUNICATIONS 135
The Chester and Holyhead Railway became in time
a part of the great organisation known as the London
and North Western Railway, the first of the railways
of the United Kingdom in respect of its annual income,
though second to the Great Western in the extent of its
lines. This powerful company, using the Chester and
Conway Tubular Bridge
Holyhead line as its base, has in Carnarvonshire, as else-
where in North Wales, provided a system of branch lines
as feeders which covers a considerable area of the county.
From Llandudno Junction runs the branch to Llandudno,
conveying an enormous seasonal traffic to that well-known
watering-place. Along the Conway Valley another
136 CARNARVONSHIRE
branch runs from the same junction to Llanrwst, Bettws
y Coed, and (through a tunnel over two miles long) the
slate-quarrying centre of Blaenau Festiniog. Branches
also connect Bangor with Bethesda, and Carnarvon with
Llanberis, while from the county town a line runs south
through the pass of Bwlch Derwyn to Cardigan Bay,
connecting at Afon Wen Junction with the Cambrian
system. The company's divisional engineer for North
Wales is stationed at Bangor and the place has some
importance as a railway centre.
The south coast of Carnarvonshire, from Portmadoc
to Pwllheli, is served by another company, the Cambrian,
which extended its operations into this district from Mid
Wales in 1866. The headquarters of this line are at
Oswestry and the Pwllheli trains connect with the com-
pany's main line at Dovey Junction, near Machynlleth.
It has been the dream of more than one generation of
railway promoters to continue this line to Porth Dinllaen,
but the omens are not particularly favourable to any
scheme of the kind.
In addition to these ordinary-gauge lines, there are
two small lines of a special type in the county. The
North Wales Narrow-Gauge Railway is of the "toy
railway" pattern and was opened in 1877 to exploit the
mineral wealth of the Snowdon area ; it runs, with one
short branch, from Dinas Junction, near Carnarvon, to
Rhyd Ddu. An extension to Beddgelert and Portmadoc
has been undertaken, but not as yet completed. The
Snowdon Mountain Railway is a rack and pinion rail-
way, of the type common in Switzerland, and was opened
COMMUNICATIONS 137
in 1896 to provide facilities for the ascent of Snowdon.
It starts near the Victoria Hotel, Llanberis, and after
an upward course of five miles ends a little short of the
summit.
22. Divisions — Ancient and Modern.
Administration.
The most ancient division of Carnarvonshire is into
cantrefs and commotes, a division which goes back to
the remote past of the country, ages before it came under
direct English rule. Neglecting Llysfaen and Maenan,
which were parts of the commote of Rhos Uwch Dulas,
we may tabulate the old areas of the county thus : —
1. [Part of] Cantref of Rhos — Commote of Creuddyn.
2. Cantref of Arllechwedd „ Nant Conwy.
Aril. Uchaf.
„ Aril. Isaf.
3. Cantref of Arfon „ Arfon Uwch Gwyrfai.
„ Arfon Is Gwyrfai.
4. Cantref of Lleyn „ Dinllaen.
„ Cymydmaen.
„ Aflogion.
5. [Part of] Cantref of Dunoding „ Eifionydd.
The whole, except Creuddyn, was reckoned as belonging
to Gwynedd Uwch (i.e. Above) Conwy.
Without entering into much detail, one may briefly
indicate the location of these areas. Creuddyn was the
district east of the Conway and bounded by the Afon
138 CARNARVONSHIRE
Ganol. Arllechwedd lay between the mouth of the
Conway and the Glyders ; in the valley of the former
it was separated from Nant Conwy by the Dolgarrog
stream, while on the side of Arfon the dividing line was
the little river Cegin, which flows into Port Penrhyn.
Of its two divisions, the "Upper" lay around Aber, the
"Lower" around Caerhun. Arfon lay along the coast
from Bangor to the Eifl and extended inland as far as
Nanhwynen, thus including the whole of the Snowdon
group. The river Gwyrfai, running from Rhyd Ddu to
Aber Menai, divided it into two commotes. Lleyn was
the western peninsula; the summits of the Eifl parted it
from Arfon and the river Erch from Eifionydd. As to
its commotes, Dinllaen was around Nevin, Aflogion in
the neighbourhood of Pwllhelij Cymydmaen in the ex-
treme west. It only remains to add that Eifionydd,
which historically was very closely connected with the
opposite region of Ardudwy, stretched from the Erch to
the Glaslyn and met Arfon at the upland pass of Bwlch
Derwyn.
It has already been pointed out that the county was
formed in 1284 by the grouping together of these earlier
areas. The new division did not, however, supersede
the old, for the latter were taken over as they stood to
form the "hundreds" of the new system of administration.
Thus it comes about that the ten commotes specified
above are the ten hundreds of Carnarvonshire. The
hundred, however, though long an important unit in
the government of the country, has now ceased to be
of any great consequence and its place as a sub-division
DIVISIONS— ANCIENT AND MODERN 139
of the county has been taken by other areas of recent
origin.
For the purposes of representation in the House of
Commons, the county is divided into (i) the Carnarvon
Boroughs, (ii) the Arvon, and (iii) the Eivion divisions.
The Boroughs include Conway (with Degannwy), Bangor,
Carnarvon, Pwllheli, Nevin, and Criccieth, the latter two
being parliamentary, but not municipal boroughs. The
rest of the county not included in the Boroughs, is divided
between the Arvon (east) and Eivion (west) divisions, the
line of demarcation running from the neighbourhood of
Port Dinorwic to that of Beddgelert. The effect of this
division is to include most, though not all, of the quarrying
centres in Arvon, and to make Eivion predominantly
agricultural.
In all matters which are common to the county as a
whole, more particularly education and the maintenance
of main roads, the governing authority is the County
Council, consisting of 16 aldermen (or co-optative mem-
bers) and 53 councillors (or elective members). Elections
to the County Council are held every three years, in the
month of March, and the county is divided into 53 areas,
of which each elects one councillor. The county offices
are at Carnarvon. The county police force is under the
control of a committee of 30, appointed as to one half by
the magistrates of the county and as to the other half by
the county council.
For purposes of local government, the county is divided
into municipal boroughs, urban districts, and rural districts.
There are three ancient boroughs, dating from the period
140 CARNARVONSHIRE
of conquest, namely, Conway, Carnarvon, and Pwllheli,
and one of recent foundation, for the city of Bangor was
only incorporated in 1883. Each borough has its mayor,
elected annually, and is governed by a representative body
thus constituted : —
Aldermen. Councillors. Total.
Carnarvon 6 18 24
Bangor 6 18 24
Conway 4 12 16
Pwllheli 4 12 16
The urban districts are governed by councils and are
chiefly areas in which the town element is one of recent
growth. They are Criccieth, Bettws y Coed, Bethesda,
Llandudno, Llanfairfechan, Portmadoc, and Penmaen-
mawr. The rest of the county is divided between the
following rural districts, the councils of which are chiefly
concerned with questions of public health — Geirionydd,
Glaslyn, Conway, Gwyrfai, Lleyn, and Ogwen.
Another organisation exists for the relief of distress and
the care of the destitute, namely the Poor Law Union.
There are four such unions in the county, each with its
own workhouse, at Bangor, Conway, Carnarvon, and
Pwllheli. Three of them extend into neighbouring
counties, while the Portmadoc portion of the county
belongs for Poor Law purposes to the Festiniog Union,
and the Bettws y Coed portion to the Llanrwst
Union.
Ecclesiastically, the whole of Carnarvonshire west of
the Conway, except for small parts of the parishes of
DIVISIONS— ANCIENT AND MODERN 141
Llanrwst and Yspyty Ifan, is in the diocese of Bangor,
while the portions lying to the east of that river, except
the parish of Llandudno, are in the diocese of St Asaph.
The county is divided between the two archdeaconries,
the archdeacon of Bangor having under him the rural
deaneries of Arfon and Arllechwedd, the archdeacon of
Merioneth those of Lleyn and Eifionydd. It will be
observed that these ecclesiastical areas preserve the names
of the old cantrefs and commotes, though these have been
superseded by other divisions for most purposes of civil
administration. There are 65 ecclesiastical parishes or
districts either wholly or partially within the county,
but the number of civil parishes is 79, for many of the
small parishes, still treated as separate areas for such
matters as the levying of the poor rate, have been
grouped together for ecclesiastical purposes. Each civil
parish having a larger population than 300, and not
possessing a council as a borough or as an urban district,
has a parish council, with power to deal with such matters
as lighting, water supply, and rights of way.
23. Roll of Honour.
"Each land breeds men of might," according to a
well-known Welsh proverb1, and Carnarvonshire is very
far from being an exception to the rule. Its mountain
fastnesses have been a nursery of warrior heroes, of silver-
tongued poets, of eloquent divines, of men of distinction
1 Ym mhob gwlad y megir glew.
142 CARNARVONSHIRE
in many forms of human service. It will suffice here to
mention a few of the outstanding names, omitting those
of living persons, whose career cannot as yet with any
finality be reviewed.
Nothing is known of the Snowdonian leaders who
opposed the advance of the Romans or of those who
fought against Cunedda and his Brythons, so that the
earliest known name among the warriors of the county is
that of Maelgwn Gwynedd, who died about 550 A.D.
Degannwy was his principal fortress and residence, and
he was probably buried at Eglwys Rhos. His prowess,
his liberality, his talent for command are fully attested by
his contemporary Gildas, though the stern monk speaks
with severe upbraiding of his many offences against
Christian morals. Another early figure of this district
is Maelgwn's son Rhun, from whom Caerhun is supposed
to have taken its name, and who led, according to tradition,
the host of the cantref of Arfon to the North to avenge
an invasion from that quarter. Rhun was a man of great
stature, like his father, and the Mablnogion describe him
as having red-brown, curly hair. He was, that is to say,
of the tall, blond type to which so many Welsh princes
belonged and which is reckoned Celtic rather than
Iberian.
Many of the "saints," or monastic founders of the
sixth and seventh centuries, were connected with the
county. Engan of Llanengan, and Seiriol of Penmon and
Penmaen Mawr, if the pedigrees may be trusted, were
cousins of Maelgwn Gwynedd, and the former was King
of Lleyn. The brothers Tegai and Trillo came, we are
ROLL OF HONOUR 143
told, from Brittany to found the churches which bear
their names, and with them came their sister Llechid.
Tudclud, the founder of Penmachno, Gwynodl, and
Xudno were also brothers ; their pedigree makes them
sons of the king whose lands were lost to him by the
inundation of Cantref y Gaeclod.
Of the princes of later times, it is difficult to mention
one who ruled over Gwynedd and did not come into the
closest relations with this region of Eryri. Lleyn, Aber
Menai, and Bron yr Erw witnessed exciting episodes in
the career of Gruffydd ap Cynan ; Owain Gwynedd,
Cadwaladr, Llywelyn the Great and his son David lived
and were buried in the county. The last Llywelyn won
his early victories in the district and spent here the last
years of his life, when the arms of Edward I had
restricted him to the country west of the Conway.
The age of the princes was succeeded by that of the
great landowners, among the most notable of whom in
this county were Sir Gruffydd Llwyd of Dinorwig, the
insurgent of 1322 ; leuan ap Maredudd, whose houses of
Cefn y Fan and Cesail Gyfarch were burnt by Owain
Glyn Dwr ; Hywel ap Gruffydd of Bronyfoel, knighted
on the field of Poitiers and known as "Syr Hywel y
Fwyall" (Sir Howel of the Axe); Maredudd ab Ifan, the
builder of Dolwyddelan church, where he was buried in
1525 ; the Griffiths of Penrhyn, chamberlains of North
Wales for three generations ; and their kinsmen, the
Williamses of Cochwillan. Maredudd ab Ifan was the
founder of the Gwydir family, represented at the begin-
ning of the sixteenth century by his great grandson, Sir
144
CARNARVONSHIRE
John Wynne (1553-1626), one of James Fs first batch
of baronets, and an active and enterprising figure in his
day. Sir John combined an interest in antiquarian and
in practical matters; in the first capacity he wrote a
Sir John Wynne of Gwydir
valuable history of his family, which throws much light
on the social condition of Carnarvonshire in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, while he was greatly concerned
as a man of affairs in the development of the mineral and
commercial resources of North Wales. He busied him-
ROLL OF HONOUR 145
self about the reclamation of Traeth Mawr, the mining
of lead near Gwydir and of copper in Parys Mountain,
and the establishment of the woollen industry in the
Conway Valley. He was masterful and grasping, and in
his relations with Bishop Morgan of St Asaph, whose
rise he had aided, he showed a strong disposition to
browbeat one who had once been his dependant.
Bishop William Morgan may well be regarded as the
most distinguished son of the county, at any rate in the
ecclesiastical sphere. He was born of humble parentage
at Ty Mawr, Wibernant, in the parish of Penmachno,
about 1540. With the aid of the Gwydir family, he
received a good education, graduating M.A. and D.D.
at Cambridge. While vicar of Llanrhaeadr Mochnant,
he undertook the translation of the Bible into Welsh,
only the New Testament having been hitherto accessible
in the native tongue, and this in the clumsy version of
William Salesbury. He overcame, not only the inherent
difficulties of the task, but also the obstacles placed in his
path by jealous foes, and the book appeared in 1588, soon
after the defeat of the Armada. It has remained ever
since the standard Welsh version of the Scriptures, later
changes having been quite insignificant, and has been at
the same time a priceless boon to the religious life of the
nation and a very important influence in the development
of the Welsh language and literature. Morgan was re-
warded with the bishopric of Llandaff in 1595, and in
1 60 1 was translated to St Asaph, where he died on
September loth, 1604.
Among the many prelates who have rilled the see
L. c. 10
146 CARNARVONSHIRE
of Bangor one may single out for special mention Lewis
Bayly, author of The Practice of Piety , which, as "Yr
Ymarfer o Dduwioldeb," was widely read in Wales ;
Humphrey Humphreys, a lover of Welsh antiquities and
the patron of Ellis Wynne and Edward Samuel ; Benjamin
Hoadly, whose latitudinarian writings, violently disliked
by the bulk of the clergy, led to the "Bangorian contro-
versy" ; and Zachary Pearce, the editor of Longinus. The
list of deans includes David Daron, the counsellor of
Owain Glyn Dwr; Richard Parry, editor of the Welsh
Bible of 1620 ; and Henry Thomas Edwards, a vigorous
Welsh writer and ecclesiastical leader.
The Cochwillan family produced a notable member
of the English episcopate in John Williams, who became
bishop of Lincoln and lord keeper in 1621, and archbishop
of York in 1641. Williams was prominent in the troub-
lous times which preceded the Civil War and endeavoured
to play the part of a mediator between the Puritans and
the Crown. But he had little success in his intervention
in politics and, after defending Conway for the king, died
in retirement at Gloddaith in 1650. His tomb may be
seen in Llandegai church.
The roll of Carnarvonshire poets is a long and honour-
able one, as one might expect from a region of such rare
natural beauty. In the early part of the fourteenth cen-
tury, Gwilym the Black of Arfon lamented the ill fortune
of his master, Gruffydd Llwyd. Later in the same
century, Rhys the Red of Snowdon (Rhys Goch Eryri),
who lived at Hafod Garegog, near Beddgelert, effectively
used the new metre known as the "cywydd" for nervous
ROLL OF HONOUR 147
descriptive verse. Dafydd Nanmor is shown by his name
to have come from the same district, but his work was
chiefly done in South Wales. In the sixteenth century
the county produced one of the shining stars of Welsh
poesy in William Llyn (1534-^580), who, however, spent
most of his years of maturity at Oswestry, and indited
his elegies and odes of praise to the gentlemen of Powys
rather than to those of Gwynedd. Nevertheless, he sang
occasionally to the magnates of his native county, to the
lords of Gwydir and Bryn Euryn and Bodwrda.
After the Elizabethan age came a period of poetic
decline, which was especially marked in Carnarvonshire,
until the general revival in Welsh literature which was
one of the features of the Romantic movement at the
close of the eighteenth century. The county then pro-
duced once more a capable antiquary and bard in David
Thomas of Waen Fawr (1760-1822), best known as
Dafydd Ddu Eryri. By profession a schoolmaster,
Dafydd served bardism well by keeping it in touch with
the past and enabling the new poetry firmly to root itself
in the old. He was followed in quick succession by a
series of bards destined to win for the county a unique
place in the story of Welsh minstrelsy. Robert Williams
of Bettws Fawr (1767-1850) wrote, under the name of
Robert ap Gwilym Ddu, in the free and the " strict "
metres, verse of enduring merit; his hymns, in particular,
being among the best in the language. His pupil, David
Owen of Gaerwen, like himself a farmer in the district
of Eifionydd (1784-1841), won for himself lasting fame
under the name of Dewi Wyn o Eifion, showing in his
148 CARNARVONSHIRE
ode to "Almsgiving" (Elusengarwch) both descriptive
and metrical ability of the highest order. Next came
Evan Evans of Trefriw (1795-1855), schoolmaster and
curate, who took the title of leuan Glan Geirionydd
Dewi Wyn o Eifion
and has rarely been excelled as a writer of smooth and
melodious Welsh verse. His lyrics and hymns have
won a secure place for themselves in Welsh literature.
Ebenezer Thomas (Eben Fardd) was another school-
master-poet (1802-1863), who spent his life in the quiet
ROLL OF HONOUR
149
village of Clynnog and wrote noble odes, of which the
best known is that on "The Destruction of Jerusalem."
These are but the leading names in a galaxy of poetic
talent which made the county about 1830 the indubitable
headquarters of the Welsh Muse. Of a later generation
leuan Glan Geirionydd
were William Ambrose of Portmadoc (Emrys), Indepen-
dent minister and poet (1813—1873), whose masterpiece
is the ode to "The Creation"; and William Williams of
Carnarvon (Caledfryn) (1801-1869), who combined these
functions with that of literary critic.
150 CARNARVONSHIRE
During the nineteenth century, Carnarvonshire pro-
duced many notable Nonconformist divines. John Jones
(1796-1857), born under the shadow of Dolwyddelan
castle, settled at Talsarn as a Calvinistic Methodist
preacher and attained a unique reputation for eloquence
and pulpit power. The brothers Owen and John
Thomas of Liverpool were brought up at Bangor,
while Evan Herber Evans spent the best of his days
at Carnarvon.
It remains to add a few names which fall outside
the groups mentioned above. Such are John Owen,
the epigrammatist (d. 1622), a master of polished Latin
verse, who was born at Plas Du, near Chwilog ; John
Gibson the sculptor (1790-1866), born at Gyffin, near
Conway ; Griffith Davies of Cilgwyn, the actuary (i 788-
1855); an(J Jonn William Thomas of Llandegai (1805-
1840), superintendent of Greenwich Observatory.
Gibson's name is one of the most distinguished in the
history of British art. He was fortunate enough to
attract the notice of William Roscoe of Liverpool,
and thus the gardener's son became a pupil of Canova
and Thorvaldsen and a sculptor of European renown.
He spent the greater part of his life in Rome, but amid
the many honours showered upon him had a warm
affection for his native land. He was the last repre-
sentative of the classical school of sculpture.
24. CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF
CARNARVONSHIRE.
Short Glossary of the Commoner Elements in Welsh Place Names.
Aber — the mouth of a river, Coed — wood.
whether on the coast or on Cwm — valley, combe.
another river. Dol — meadow.
Afon — river. Eglwys — church.
Bryn — hill. Llan — monastery or church.
Bwlch — pass, gap. Llyn — lake (pi. llyniau).
Caer — fort. Nant — valley.
Capel — chapel. Rhaeadr — waterfall.
(The figures in brackets after each name give the population in
1901, but in Bangor, Bethesda, Bettws y Coed, Carnarvon,
Conway, Criccieth, Llandudno, Llanfairfechan, Penmaen-
mawr, and Pwllheli, the figures given are of the census of
19-11.)
Aber (382), which is short for Aber Gwyngregyn, i.e. the
Mouth of White Shell River, is a village at the mouth of a
beautifully wooded glen, at the upper end of which is a graceful
waterfall. Here the old coach route to Ireland formerly crossed
the sands, which are extensive, to Beaumaris Ferry. In the middle
ages the place was a residence of the princes of Gwynedd, and
Princess Joan, wife of Llywelyri the Great, and her son, Prince
David, died here. The castle mound may still be seen in the
village.
Aber Falls
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 153
Aberdaron (1119) is the most westerly parish of the county.
The coast opposite to Bardsey is wild and precipitous. In the
village the only feature of interest is the Norman church, one of
the oldest bits of architecture in North Wales, which stands on
the very brink of the sea. The canons of Aberdaron were once
an important body of clergy, who owned a good deal of the Lleyn
peninsula. Dick of Aberdaron " was a marvellous linguist of
Abersoch Harbour
the early part of the nineteenth century, who was familiar with
all learned tongues, but was otherwise an uncouth eccentric.
Abersoch, a fishing village and summer resort, partly in
the parish of Llangian and partly in that of Llanengan. The
harbour is formed by the estuary of the river Soch. Not far off
is Castellmarch, a very ancient homestead; associated with it is
the legend of King March, who was said to have horse's ears, a
154 CARNARVONSHIRE
monstrosity which, like King Midas in a similar plight, he strove
in vain to conceal.
Afon Wen (White River), the junction of the London and
North-Western and the Cambrian Railways, commands a fine
view of Cardigan Bay. It stands on the ancient demesne of
Ffriwlyd, once the property of Conway Abbey.
Bangor (11,237) is tne largest town in Carnarvonshire. It
owes its early importance to the episcopal see, founded in the
sixth century by one Daniel or Deiniol. The name means
" wattle fence" and, as other places in Wales and Ireland adopted
it, this came to be known as " Bangor Fawr yn Arfon," i.e. Great
Bangor in Arvon. When Wales was parcelled out into dioceses,
Bangor became the episcopal seat of Gwynedd, and it has ever
since been the ecclesiastical centre of the land west of the river
Conway. Nevertheless, it was but a village until at the beginning
of the nineteenth century the opening up of Lord Penrhyn's quarry
gave it importance as a slate-port. The diversion of the Irish
traffic from Beaumaris and the making of the Chester and Holy-
head Railway followed, and the location here in 1884 of the new
University College for higher education in North Wales finally
gave the city a new position as the chief educational centre of the
northern half of the principality. In addition to the cathedral (for
which see p. 108), the public buildings include the new buildings
of University College, completed in 1911 at a cost of £100,000,
the Normal College for the training of elementary teachers,
founded in 1862 and taken over by the County Councils of
Carnarvonshire, Anglesey, Denbighshire, and Flintshire, the
St Mary's Training College, under Church of England manage-
ment, and a block of government property which provides for
Post Office, County Court, and Inland Revenue business. The
science work of the University College is carried on in the old
College buildings, once a well-known coaching hostelry bearing
the name of the Penrhyn Arms Hotel. The bishop's residence is
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 155
now on the Anglesey side of the Straits and the old Palace has
been converted into municipal buildings. The city is governed
by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors; it is the youngest of
the North Welsh boroughs, having been incorporated as lately as
1883. The Congregationalists and the Baptists maintain two
colleges here for the training of their ministers, under separate
management but with a common system of teaching. Of the
outlying parts of the city, Glanadda is chiefly occupied by the
University College Old Buildings, Bangor
employes of the Railway Company, Garth and Hirael are marine
in their interests, and Upper Bangor is residential.
Beddgelert (1230) lies at the foot of Snowdon, where the
Glaslyn and the Colwyn meet in a luxuriant meadow, diversified
by abundance of trees. The name signifies " Gelert's Grave "
and has not as yet been satisfactorily explained, for the famous
story of Llywelyn and his deerhound is a bit of folklore which has
156
CARNARVONSHIRE
only been connected with this spot within the last hundred years
and the grave was erected — sad to relate ! — by a local innkeeper
in order to give the legend a visible basis. Yet the place has
genuine historical interest; it was the seat of a monastic com-
munity famous for its sanctity and for the virtue of hospitality,
whose church still remains to testify by its size and proportions to
the importance of the vanished priory.
Beddgelert Bridge
Bethesda (4716), an urban district in the parish of
Llanllechid, is the home of the greater part of the workmen
employed in the Penrhyn quarry. It is situated on the Holyhead
Road, on the right bank of the river Ogwen and at the foot of
Carn^dd Dafydd. The village grew up around the Independent
Chapel and hence derives its name. It has a secondary school
under the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, and is the terminus
of a branch railway line running from Bangor. Choral singing
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 157
has always flourished in the district and in past years Bethesda
choirs have won great distinction.
Bettws y Coed (925) owes its importance to the unique
beauty of its situation and surroundings. Its name signifies
" The Chapel of the Woods " and the suggestion of woodland
seclusion is fully borne out by the place itself. Among the
famous points of interest are the Swallow Falls (Rhaeadr y
Wennol) and the Miners' Bridge on the Llugwy, the Conway
Falls and the Fairy Glen on the Conway, and the Pandy Mill on
the Machno. The Holyhead Road, coming down from the
Denbighshire moors, here crosses the Conway on the Waterloo
Bridge and then bends westward to Capel Curig. The parish has
been formed into an urban district, which in respect of population
is the smallest in the county.
Caerhun (987) is a large parish on the left bank of the
Conway, of which the church stands within the walls of the
Roman fort of Conovium. This was the point at which the
Roman road from Chester to Carnarvon crossed the Conway; its
westward course may still be traced over Bwlch y Ddeufaen.
Capel Curig, a little village at the junction of the Llanberis
and the Bethesda roads to Bettws y Coed, is famous for its view
of Snowdon, with the two lakes known as Llyniau Mymbyr in
the foreground. The church is an ancient chapel of Llandegai ;
the hotel and stables were built about 1 800 for the coaching traffic
along Lord Penrhyn's new road.
Carnarvon (9119), the county town, is situated at the
mouth of the river Saint, where it falls into the Straits. No
place in the county is of greater historic interest. On the hill
behind the town stood the Roman fort of Segontium, the terminus
of the road from Chester; here was founded at an early period
the church of Llanbeblig; and here the princes of Arfon had a
royal residence down to the extinction of the native line of rulers.
Swallow Falls, Bettws y Coed
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 159
When Edward I conquered Gwynedd, he planted a castle on the
rock which overhangs the Aber, placed beside it a walled town
with borough privileges, and made the place the capital of North-
west Wales. Since then Y Gaer yn Arfon (the Fort in Arfon)
has always held a leading position in the district. It is a
municipal borough, with a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 1 8 councillors.
The harbour is managed by a Harbour Trust, whose authority
extends over a considerable part of the Menai Straits. The
Saturday market is a thriving institution, in which the farmers of
Anglesey traffic with the quarry folk of the Carnarvonshire
uplands. Among the public buildings are the county hall, the
jail (which serves Anglesey and part of Merionethshire), the
intermediate or county school, and the pavilion, originally erected
for the National Eisteddfod of 1877 and since used on several
occasions for this annual patriotic gathering, which elsewhere can
be accommodated only in a temporary wooden structure. In the
fine open space known as Castle Square is a statue of Sir Hugh
Owen (1804-1881), pioneer in all the Welsh educational move-
ments of the nineteenth century. The dominant feature of the
town is the Edwardian Castle, one of the finest in Great Britain,
now the property of the Crown.
Clynnog (1497) lies on the main road from Carnarvon to
Pwllheli, but somewhat off" the railway route. Its chief feature is
St Beuno's church, a beautiful Perpendicular building which fitly
expresses the importance of the place as an ecclesiastical centre
from the earliest Christian ages. There are some remains of
St Beuno's holy well and among the curiosities of the church is a
pair of dog tongs or "gefail gwn," for ejecting troublesome dogs
from the sacred building.
Conway (5242) is correctly Aber Conwy, the mouth of the
river Conway. A Cistercian abbey was founded here in or about
1 1 86, of which the parish church of St Mary is a relic. Edward I
dislodged the monks, providing for them a new home at Maenan,
Eisteddfodic Gorsedd in Carnarvon Castle
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 161
and built here a castle and a borough to hold the passage of the
river. In later ages Conway Ferry became one of the links in
the chain of communication with Ireland, and the Suspension and
Tubular bridges emphasise to-day the importance of this con-
nection. The special charm of Conway is the manner in which
it has retained its old world features; not to speak of the mag-
nificent castle, it has a complete circuit of walls, an Elizabethan
mansion in Plas Mawr, and many other vestiges of antiquity.
Black Rocks, Criccieth
Criccieth (1376), a rising watering-place, stands on the
shores of Cardigan Bay. The castle, crowning a rock which rises
steeply from the sea, is in its present form the work of Edward I,
but the princes of Eifionydd had a stronghold here in earlier ages.
Criccieth was once a municipal borough, but it has long lost its
privileges in this respect, although it is still included in the
parliamentary boroughs.
L. C. II
162 CARNARVONSHIRE
Degannwy is an outlier of the borough of Conway, being
that portion which lies east of the river, in the parish of Eglwys
Rhos. It has a pier for the Festiniog slate-trade, owned by the
London and North Western Railway Company, and is gaining
repute, especially among artists, as a summer resort. But the
real fame of the spot rests upon the long history of the fortress
which once stood upon the rock at the back of the village. The
arx Decantorum" was a Cymric stronghold in the days of
Maelgwn Gwynedd; it was held by Robert of Rhuddlan, Earl
Hugh I of Chester, John, Henry III, and the two Llywelyns, and
only sank into obscurity when its place was taken by Conway.
Dolwyddelan (1112) is "The Meadow of Gwyddelan" (a
name which also appears in Llanwyddelan, Montgomeryshire),
and should not be regarded as if it were Dolydd Elen, i.e. Elen's
Meadows. The castle, said to have been the birthplace of
Llywelyn the Great, is a mile from the village and the sixteenth-
century church.
Llanberis (3015) is a large parish in the heart of Snowdonia,
well known for its two lakes, Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris, and
the romantic pass which leads from them to Capel Curig. The
old church is in Nant Peris, between the pass and Llyn Peris,
but the population of the parish is now for the most part concen-
trated at its north-west corner, where the ascent of Snowdon
begins and where the quarrymen employed on the opposite side of
Llyn Padarn have largely established themselves. Dolbadarn
Castle is not far off. The Llanberis intermediate school is at
Bryn yr Efail, in the adjoining parish of Llanddeiniolen. A
branch of the London and North Western Railway connects
Llanberis and Carnarvon.
Llanddeiniolen (6143) is a straggling parish, which includes
a number of quarry villages, dependent upon the Dinorwig or
Llanberis slate-quarry. Such are Bethel and Ebenezer (so called
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 163
from Independent chapels), Dinorwig, Clvvt y Bont, Bryn yr Efail,
Pen Isa'r Waen, and Cefn y Waen. Dinas Dinorwig is a fine
specimen of the British hill-fort.
Llandegai (2875) is the model village at the entrance to
Penrhyn Park. In contravention of the usual Welsh rule, the
accent falls, not on the penultimate, but on the final syllable of
the name. The parish extends from the sea to Capel Curig and
Penrhyn Castle
Penygwryd, and includes Penrhyn Castle, Port, and quarry, the
village of Tregarth, and the wild scenery at the head of Nant
Ffrancon. In the church are monuments to Archbishop Williams
and the first Lord Penrhyn.
Llandudno (10,469) is a name originally derived from the
ancient church of St Tudno, which stands solitary in a fold of
the tableland crowning the Great Orme's Head. At the beginning
164 CARNARVONSHIRE
of the nineteenth century the name was applied to a small settle-
ment of copper miners, who had squatted on the site of the present
town. It was the opening of the Chester and Holyhead railway
which directed attention to the possibilities of the spot as a bathing
resort and its progress dates from 1850. The town had the
advantage of being laid out from the first on a uniform plan,
under the direction of the Mostyn estate. Its government was
at first in the hands of Improvement Commissioners, but is now
vested in an Urban District Council of 1 8 members. Llandudno
is connected by a branch line with the London and North Western
railway and an electric tramway maintains communication with
the neighbouring watering-place of Colwyn Bay. Its many
attractions for the pleasure-seeker are well known.
Llanfairfechan, or "Little St Mary's" (2973), at the foot
of Penmaen Mawr mountain, is partly dependent upon the sett
quarries and partly upon summer visitors. The old village, with
the parish church, lies some distance from the shore and even
from the Holyhead road; the growth of a small town in the
intervening area dates from 1860, when the railway station was
built.
Llanllyfni (5761) is one of the many rural parishes of the
county containing a substantial urban element. The ancient
church (St Rhedyw) on the banks of the Llyfni river is the centre
of a small village, but the most populous place within the parish is
Penygroes, which is the junction for the Nantlle branch. Other
places within the parish are Nebo and Talsarn. The whole
district is dependent upon the local slate-quarries.
Nantlle. The valley so called extends from Drws y Coed
to Penygroes. The upper portion, except for a few mines, is
rural and picturesque, forming a kind of antechamber to the
Snowdon group; the lower is industrial and devoted to slate-
quarrying. Two lakes once adorned the prospect, but the lower
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 165
has almost disappeared. Nantlle is Nant Lieu, the Valley of
Lieu, an early Celtic hero, who also gave his name to Din-lle(u)
and is identified with the Celtic divinity Lugos.
Nevin (1755) was the royal residence of the commote of
Dinllaen and was visited by Edward I, who held a tournament
here in 1284. The Black Prince made the place a chartered
borough, but it is now a borough only for parliamentary purposes.
In the past it has been a small shipping and shipbuilding centre,
but at present its chief importance is as a summer resort. The
beautiful coast scenery bids fair to make it very popular in this
respect. A motor omnibus service connects it with the Cambrian
railway terminus at Pwllheli.
Penmachno (1686) is a large parish at the head of the
Conway Valley. The true form of the name is Pennant Machno.
The church, dedicated to St Tudclud, is of very ancient founda-
tion, as is shown by the number of early inscribed stones, dating
from primitive Christian times, which have been discovered here.
The father of Llywelyn the Great, lorwerth Flatnose, was buried
in this sanctuary, and Bishop Morgan, the translator of the Bible
into Welsh, was a native of the parish.
Penmaenmawr (4042) is an urban district which repre-
sents the ancient parish of Dwygyfylchi. The parish lies between
the mountains of Penmaen Mawr and Penmaen Bach, but is
divided into two parallel glens or combes running seaward by
the intervening Moel Llus. In the eastern combe is the parish
church, with the hamlet of Capelulo; in the western the bulk of
the population, grouped around the railway station of Penmaen-
mawr. The place is of very recent growth and is in part a quarry
village and in part a summer resort.
Port Dinorwic is the village which has sprung up around
the harbour from which the slates of the Dinorwig quarries,
near Llanberis, are shipped. The Welsh name is Y Felin Heli
II— 3
166 CARNARVONSHIRE
(The Saltwater Mill), from an old mill here which was turned
by the ebbing tide. The ancient ferry of Moel y Don crosses
the Menai Straits at this point. For purposes of local govern-
ment, Port Dinorwic has no independent status, but is divided
between the parishes of Pentir and Llanfair Is Gaer.
Portmadoc (4883) is the new harbour erected by Mr
Madocks after his reclamation of the Traeth Mawr, which, as
the result of the export of slates from the Festiniog area in
Merionethshire, has become far more important than Tremadoc,
intended at first to be the urban centre of this district. Officially,
the urban district takes its name from the ancient parish of Ynys
Cynhaearn ; the parish church is three miles west of the town,
Moel y Gest intervening, and stands on an islet in the marshes
of Llyn Ystumllyn. Portmadoc, in addition to its connection
with the Cambrian railway, has communication with Blaenau
Festiniog by means of a narrow-gauge line which was one of the
earliest examples of its kind.
Pwllheli (3791) was the royal residence of the commote of
Aflogion, being then known as Portheli. It was created a borough
by the Black Prince, and is governed by a town council of four
aldermen and 1 2 councillors. Pwllheli is the centre of an important
agricultural district; it has a good harbour, which has of late
been considerably improved. It is the terminus of the coast
branch of the Cambrian railways. As happens not infrequently
in the case of Welsh boroughs, the parish church is a little way
out of the town ; it bears the name of Deneio. The most
important recent development in the history of the borough is its
growth into some consequence as a watering-place. Of the two
seaside suburbs, both of which front the waters of Cardigan Bay,
South Beach is near the harbour and the Gimlet Rock, while
West End is on the Llanbedrog side, being connected with that
village by means of a horse tramway.
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 167
Trefriw (695), the "Hillside Hamlet," stands at the head
of the navigable channel of the Conway, along which small
steamboats ply to Degannwy. It is much resorted to in summer
for the sake of the waters of the strong chalybeate well which is
Llyn Crafnant, near Trefriw
to be found a mile and a half to the north of the village. The
houses are charmingly grouped on the steep face of a thickly
wooded hill.
168
CARNARVONSHIRE
England & Wales
37,327.479 acres
Carnarvonshire!
365,986 acres
Fig. i. Area of Carnarvonshire compared with that
of England and Wales
England & Wales
36,075,269
Car
narvonshire]
125,049
Fig. 2 Population of Carnarvonshire compared with that
of England and Wales in 1911
DIAGRAMS
169
1861
1871
1891
1911
95,694
106,282
"9,349
118,204
125,649
125,049
Fig. 3. Increase of Population in Carnarvonshire
from 1861 to 1911
(a) 618
(b) 219
(c) 2580
Fig. 4. Comparative density of Population to the square mile
in (a) England and Wales, (b) Carnarvonshire, (c) Lancashire
(Note, each dot represents 10 persons)
170
CARNARVONSHIRE
Fig. 5. Proportionate Area under Corn Crops in
Carnarvonshire in 1909
Fig. 6. Proportionate Area in Acres of Chief Cereals in
Carnarvonshire in 1909
DIAGRAMS
171
Permanent Pasture
122,811 acres
Fig. 7. Proportion of Cultivations in
Carnarvonshire in 1909
Fig. 8. Proportionate Numbers of Live-stock
in Carnarvonshire in 1909
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