Historic background
At the end of the 13th century, Penrhyndeudraeth
parish (of which this was a part), was by far the richest parish
in Meirioneth (with a taxeable value of over £7 per thousand
acres, it was worth more than twice as much as its nearest
'rival'). It was only one of two parishes which had no high
(and mostly useless) moorland, and was a source of supply of
lime which was used for repairs at Harlech Castle just down
the coast in the early 14th century. The present town lies
at the neck of the former peninsula, and would have access
to the sea on both sides: it would, therefore, have been in
an important location.
Modern Penrhyndeudraeth, however, described
in 1862 as ‘a dismal village of a few houses scattered
among heaps of muck and cockleshells’, owes its origins
to the fishing population which also came to be involved in
the pre-railway slate-boating business. There was clearly an
established community here in the early 19th-century, and the
nickname it acquired in this period, ‘Cockletown’,
is still current. The solicitor David Williams (Dewi Heli,
1799-1869, Liberal MP for Merionethshire) acquired the site
of the village in 1841 and began seriously to drain the marshes,
and to build roads and houses, in 1855. Though it had barely
grown by 1862, the introduction of passenger services on the
railway in 1865 turned it increasingly into a Ffestiniog dormitory
village.
Fanny Edwards’ article ‘Penrhyndeudraeth’ in
the JMHRS 1 3 (1951), pp. 197-201 considers place-name evidence
within the area of the present village.
Key historic landscape characteristics
19th-century settlement
The village of Penrhyndeudraeth spreads out
along the main Porthmadoc to Maentwrog road and also to some
extent along the Rhyd to Pont Briwat road which crosses it.
The main commercial properties (19th century, an now 20th century
too along the outskirts) are long this road and one at right
angles to it. Housing stock is very largely mid- to late 19th-century,
mostly in terraces either along the main or back streets or
spread up the hill slopes to the north (where the Ffestiniog
passes and which was probably responsible for the growth in
this direction). There is little or no evidence of the earlier
fishing and cockling community which preceded it. The village
has a number of comparatively ornate chapels, some of which
remain in use. Others have been adapted to other functions.
Few of the buildings are otherwise architecturally
significant and, although the present village was a deliberate
creation by the 19th century landowner (following the construction
of the Cob early in the 19th century, which made the place
a thoroughfare rather than a dead-end), there are few estate
touches, possibly reflecting David Williams’s laissez-faire
principles. However there was clearly a strong middle-class
element among those who lived here, reflected in fairly sizeable
houses and in the use of non-local materials such as brick.
A number of pre-village farmhouses survive,
such as Cae Canol (SH 6078 3894), but the buildings themselves
are of 19th-century construction.
Institutional buildings include the 19th-century
Bronygarth hospital, formerly the workhouse (SH 6033 3866)
and the 20th-century Snowdonia National Park offices (SH 6017
3853), almost opposite each other on the main road out towards
the Cob.
Back to Vale of
Ffestiniog Landscape Character Map