Historic background

Llanfair is a straggling, loosely-nucleated settlement set above the main north-south A496 road (rather than along it as are the other settlements in the area, such as Dyffryn Ardudwy and Llanbedr). The church is medieval in date, and although there is no further evidence for medieval occupation here, there appears to be a loose core of late 18th/early 19th centuries houses around it (on the early route of the main road before re-alignment).

Most of the settlement is located to the north, initially set out along the southern route of what begins as Ffordd Uchaf from Harlech (possibly an early route of the main road), and the 20th century houses (mainly rows of unimaginative single storey bungalows) which numerically comprise the main part of the settlement range up the hillslope to the north again (above the current main road). An incongruous row of late 20th century, semi-detached houses lies along the northern side of the minor road which leads out on to the uplands (area 25), and aerial photographs show how close these are to late prehistoric settlement sites.

Key historic landscape characteristics

Modern settlement off-set from an earlier core

The early core of the settlement lies around the medieval church (see photograph), while the rest struggles up the hill slopes above the road to the north. There is no overall plan, and even the 20th-century houses appear to have been built in ad hoc arrangements. Some of the early houses (there are no non-domestic buildings in the settlement, the nearest amenities being in Harlech) are built with their long axes perpendicular to the slope within an organic settlement lay-out (many of these houses are white-washed, and the whole gives an impression of being ‘tidy’).

There are also some short 19th century terraces of tall houses, and a lot of 20th century inter-war ‘holiday’-type houses. Llanfair slate caverns extend south of the settlement along the cliff edge.

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