Historical background
This area forms a limestone ridge on the north-eastern extremity
of Creuddyn, extensively quarried in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. It rises from the low-lying lands of Creuddyn
on which Penrhyn Old Hall and Gloddaeth are situated. Gloddaeth,
the home of Mostyn family since the fifteenth century, now
St David's College, a boarding school, is situated immediately
below the break of the south-eastern-facing slope at the foot
of the ridge. The dwelling Hen Dwr (‘the old tower) on the
summit of Nant y Gamar was the demesne windmill, constructed
between 1617 and 1642 and in operation until the 1830s. A number
of the farm dwellings are believed to have come about as the
result of squatter-encroachment in the late eighteenth or early
nineteenth century, and their right to settlement to have been
accepted by the enclosure of 1843.
The area has been extensively quarried for limestone on lease
from the Mostyn estate. On the Little Orme (SH 819 823), operations
were under way pre-1862 and continued until 1931, shipping
out directly to sea by means of a system of inclines. The mill
hoppers were only demolished in 1987. The smaller quarries
on Nant y Gamar were worked from perhaps the 1850s to the 1970s,
and a white silicious sand was extracted from 1856 to 1887.
The Coastal Artillery School was moved to the Little Orme
from Shoeburyness in September 1940, and a gun battery established.
Key historic landscape characteristics
The area is characterised by a mixture of unenclosed land
and by comparatively small-scale farming units, whose houses
have in many cases become second homes. These are generally
substantial vernacular dwellings, though many have been significantly
altered by their recent owners. The former windmill, Hen Dwr,
now a dwelling, is a prominent feature. The only public road
access is a winding lane up the north-western part of the ridge.
Field boundaries take a number of different forms, including
stone walls, hedges and earthen banks.
Though the ridge divides two major urban conurbations, it
is remarkably remote; the paths through the Little Orme limestone
quarry are popular with Penrhyn Bay residents, but the higher
parts of the ridge are comparatively little frequented.
Back to Creuddyn
and Arllechwedd Landscape Character Map
