Historical background
An extensive lowland area that extends from the sea shore
of Cardigan Bay to the foot of the mountains at Gwastadfryn
beyond Llanfihangel y Pennant church, and which includes the
course of the Afon Dysynni and the Broadwater, the expanse
of water into which the Dysynni flows near the point at which
it empties into the sea and the lower part of the Dysynni's
tributary, the Afon Fathew.
Much of this area was clearly open water until historic times.
It has been suggested that the Broadwater was an embarkation
and landing-point in Prehistory, and it is highly likely that
the establishment of the town of Tywyn (area 3) and the high-status
dwellings at Peniarth (area 7) and Ynysysmaengwyn in the Medieval
period reflect a shoreline that reached much further inland.
As well as the Broadwater, a large lake remained in the marshes
at Penllyn, south of Tywyn until after 1860. Embankments were
constructed around Ynysymaengwyn and Tywyn in the light of
the enclosure act of 1805. Water-control systems were installed
from the upper part of the valley around Craig yr Aderyn to
the sea in the 1860s.
The farm settlement at Talybont retains the name of the pre-Conquest
commotal centre or llys, which is probably associated with
the motte of Domen Dreiniog 250m to the south. The llys and
its demesne land lay close to the river, at its crossing at
Pont Dysynni, where in 1284 a fish weir is noted. No certain
visible indications of the llys survive at or near the farm
buildings at Talybont though a small earthwork castle stands
on the river bank, 250m to the south. This might be thought
to be a component of the llys complex but is not documented.
The
erection of the native royal castle of Castell y Bere (in area
14) would be consistent with the late use of this llys. The
Castle would have guarded the upland pastures which would have
formed part of the Medieval administrative landscape catered
on Talybont.
Key historic landscape characteristics
Reclaimed land; coastal inlet
This area includes the Broadwater SSSI and the Dyfi SSSI.
In essence, though this character area includes the Broadwater,
it is an expanse of flat land, much of which has been reclaimed
from the sea in historic times. It is not clear whether in
the Medieval period much, or some, would have been salt marsh
and was gradually improved or whether very active strategies
involving building dykes and other sea-defences enclosed what
would previously have been open areas of water. The Dysynni
river is embanked, and substantial embankments have clearly
also been erected in the vicinity of Ynysymaengwyn, as a consequence
of the enclosure act of 1805-9. There is in addition much evidence
of water-control systems, sea-defences and other improvements
as far inland as Pont y Garth (SH 6355 0708), indicating active
strategies on the part of local landowners to manage and develop
this land.
In places there is an almost parkland quality to this character
area, with clumps of larch and pine trees dotted about, evidently
representing deliberate planting. The sense of a ‘parkland'
is best appreciated from the higher ground to north and to
south of this area, though it becomes muted towards the head
of the valley, around Gwastadfryn, where the landscape becomes
wilder, and to the south. There is almost the sense of a Lake
District statesmen's landscape within this area, since farms
are large, typically built just below the break of slope, and
farm-houses seem to vary in date of construction from the seventeenth
century to the nineteenth. Some of the farm-houses are substantial
sub-Medieval structures, others are almost villa-like constructions
of the Victorian period or even later. Some farm outbuildings
are remarkably impressive, such as the seventeenth century
cow-house at Llanllwyda, with its roof of early graded slates
and its catslide dormer. Boundaries are variously post-and-wire,
hedgerows, stone walls with some use of slab fences near the
railway .
The character area includes the garden at Ynysymaengwyn, which
has been developed as a caravan park. Little is evident of
the historic garden and less of the house. The perimeter wall
forms an important feature along the Tywyn road, as do the
ornamental late-nineteenth century gateposts with the elephant
motif at the principal entrance.
The part of this area which includes the twentieth century
military sites preserves the abutments of a bailey bridge at
SH 5667 0292.
Back to Dysynni
Landscape Character Map
