Abergynolwyn | |
---|---|
Abergynolwyn | |
Location within Gwynedd | |
OS grid reference | SH679070 |
Community | |
Principal area | |
Preserved county | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | TYWYN |
Postcode district | LL36 |
Dialling code | 01654 |
Police | North Wales |
Fire | North Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
UK Parliament | |
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Abergynolwyn (English: Mouth of the River with a Whirlpool) is a village in southern Gwynedd, Wales, located at the confluence of the Nant Gwernol and the Afon Dysynni. [1] The population of the community which is named after the village of Llanfihangel-y-Pennant was 339 at the 2011 census.
Historically, the village was part of Merionethshire and its main industry was slate quarrying. The village was founded in the 1860s to house workers at the nearby Bryn Eglwys quarry. The quarry brought in migrant workers from other areas of Wales and at one time the village had an Anglican church and three nonconformist chapels. The slate was shipped to the coast on the Talyllyn Railway. A decline in the demand for Welsh slate caused reductions in the workforce, and the quarry finally closed in 1948. Today farming, forestry and tourism are the major local industries. [2]
The village pub, the Railway Inn, is named after the Talyllyn Railway whose narrow gauge branch once reached into the heart of the village down an incline from a ledge on the hillside above. The railway now terminates at Nant Gwernol station above the village, although for many years the terminus was at Abergynolwyn station outside the village. [3]
The village is situated on the B4405 road, which passes through the centre, and is served by the G24 bus route. Ibn 2024, there are 5 buses per day to Tywyn and Machynlleth/Dolgellau on weekdays and 3 on Saturdays. [4]
Llyn Mwyngil (Tal-y-llyn Lake), just upstream from Abergynolwyn is an unspoilt lake created when a massive landslide blocked the valley long ago. [5] Hiking trails to the summit of Cadair Idris start from here. The Iron Age fort on Craig yr Aderyn shows that the area was strategically important in prehistoric times. In 1221, the mediaeval Welsh castle of Castell y Bere near Llanfihangel-y-pennant was built by Llewellyn the Great, occupied by the Welsh and later besieged by forces under Edward I of England in 1282. [2]
Snowdonia, or Eryri, is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon, which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The shorter Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.
The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge railway in Wales running for 7+1⁄4 miles (12 km) from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1865 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain authorised by Act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam haulage. Despite severe underinvestment, the line remained open, and in 1951 it became the first railway in the world to be preserved as a heritage railway by volunteers.
Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,000 at the peak development of the slate industry, but fell with the decline in demand for slate. The population of the community, including the nearby village Llan Ffestiniog, was 4,875 at the 2011 census: the fourth most populous in Gwynedd after Bangor, Caernarfon and Llandeiniolen. The population not including Llan is now only about 4,000.
Tywyn, formerly spelled Towyn, is a town, community, and seaside resort on the Cardigan Bay coast of southern Gwynedd, Wales. It was previously in the historic county of Merionethshire. It is famous as the location of the Cadfan Stone, a stone cross with the earliest known example of written Welsh, and the home of the Talyllyn Railway.
Bala is a town and community in Gwynedd, Wales. Formerly an urban district, Bala lies in the historic county of Merionethshire, at the north end of Bala Lake. According to the 2021 Census, Bala had a population of 1,999 and 72.5 per cent of the population could speak Welsh with a decrease of 6% since 2011.
Talyllyn or Tal-y-llyn can refer to:
Sir Henry Haydn Jones was a Welsh Liberal Party politician.
Tal-y-llyn Lake,, also known as Talyllyn Lake and Llyn Myngul, is a large glacial ribbon lake in Gwynedd, North Wales. It is formed by a post-glacial massive landslip damming up the lake within the glaciated valley. The hamlet of Talyllyn lies at the west end of the lake.
Llanfihangel-y-Pennant is a hamlet and wider, very sparsely populated community in the Meirionnydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. It is located in the foothills of Cadair Idris, and has a population of 402, reducing to 339 at the 2011 Census.
Bryn Eglwys quarry was a slate quarry and mine near Abergynolwyn, in Merionethshire, Wales. More than 300 men worked at the site, making it the principal employer in the area. Two veins of slate, known as the Broad Vein and the Narrow Vein, were worked. The geology continues eastwards towards Corris and Dinas Mawddwy, and westwards towards Tywyn. It was one of many quarries that worked these veins.
Abergynolwyn railway station is a station on the Talyllyn Railway near Abergynolwyn, Gwynedd, in Mid-Wales. It is 6.55 miles (10.54 km) from Tywyn Wharf. The name 'Abergynolwyn' means 'Mouth-of-the-River-with-a-Whirlpool'.
Nant Gwernol railway station is the eastern terminus of the Talyllyn Railway near Abergynolwyn, Gwynedd in mid-Wales. It is 7 miles, 28 chains (11.83 km) from Tywyn Wharf. Nant Gwernol station was opened in 1976; before 1976 this upper part of the line had only been used for goods services.
The River Dysynni is a river in mid Wales. Its source is the Tal-y-llyn Lake just south of the Cadair Idris massif and its mouth is in the Cardigan Bay area of the Irish Sea to the north of Tywyn. It measures about 16 mi (26 km) in length.
Tarren y Gesail is a mountain in Snowdonia, north Wales. It is one of the Marilyns of the Cadair Idris group.
Tarrenhendre is a mountain in Snowdonia, North Wales. It is one of the Marilyns in the Cadair Idris group.
Tal-y-llyn, or Talyllyn, is a small hamlet and former parish in the community of Llanfihangel-y-Pennant in Gwynedd, Wales, situated at the end of Tal-y-llyn Lake close to the village of Abergynolwyn. The parish covered an area of 36,000 acres (15,000 ha). The River Dysynni flows out of the lake at this point, flowing down to enter Cardigan Bay north of Tywyn. Another lake known as Llyn y Tri Greyenyn or Llyn Bach was formerly located close to the border with the parish of Dolgellau.
The Upper Corris Tramway was a 2 ft 3 in gauge horse-worked tramway that connected the slate quarries around the villages of Corris and Corris Uchaf with the Corris Railway at Maespoeth Junction. It was just over 1.8 miles (2.9 km) long.
Dolgoch slate quarry was a slate quarry in Mid Wales, approximately halfway between Bryn-crug and Abergynolwyn. The quarry was named after a nearby stream, the Nant Dolgoch. 'Dol goch' is Welsh for 'red meadow'.
The geology of Snowdonia National Park in North Wales is dominated by sedimentary and volcanic rocks from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods with intrusions of Ordovician and Silurian age. There are Silurian and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks on the park's margins. The succession was intensely faulted and folded during the Caledonian Orogeny. The region was uplifted as the North Atlantic Ocean opened during the Cenozoic. The current mountainous landscape arises from repeated glaciations during the Quaternary period.