Bro Machno | |
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Bro Machno shown within Conwy County Borough | |
Area | 54.43 km2 (21.02 sq mi) |
Population | 617 (2011) |
• Density | 11/km2 (28/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | SH9870 |
Community |
|
Principal area | |
Preserved county | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BETWS-Y-COED |
Postcode district | LL24 |
Dialling code | 01690 |
Police | North Wales |
Fire | North Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
UK Parliament | |
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Bro Machno is a community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales, formed from the former civil parish of Penmachno. It covers the Penmachno Valley, through which runs the Afon Machno, and includes the villages of Penmachno and Cwm Penmachno. To the south west borders Gwynedd, and is located 4.8 miles (7.7 km) south of Betws-y-Coed, 21.8 miles (35.1 km) north west of Corwen, and 19.4 miles (31.2 km) south of Conwy. The whole of the community is within the Snowdonia national park, while much of it forms part of Gwydir Forest. According to the 2011 census, the population of the Bro Machno Parish was 617, of whom 342 (55%) were able to speak Welsh and 214 (34%) had no skills in Welsh. [1]
Tŷ Mawr, a 16th-century farmhouse now owned by the National Trust, was the birthplace of William Morgan, who in 1588 first translated the whole Bible into Welsh. [2] [3] The building is Grade II* listed. [4] Also listed is Coed-y-Ffynnon Farmhouse, where the poet Huw Machno died in 1637, Benar Farmhouse, below Penmachno and dating from the 16th century, Fedw Deg, a 16th-century old house in the north of the community, and Pen-y-Bryn Farmhouse, a 17th-century building overlooking the village. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
The Penmachno Document was drawn up by Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294, at the height of his rebellion against Edward I of England. It is the only surviving document issued by one of the Welsh leaders during the revolt, and in it Madog styles himself Prince of Wales, Lord of Snowdonia. [13]
At the head of the valley stands the village of Cwm Penmachno, above which Penmachno and Rhiwbach slate quarries opened at the start of the 19th century. By the 1860s, underground quarrying was being developed, later covering eight levels. Horses carried the slate down the Penmachno and Conwy valleys to Trefriw, until the Rhiwbach Tramway opened in 1863, when all the slate from the Rhiwbach quarry was transported to Blaenau Ffestiniog, to be carried by the Ffestiniog Railway to the harbour at Porthmadog. The Penmachno quarry continued to ship its slate out by road until it closed in 1962.
Because of the remoteness, and inaccessibility during bad weather, of Rhiwbach quarry, the workers lived on site, and a small village developed, including a shop and school, in addition to family accommodation and a barracks for single men. Extensive remains of the village can still be seen, along with the ruins of the engine house which provided the power to haul the slate up the incline to the tramway. [14] At the opposite end of the valley stands the former Penmachno Woollen Mill, a 19th-century water-powered fulling mill. [15] [16]
The community is part of the Uwch Conwy ward for elections to Conwy County Borough Council.
Snowdonia or Eryri, is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of 823 square miles (2,130 km2) in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951.
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 in 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.
Cilgerran is both a village, a parish, and also a community, situated on the south bank of the River Teifi in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was formerly an incorporated market town.
Betws-y-Coed railway station is a railway station on the Conwy Valley Line from Llandudno Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales. It is situated 15+1⁄2 miles (24.9 km) south of Llandudno Junction.
Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant is a house located in the Wybrnant Valley, in the community of Bro Machno, near Betws-y-Coed in Conwy County Borough, North Wales. It was the birthplace of Bishop William Morgan, first translator of the whole Bible into Welsh.
Penmachno is a village in the isolated upland Machno valley, 4 miles (6 km) south of Betws-y-Coed in the county of Conwy, North Wales. The B4406 road runs through part of the village. The village is at the confluence of the Glasgwm and Machno rivers. It has a five-arched, stone bridge dating from 1785. The village has been referred to as Pennant Machno, Llandudclyd and Llan dutchyd in historical sources.
The Rhiwbach Tramway was a Welsh industrial, 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in narrow gauge railway connecting the remote slate quarries east of Blaenau Ffestiniog with the Ffestiniog Railway. It was in use by 1862, and remained so until progressively closed between 1956 and 1976. The route included three inclines, one of which became the last operational gravity incline in the North Wales slate industry. The tramway was worked by horses and gravity for much of its existence, but a diesel locomotive was used to haul wagons on the top section between 1953 and its closure in 1961.
River Machno is a river in Snowdonia in north-west Wales. It is the first major tributary of the River Conwy, which it joins south of Betws-y-coed, past the Pandy Falls and the Machno Falls.
Cwm Penmachno is a village at the head of Cwm Machno in North Wales.
Rowen is a village on the western slopes of the Conwy valley in the parish of Caerhun and the former County of Caernarfonshire in Wales. It lies off the B5106 road, between Tal y Bont and the Groes Inn. Buildings of Gwynedd 2009 refers to the River Roe probably following the Roman route from Caerhun to Abergwyngregyn. Rowen has won tidiest village awards several times.
The Blaen y Cwm quarry was a slate quarry located east of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Wales. It was first worked in some time between 1813 and 1818 and sporadically after that until 1914. The quarry was connected to the Ffestiniog Railway at Duffws Station via the Rhiwbach Tramway.
Bro Garmon is a sparsely populated community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It is located on the eastern side of the Conwy Valley, stretching from north east of Llanrwst to just west of Pentrefoelas, and includes the villages of Capel Garmon, Glan Conwy, Melin-y-Coed, Nebo, Oaklands, Rhydlanfair and Pentre-tafarn-y-fedw. Moel Seisiog, on the eastern boundary, rises to a height of 1,535 feet (468 m). The main settlement, Capel Garmon, lies 2.4 miles (3.9 km) east of Betws-y-Coed, 5.2 miles (8.4 km) north west of Pentrefoelas, 4.4 miles (7.1 km) south of Llanrwst and 15.7 miles (25.3 km) south of Conwy. At the 2001 census the community had a population of 648, increasing slightly at the 2011 census to 652.
Rhiwbach quarry was a slate quarry located to the east of Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales. The quarry was a remote site; it was nearly 4 miles (6.4 km) to north-east of Duffws, the Festiniog Railway's terminus in Blaenau Ffestiniog. It was the connected to the Ffestiniog Railway by the Rhiwbach Tramway. Commercial operation began around 1812, and it finally closed in 1952. It was the last Welsh slate quarry where workers lived in barracks on the site. 'Rhiwbach' is Welsh for 'Little Hill'.
Melin-y-Coed is a small rural village in the county of Conwy, Wales.. The earliest surviving building in the village is Cyffdy Hall, built in 1596.
The Diocese of Bangor is a diocese of the Church in Wales in North West Wales. The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and the western part of Montgomeryshire.
The Prince Llewellyn quarry was a slate quarry that stands on the west side of the Lledr Valley, ENE of Dolwyddelan. It was worked from around 1820 to 1934.
Owen Gethin Jones, was a Welsh building contractor, quarry owner and prominent poet.
The Penmachno quarry was a slate quarry near Cwm Penmachno, Conwy, North Wales. It was directly below the Rhiwbach Quarry. It was worked between 1818 and 1962.
Media related to Bro Machno at Wikimedia Commons