Pennal

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Pennal
Pennal Gwynedd 01.JPG
St Peter ad Vincula church, Pennal
Gwynedd UK location map.svg
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Pennal
Location within Gwynedd
Population404 (2011) [1]
OS grid reference SH699003
Community
  • Pennal
Principal area
Ceremonial county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Machynlleth
Postcode district SY20
Dialling code 01654
Police North Wales
Fire North Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Gwynedd
52°35′06″N3°55′16″W / 52.585°N 3.921°W / 52.585; -3.921 Coordinates: 52°35′06″N3°55′16″W / 52.585°N 3.921°W / 52.585; -3.921

Pennal is a village and community on the A493 road in southern Gwynedd, Wales, on the north bank of the River Dyfi, near Machynlleth.

Contents

It lies in the historic county of Merionethshire (Welsh : Sir Feirionnydd) and is within the Snowdonia National Park.

Roman fort

It was the site of a small Roman fort, known as Cefn Caer in Welsh,[ clarification needed ] probably guarding a ford or ferry crossing of the Dyfi on the Sarn Helen Roman road. The remains of the fort lie under the 14th-century house of Cefn Caer, overlooking the village.

Price Family of Esgair Weddan

Just outside Pennal is the farmstead of 'Esgair Weddan' which from the 14th century until the mid 18th was the home of the Price (ap Rhys) family of Esgair Weddan, patrilineal descendants of Dafydd ap Llywelyn, son of Llywelyn fawr (the great) Prince of Wales (1240–1246). Their home was called Plas yn y Rofft in Elizabethan times and was located in a field behind the present farmhouse above the village of Cwrt, (originally Pont y Cwrt), meaning "court", near to Mynydd Esgairweddan.[ citation needed ]

Owain Glyndŵr

Pennal is known for its historical association with Owain Glyndŵr. In Pennal Owain composed the Pennal Letter of 1406, a letter to the King of France setting out his plans for an independent Wales – the only document which stands as a policy document for an independent Wales in the Middle Ages. The letter was briefly returned to Wales from France for an exhibition at the National Library of Wales in 2000, and a campaign has started for it to be returned permanently to Wales and be put on show at the National Assembly building in Cardiff.[ citation needed ]

Anwyl Family of Llugwy

Just outside Pennal, on the banks of the Dyfi opposite the hamlet of Morben, is "Llugwy", the home of the Anwyl family since 1682. This family have patrilinear descent from Rhodri Mawr through Anarawd, his eldest son, and Owain Gwynedd (king of Gwynedd c.1137 – 1170) to the present day.[ citation needed ]

Recent history

In the early 19th century there were quays on the Dyfi where slate from the quarries around Corris, Aberllefenni and Abergynolwyn was brought by packhorse for loading onto seagoing vessels. This trade died out when the Corris Railway to Machynlleth and the Talyllyn Railway to Tywyn were built. The Cwm Ebol quarry operated a mile north west of the village between 1868 and around 1906. A 3 ft (914 mm) gauge tramway [2] (later converted to 2 ft (610 mm) gauge) operated between the quarry and the village. Between 1918 and 1920 part of the tramway was reused in another 2 ft (610 mm) gauge railway, serving timber felling operations at Cwm Dwr, two miles north of the village. The early internal combustion locomotive Baguley 774 was used on the line. [3]

The village also has a place in music history, as it was at nearby Bron-Yr-Aur cottage that Robert Plant was living when he wrote the Led Zeppelin classic, "Stairway to Heaven".[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

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The Corris Railway is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire in Mid-Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narrow Gauge Railway Museum</span> Railway museum in Gwynedd, Wales

The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum is a purpose-built museum dedicated to narrow-gauge railways situated at the Tywyn Wharf station of the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, Gwynedd, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merionethshire</span> Historic county of Wales

Merionethshire or Merioneth is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, a vice county and a former administrative county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machynlleth</span> Market town in Powys, Wales

Machynlleth is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 2,147, rising to 2,235 in 2011. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as Mach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Peter ad Vincula, Pennal</span> Church in Wales., United Kingdom

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberllefenni quarries</span> Three slate quarries in north Wales

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esgairgeiliog</span> Village in Wales

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarn Helen</span> Roman road in Wales

Sarn Helen refers to several stretches of Roman road in Wales. The 160-mile (260 km) route, which follows a meandering course through central Wales, connects Aberconwy in the north with Carmarthen in the west. Despite its length, academic debate continues as to the precise course of the Roman road. Many sections are now used by the modern road network while other parts are still traceable. However, there are sizeable stretches that have been lost and are unidentifiable.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corris Uchaf</span> Village in Gwynedd, Wales

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Braichgoch slate mine</span> Former mine in Wales

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hendre-Ddu Tramway</span> Defunct narrow gauge railway in Wales

The Hendre-Ddu Tramway was a 1 ft 11 in narrow gauge industrial railway built in 1874 in Mid-Wales to connect the Hendre-Ddu slate quarry to Aberangell station on the Mawddwy Railway. It consisted of a main line 3+12 miles (5.6 km) long and several branch lines and spurs serving other quarries, local farms and the timber industry.

The Mawddwy Railway was a rural line in the Dyfi Valley in mid-Wales that connected Dinas Mawddwy with a junction at Cemmaes Road railway station on the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway section of the Cambrian Railways.

Narrow-gauge railways were used extensively in the slate industry of Great Britain, especially in Wales. Many quarries had internal tramways, some using many dozens of miles of track. Others had private lines that stretched from the quarry to transhipment points on local railways, rivers, roads or coastal ports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morben</span> Village in Powys, Wales

Morben is a hamlet in northern Powys, Wales. Part of the historic county of Montgomeryshire from 1536 to 1974, it lies on the Afon Dyfi and was once the home of a number of riverside quays, including Cei Ward and Y Bwtri. The site of Cei Ward lies alongside the A487 opposite Plas Llugwy, where the road, railway and river run close together. Y Bwtri lay on the bend of the river opposite Pennal and was the site of a shipyard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afon Dulas</span> River in Wales

The Afon Dulas, or North Dulas, is a river forming the border between Merionethshire/Gwynedd and Montgomeryshire/Powys in Wales. Another river called Afon Dulas joins the Dyfi from the south, upstream of its confluence with the North Dulas: locally this is referred to as the South Dulas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ratgoed Tramway</span>

The Ratgoed Tramway was a 2 ft 3 in gauge horse-worked tramway that connected the remote Ratgoed Quarry with the Corris Railway at Aberllefenni. It was 1.75 miles (2.82 km) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cymerau quarry</span> Slate quarry in Wales, UK

Cymerau quarry was a slate quarry served by the Ratgoed Tramway, a horse-worked section of the Corris Railway. It is located about half a mile north of Aberllefenni in Merioneth, North Wales, on the eastern side of the isolated Cwm Ceiswyn. It worked the Narrow Vein, the highest-quality slate vein in the Abercorris Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cwm Ebol quarry</span> Former slate quarry near Pennal, in Merionethshire, Wales, UK

The Cwm Ebol quarry was a slate quarry about 1 mile (1.6 km) north west of the village of Pennal in Mid Wales. It operated from about 1860 to about 1906. It was the last Welsh slate quarry connected only to a trans-shipment point instead of directly to a railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baguley 774</span>

Baguley 774 is one of the earliest surviving narrow-gauge internal combustion locomotives. It was built in 1919 for the Timber Supply Department of the Board of Trade. After a varied career, it was preserved at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn.

References

  1. "Community population 2011" . Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  2. Richards, Alun John (2001). The Slate Railways of Wales (1st. ed.). Llanrwst, Wales: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. ISBN   0-86381-689-4.
  3. Quine, Dan (March 2017). "Baguley 774 and the Pennal Tramway". Industrial Railway Record.