Afon Dwyfor

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Afon Dwyfor
The Afon Dwyfor as it leaves Cwm Pennant
Location
CountryUnited Kingdom, Wales
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationCwm Dwyfor, Eifionydd Hills
 • coordinates53°01′13″N 4°10′41″W / 53.0204°N 4.1780°W / 53.0204; -4.1780
 • elevation460 ft (140 m)
Mouth 
 • location
Tremadog Bay, Cardigan Bay
 • coordinates
52°54′38″N 4°15′38″W / 52.9105°N 4.2606°W / 52.9105; -4.2606
 • elevation
0 ft (0 m)
Length12.5 mi (20.1 km)

The Afon Dwyfor is a

Snowdonia National Park.[1]

After a brief diversion west, it turns south, then southwest again, heading for the village of Llanystumdwy. Beyond Llanystumdwy it heads for the coast and Tremadog Bay. Its mouth has been diverted eastwards by almost one mile by a shingle spit resulting from longshore drift.[2]

Its principal tributaries are the Afon Henwy which enters on its left bank above Dolbenmaen, and the Afon Dwyfach which joins it as a right-bank tributary to the west of Llanystumdwy. The Dwyfach itself rises in an area of flat ground to the west of the A487 road between Bryncir and Llanllyfni and flows in a generally southerly direction.[1]

'Afon Dwyfor' signifies the 'big

holy river' in Welsh, with 'for' being a corrupted form of 'fawr' (large), 'Dwyfawr' being a form recorded in 1838, whilst the 'Afon Dwyfach' is the 'little holy river'.[3] The legend of Dwyfan and Dwyfach has been attached to the two rivers.[4]

The river is bridged by numerous minor roads and paths but also by the A487, B4411 and

Llywelyn the Great, guarded the ford during the Middle Ages.[6]

The grave of David Lloyd George, prime minister from 1916-1922, stands beside the Dwyfor in Llanystumdwy.[7] A boulder marks the grave; there is no inscription; however a monument designed by the architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis was subsequently erected around the grave,[8] bearing an englyn (strict-metre stanza) engraved on slate in his memory composed by his nephew Dr W. R. P. George.

References

  1. ^ a b OpenStreetMap. "North Wales" (Map). OpenStreetMap. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  2. ^ "Coastal Vegetated Shingle Structures of Great Britain, Appendix 1 - Wales" (PDF). Joint Nature Conservation Committee. 1993. p. 11.
  3. .
  4. ^ Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Explorer map sheet no 254 Lleyn Peninsula East
  5. ^ "DOLBENMAEN CASTLE MOUND | Coflein". www.coflein.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  6. ^ "David Lloyd George remembered". Wales. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Clough Williams-Ellis on Lloyd-George's memorial". BBC Two. 5 April 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2019.

External links