Llandygai

Coordinates: 53°12′58″N 4°06′04″W / 53.216°N 4.101°W / 53.216; -4.101
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Llandygái
Church of St Tegai
Llandygái is located in Gwynedd
Llandygái
Llandygái
Location within Gwynedd
Population2,487 (2011)
OS grid referenceSH597708
Community
  • Llandygai
Principal area
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBANGOR
Postcode districtLL57
Dialling code01248
PoliceNorth Wales
FireNorth Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
Arfon
List of places
UK
Wales
Gwynedd
53°12′58″N 4°06′04″W / 53.216°N 4.101°W / 53.216; -4.101
Llandegai Village, 1855

Llandygái (

Nant Ffrancon
.

Prehistory

There is evidence of human occupation of this site from Neolithic times.

Excavations in the 1960s at the site of the current Industrial Estate uncovered two large

Romano-British, settlement[4]

History

Steam train taking the bend prior to entering the tunnel at Llandegai

In 1648 during the

Royalist forces of 150 horse and 120 foot soldiers led by Sir John Owen engaged Parliamentarian forces led by Colonel Carter and Colonel George Twistleton.[5][6]

The village of Llandygái is recorded at the beginning of the nineteenth century as consisting of eight or nine houses.[7] The village was later developed by quarry owner The 1st Baron Penrhyn (1800-1886) as a ‘model village’ for his estate workers, in which ‘no corrupting alehouse’ was permitted.[5] It lies immediately outside of the walls of the Penrhyn Castle demesne walls, with the entrance to the village being some 100 yards (91 m) from the castle's Grand Lodge. Lord Penrhyn, a Scottish aristocrat, had inherited the Penrhyn Estate from his father-in-law, George Hay Dawkins-Pennant (1764-1840), in 1840.

This model village was mostly constructed in the 1840s in a ‘vernacular revival’ style which conformed to the Picturesque ideal.[8] The model village was built within the loop of the road to Conwy from where it branched off Telford’s newly built Holyhead to London road. Each house was built in a similar style but none was to be identical. They were furnished with ample gardens and the layout was such that no house’s front door faced another.

Llandygái Church

Wyatt family memorial at St. Tegais Church
St. Tegais Church

A church was founded by

Relics of the Saint, including a stone coffin and a cross bearing his name, are kept at the church.[9]

The present church dates to around 1330[10][11][12] and was much restored and extended by the diocesan architect, Henry Kennedy, in 1853.[8] The church is of cruciform structure with a central tower. It is a Grade II* listed building.[13]

The church has six

bells
. The bells naturally sound very loud inside the ringing chamber (from where the bells are rung); to combat this the bells are permanently fitted with leather muffles on both sides of the clapper. When ringing the bells they have a strange sound because of this; almost as if they are ringing inside a large tank of water.

In the church is a

James I. There is also monument by Richard Westmacott to the first Lord Penrhyn, in which the sarcophagus is flanked by a quarryman and peasant woman, described by Eric Hobsbawm as "the earliest sculpted proletarians".[14]Christopher Bethell, Bishop of Bangor, is buried in the churchyard
.

The ecclesiastical parish of Llandygái follows the Ogwen valley southwards, giving its name also to the village of Mynydd Llandygái.

Education

There are accounts of schooling for twelve children under the Welsh Trust in the late seventeenth century, and later a circulating school established in the area in 1750.[5] Shortly after her husband's death, the first Lady Penrhyn set up a school for girls in the village[5] in what is now Neuadd Talgai.[8] A school for boys was built in 1843.[8]

The boys school, now with a twentieth century extension, forms the present-day

Voluntary Controlled school with around 170 pupils.[15]

The village today

The model village, within the loop of the former line of the

National Trust
property open to the public.

Outside the model village are also to be found –

The

Holyhead to Chester railway passes by the village through the Llandygái Tunnel, which is 442 yards in length, before emerging onto the Ogwen Viaduct
to the east of the village.

Spelling

The village name has been spelt also as Llandegai. The correct Welsh spelling is Llandygái, the accent signifying that the last syllable is stressed as opposed to the last-but-one, the usual pattern.[19] Llandygai is also used an alternative spelling.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Community population 2011". Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  2. ISBN 0-7524-1983-8
  3. ISBN 1-85760-197-1
  4. ^ Heneb. "Archaeology at Parc Bryn Cegin". Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  5. ^
    ISBN 1-872424-07-4
  6. ISBN 0-85104-013-6
  7. ^ Edmund Hyde Hall (1811) A Description of Caernarvonshire (1809-1811) Caernarvonshire Historical Society, 1952
  8. ^ a b c d e Gwynedd Council (2006). "Llandygai Conservation Area Character Appraisal" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  9. ^ T. D. Breverton, The Book of Welsh Saints (Cyhoeddiadau Glyndŵr, 2001)
  10. ^ Ysgol Llandygai. "Eglwys Sant Tegai, Llandygai". Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  11. ^ Church in Wales. "St. Tegai". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  12. ^ "St. Tegai's Church". Photos of Churches. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  13. ^ "Church of St Tegai, Llandygai". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  14. ^ David Gwyn (2006) Gwynedd: Inheriting a Revolution: The Archaeology of Industrialisation in North-West Wales Phillimore
  15. ^ "Ysgol Llandygai". Archived from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  16. ^ Gwynedd Council (2007). "Llandegai Gypsy Site update" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  17. ^ North Wales Probation Area. "Approved Premises". Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  18. ^ "Bangor Cricket Club". Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  19. ^ Briony J. Williams (1983), Stress in Modern Welsh (Ph.D.), University of Cambridge. Distributed by Indiana University Linguistics Club{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Llandygai.
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