Penrhyndeudraeth
Penrhyndeudraeth from River Dwyryd | |
Location within Gwynedd | |
Area | 7.65 km2 (2.95 sq mi) |
---|---|
Population | 2,150 (2011) |
• Density | 281/km2 (730/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | SH611388 |
Community |
|
Principal area | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | PENRHYNDEUDRAETH |
Postcode district | LL48 |
Dialling code | 01766 |
Police | North Wales |
Fire | North Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
Dwyfor Meirionnydd | |
Penrhyndeudraeth (Welsh pronunciation: [pɛnr̥ɨnˈdeɨ̯draːɨ̯θ] ⓘ; lit. 'peninsula with two beaches') is a small town and community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The town is close to the mouth of the River Dwyryd on the A487 nearly 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Porthmadog, and had a population of 2,150 at the 2011 census,[1] increased from 2,031 in 2001.[2] The community includes the villages of Minffordd and Portmeirion.
History
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
An older settlement of a few cottages at Upper Penrhyn was originally called Cefn Coch ('Red Ridge') and that name is perpetuated by the Penrhyndeudraeth primary school, which is known as Ysgol Cefn Coch; but the town proper is comparatively modern. The ground on which it stands was a malarial swamp encircling a huge stagnant pool.
The present town owes its existence as a commercial centre to a local landowner,
Prior to the many 19th century land reclamation projects (including The Cob at
Halfway between Penrhyndeudraeth and Minffordd, next to the
The property named "Cae Ednyfed", between Penrhyndeudraeth and Minffordd, was once the property of
The town has not always been very religious. Early in the history of the Methodists, they established chapels, and fellowship meetings (seiadau) were established. There is a history of revivalists such as Daniel Rowland who held meetings at Tyddyn Isaf and the poet Dafydd Siôn Siâms who publicly cursed the new religion before himself being converted. He chastised the Methodists mercilessly before burning all their critical poetic works in a public bonfire in the village square. The Old Methodists' original communion chalice is to be seen in the National Library in Aberystwyth. The town was originally in two Anglican parishes, Llanfrothen and Llandecwyn. Holy Trinity church was built in 1858 and a new parish of Penrhyndeudraeth was created in 1897.
For 130 years, the explosives works were the economic backbone of the town. Historically, the population depended on employment offered by the slate industry at Blaenau Ffestiniog and the trade in raw materials through the busy harbour at Porthmadog.
Governance
An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward extends north to Llanfrothen with a total population of 2,587.[5]
Industry
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
Explosives
The first explosives factory in Penrhyndeudraeth was established in 1865 as the Patent Safety Guncotton Company. It was licensed in 1875 and became part of the New Explosives Company, manufacturing explosives from guncotton, starch and India rubber. By 1908 it was the Steelite Explosives Company Ltd.[6]
In 1915, the vast majority of the then factory was destroyed by an explosion.[7] Along with this accident and another at Nobel’s Explosives in Scotland, Britain faced fighting the First World War with a shortage of much needed munitions.
The then newly appointed Minister for Munitions, David Lloyd George, ordered a Government requisition of the factory, which led to it being rebuilt to produce munitions and was known as HM Factory Penrhyndeudraeth, employing 349 workers.[8]
Following the end of the First World War, production continued at the factory, but in 1921, it was closed and put up for sale. This was merely just the beginning and not the end for the factory however.[9]
On his train journey back from Essex to Durham, Cooke came across a newspaper advertisement listing government owned factories that were up for sale following the war. HM Factory Penrhyndeudraeth drew his eye immediately and Cooke decided to visit the site and found it was perfect for the production of Nitroglycerin due to it being located in a series of valleys.[9]
In 1922, the production of explosives restarted in Penrhyndeudraeth and became known as Cooke’s Explosives Limited. Such was the site's success, R.T. Cooke expanded the factory and subsequently decided to move the Miner’s Safety Explosives Company from Essex, to Penrhyndeudraeth.[9]
In 1927, the factory in Penrhyndeudraeth suffered another explosion, destroying the whole southern section of the site, which saw it unable to produce Nitroglycerin.[9]
Facing the potential failure of his business being unable to fulfil orders, R.T. Cooke had no option but to seek the assistance of his then rivals, who were the only other producers of Nitroglycerin, the newly formed industrial giant, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).[9]
ICI agreed to fulfil Cooke's Nitroglycerine orders whilst the factory in Penrhyndeudraeth was rebuilt, on the condition that they could buy a majority stake in Cooke's Explosives Company. Cooke agreed and was allowed to stay on at the company as a Managing Director.[9]
The outbreak of the Second World War ensured that Cooke's explosives company was once again at the forefront of the war effort, producing an estimated 17 million hand grenades between 1939 and 1945.[10]
Following the war, the factory returned to producing Nitroglycerine once again, employing over 300 people. 1957 saw the site's third serious accident since its inception, leading to further damage to its production facilities.[9] The four workers killed in the blast were named as Elizabeth Catherine Lloyd, Annie Owen, Laura Williams, and Eric Evans.[11]
In 1958, R.T. Cooke retired and ICI bought the remaining shares in Cooke's Explosives Company, now making it a fully owned ICI subsidiary within the ICI Explosives division known as
The Cooke name lives on in Penrhyndeudraeth, as the name of a small industrial estate on part of the former factory site.
ICI's priority following its full acquisition of Cooke's Explosives was to introduce safer methods of working and heavily investing in modern technology, leading to some automation and remote control of production processes, with the aim of preventing another catastrophic accident that had blighted the factory over the decades.[9]
This unprecedented level of investment in the factory led it to be the world's most advanced nitroglycerine factory. Its success saw ICI relocate its nitroglycerine production from its site in Ardeer, Scotland and base it exclusively at Penrhyndeudraeth.[9]
By the 1970s the factory in Penrhyndeudraeth supplied 90% of the explosives for the British coal industry in the form of nitroglycerine-based explosive products.
The site is now in the hands of the
Many people died in accidents at the works, and there is a slate plaque at the top of the factory site known locally as “Klondike” to commemorate them and everyone who worked there.
Granite
Another 19th-century industry in the district is Garth Quarry at Minffordd, established in 1870 to make granite setts for road building in towns and cities. Like the explosives industry, the quarry relied heavily on the coming of the Cambrian Railways in 1872. The quarry is still operational, and owned by Breedon Group, producing roadstone and railway ballast.
Transport
The town is at the junction of the A487 with the A4085 which connects with Beddgelert and Caernarfon. The first section of this road is very narrow and rises steeply through Upper Penrhyn. In places it is so narrow that only a single vehicle can pass.
To the south is the new
The town has two stations,
Culture and heritage
According to the
The Penrhyndeudraeth Children and Young People's Chaired
There are many language traces of Old Welsh to be found in the place names in the Penrhyndeudraeth area, such as “Pont Briwet /Briwet Bridge (Briwet is cognate with the Breton word "Brued" meaning bridge). Remains of old huts can be found near Ty’n y Berllan, which date back to the Bronze Age.
Penrhyndeudraeth's Alun 'Sbardun' Huws wrote a song, Strydoedd Aberstalwm (approximately "streets of long ago"), in tribute to the village.[18] His well-known band Y Tebot Piws also recorded their farewell album at Penrhyndeudraeth Memorial Hall in 2011.[19]
Football
Penrhyndeudraeth F.C. has a senior team and several junior teams. The senior team are currently[when?] in their second season in the 2nd Division of the Welsh Alliance League, after finishing third in their first season at this level in 2012-13 and also winning the Take Stock Van Hire Cup (for Division 2 clubs), runners-up in the Mawddach Challenge Cup and also receiving a trophy for the best official matchday programme in the League's 2nd Division. This followed a very successful campaign in the Gwynedd League (2011–12) when they finished as League Champions and also won the "Gwynedd Safeflue" and "Bob Owen Memorial" Shields.
The junior teams (under 14, 12, 11, 9 and 7s) all play in the Llyn and Eifionydd Junior Football League.
Famous residents
- Calvinistic Methodistminister in the village from 1865
- Alice Williams(1863 in Castel Deudraeth – 1957), Welsh bard, painter, and voluntary welfare worker
- Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), philosopher, lived at Plas Penrhyn in the village from 1956 until his death.[20]
- Fanny Winifred Edwards (1876–1959), schoolmistress and Welsh-language author.[21]
- Rupert Crawshay-Williams (1908-1977), British philosopher, great-grandson of "Darwin's Bulldog" Thomas Henry Huxley
- Alun "Sbardun" Huws (1948–2014), founding member of the Welsh rock band Y Tebot Piws, songwriter, programme director at HTV and BBC, grew up in the village.
Gallery
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High Street
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The oak pub
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The railway station in 1875.
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The fair in 1888.
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Nearby woodland and mountain.
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Snowdonia National Park HQ.
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"Plas Penrhyn", home of Bertrand Russell, in 2020.
See also
References
- ^ "Community population 2011". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- ^ "Check Browser Settings". Neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 22 September 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
- ^ The National Archives. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard 28th December 1917, p. 5
- ^ "Ward population 2011". UKcensusdata.com. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- ^ "The First World War - discover the legacy of the war in Wales. Y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf - darganfod etifeddiaeth y rhyfel yng Nghymru".
- ^ Crump, Eryl (17 July 2015). "Cooke's Explosive Works, Penrhyndeudraeth". northwales. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^ "The First World War - discover the legacy of the war in Wales. Y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf - darganfod etifeddiaeth y rhyfel yng Nghymru". heneb.co.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cooke, Owen. "Hanes Gwaith Powdwr Penrhyndeudraeth". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Gwaith Powdwr". North Wales Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^ The Times, 29 August 1957, p. 8
- ^ "I.C.I. Cooke's Explosives Works, Penrhyndeudraeth". Archives hub. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Cooke's Explosive Works, Penrhyndeudraeth (85184)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
- ^ "2011 Census results by Community". Welsh Language Commissioner. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
- ^ "Inpseciton Report Ysgol Cefn Coch" (PDF). Estyn. Estyn. 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
- ^ "In Wales, mind your language". The Daily Telegraph. London. 21 June 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Royal Oak Penrhyndeudraeth: Gareth Sale's suspended sentence". BBC News. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Eryl Crump (10 December 2015). "Sing along to the hits of Alun 'Sbardun' Huws". Daily Post. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
- ^ "Alun Huws - obituary". The Daily Telegraph. London. 11 January 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
- ISBN 978-0415-3583-78.
- ^ "Edwards, Fanny Winifred". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 6 April 2016.