34-778: Conwy ( / ˈ k ɒ n w i / , Welsh: [ˈkɔnʊɨ] ), previously known in English as Conway , is a walled market town , community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales . The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy , facing Deganwy on the east bank. The town formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire . The community, which also includes Deganwy and Llandudno Junction , had
68-509: A World Heritage Site , Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd . People born within the town walls of Conwy are nicknamed "Jackdaws", after the jackdaws which live on the walls there. A Jackdaw Society existed until 2011. The population of the town in 1841 was 1,358. Conwy was the original site of Aberconwy Abbey , founded by Llywelyn the Great . Edward and his troops took over
102-490: A "circular fortress"; it was first recorded as "Dwykyvelchy" in 1287. There are several old fortifications on the surrounding hills. The origin of the name Capelulo , the original settlement, lies in its association with Saint Ulo . Approximately half of Dwygyfylchi forms the most northern tip of the Snowdonia National Park . Half a mile to the south-east of the main village lies Capelulo, which lies at
136-545: A Saturday service (service X2) that runs direct from Penmaenmawr, eastbound to Llandudno and westbound to Llanberis (via Bangor). Llew Jones runs the Conwy Clipa service 75 between Llanfairfechan and Llandudno . Dwygyfylchi lies on the route of the A55 Expressway providing access at Junction 16 and at 16A to Penmaenmawr to and from the rest of the north coast. Junction 16 is one of just two roundabouts on
170-506: A Welsh Calvinistic Methodist one at Pen y cae Chappel (erected 1818, rebuilt 1840), and a Horeb Nonconformist (Independent) chapel (erected 1813). Penmaenmawr Golf Club has a 9-hole course located between Dwygyfylchi and Capelulo. Near to this is Dwygyfylchi Bowling Club. Penmaenmawr Phoenix F.C. plays in the Clwyd Premier League and is located between Dwygyfylchi and Penmaenmawr. This as one of only two roundabouts on
204-401: A great number of antiquities, consisting of cromlechs and single upright stones, the remains of a British camp, with ditches and ramparts, &c." About a mile or so north of Dwygyfylchi & Penmaenmawr lies Llys Helig . This has been said to have been the palace of Prince Helig ap Glanawg or Glannog who lived in the 6th century Prince Helig ap Glanawg owned a large area of land between
238-460: A petition to convert the town into a municipal borough with an elected corporation to take responsibility for public health and local government. A royal charter incorporating the town as a municipal borough was issued in December 1876, and the new borough corporation took over the running of the town from March 1877. The municipal borough boundary included land on both sides of the river, covering
272-528: A population of 14,753 at the 2011 census. Although the community of Conwy straddles the River Conwy, for postal purposes the areas on the east bank form part of the post town of Llandudno Junction, with the Conwy post town being confined to west bank of the river. The ward on the west bank of the river had a population of 4,065 at the 2011 census. The resident population of the wider Conwy County Borough
306-704: Is Conwy's only surviving 14th-century merchant's house, one of the first buildings built inside the walls of Conwy. Plas Mawr is an Elizabethan house built in 1576 by the Wynn family, which has been extensively refurbished to its 16th-century appearance and is now in the care of Cadw and open to the public. The house named in the Guinness Book of Records as the Smallest House in Great Britain , with dimensions of 3.05 × 1.8 metres, can be found on
340-440: Is a 19th-century Grade II listed building directly opposite to Conwy Castle . It was erected by Conservative Buckinghamshire MP William Edward FitzMaurice in the mid 1850s. In 1869 the building was sold to solicitor William Jones. The building was used as a solicitor's office until 1972, when it was bought out and became The Towers Restaurant. After lying empty for a number of years Vardre Hall changed hands again, and in 1999
374-537: Is a village in Conwy County Borough , Wales. It is part of the community of Penmaenmawr which has a population of 4,353. The electoral ward of Capelulo which includes Dwygyfylchi had a population of 1,485 in 2011. It forms part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire . The name Dwygyfylchi is derived from the Welsh dwy , "two", and cyfylchi , a word used almost exclusively in placenames meaning
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#1732772786181408-568: Is located on the North Wales Coast Line , between Crewe and Holyhead . There are through services westbound to Bangor and Holyhead. Eastwards, services travel to Chester , via Colwyn Bay , Rhyl , Prestatyn and Flint ; after arrival at Chester, most trains go forward to either Crewe, Cardiff or Birmingham International . Services are operated by Transport for Wales . Bus services in Conwy are operated mostly by Arriva Wales , with some by Llew Jones Coaches. Routes link
442-440: Is nearly divided by Trwyn-yr-Wylfa, which also marks the boundary between the "Hen Bentra" or "Old Village" of Dwygyfylchi and Capelulo in the east and Pant-yr-afon and Penmaenan in the west . Finally two small rivers flow through the area. The first and larger, Afon Gyrrach , runs for about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the northern slopes of Tal-y-Fan to the sea near Penmaenbach, passing through Nant Ddaear-y-llwynog ("Fairy Glen") and
476-576: Is still in use on the North Wales Coast Line , along with the station , which is located within the town walls. In addition to a modern bridge serving the town, the A55 road passes under the river in a tunnel, Britain's first immersed tube tunnel, which was built between 1986 and 1991. The old mountain road to Dwygyfylchi and Penmaenmawr runs through the Sychnant Pass , at the foot of Conwy Mountain . The National Trust owns Aberconwy House , which
510-589: The A55 At the top of the Sychnant Pass is Pen Sychnant Nature Reserve, a conservation area of 12 acres (5 ha) with mature shrubs and woodland. Arriva Buses Wales operates services 5 and X5 every 15 minutes between Caernarfon and Llandudno ; eastbound, service X5 serves Deganwy and Maesdu and service 5 serves St Gwynan's (for Dwygyfylchi) and Craig-y-don; westbound, both services serve Bangor and Y Felinheli (Port Dinorwic). Padarn Bus operate
544-530: The Great Orme's Head near Llandudno and the Menai Strait off the north coast of Gwynedd. This area was inundated by the sea which has given rise to the legend of the drowned kingdom. The legend states the remains of Llys Helig , said to be his palace, can be seen at exceptionally low tides, this being near the Conwy channel, about a mile or so off the coast at Penmaenmawr . The earliest known use of
578-410: The abbey site and moved the monks up the Conwy valley to a new site at Maenan, establishing Maenan Abbey . The parish church St Mary & All Saints still retains some parts of the original abbey church in the east and west walls. Conwy has other tourist attractions. Conwy Suspension Bridge , designed by Thomas Telford to replace the ferry, was completed in 1826 and spans the River Conwy next to
612-526: The castle. Telford designed the bridge's supporting towers to match the castle's turrets. The bridge is now open to pedestrians only and, together with the toll-keeper's house, is in the care of the National Trust . The Conwy Railway Bridge , a tubular bridge , was built for the Chester and Holyhead Railway by Robert Stephenson . The first tube was completed in 1848, the second in 1849. The bridge
646-495: The foot of the picturesque Sychnant Pass , which connects Dwygyfylchi to Conwy. The Pensychnant Conservation Centre and Nature Reserve is nearby. Two headlands separate Dwygyfylchi & Penmaenmawr from its neighbours. Towards the east Penmaenbach divides Dwygyfylchi from the neighbouring town of Conwy Morfa and the Conwy Valley leading up to Betws-y-Coed . To the west the larger headland of Penmaenmawr divides them from
680-501: The name Llys Helig regarding this rock formation is the Halliwell Manuscript which is believed to date to around the beginning of the 15th century, nine centuries later. The Llys Helig rock formation is a glacial moraine left behind by previous subsequent ice ages. There is a fish weir south of this which tradition dates to the beginning of the 6th century which was used up until the early 20th century. The sea level
714-593: The new Conwy County Borough , named after the town but covering a much larger area. Images showing changes over time Walled town Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 542208645 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:46:26 GMT Dwygyfylchi Dwygyfylchi ( Welsh: [dʊɨɡəˈvəlχi] )
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#1732772786181748-427: The old villages of Dwygyfylchi and Capelulo. The second, Afon Pabwyr , runs down from wooded Cwm Graiglwyd then under the town centre, Pant-yr-afon, to the beach. The surrounding landscape is dotted with palaeolithic , mesolithic , neolithic , Bronze Age and Iron Age structures, including cromlechs , standing stones , stone circles and hill forts . Notable Iron Age hill forts in the area are Caer Seion , at
782-442: The oldest building in Conwy and has stood in the walls of Conwy since the 14th century. However, the oldest structure is part of the town walls, at the southern end of the east side. Here one wall and the tower of a llys (palace/court house) belonging to Llywelyn the Great and his grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffydd have been incorporated into the wall. Built on a rocky outcrop, it has a prominent apsidal tower. The walls are part of
816-429: The parish of Conwy (or Conway) and parts of the parishes of Gyffin and Dwygyfylchi on the west bank, and part of the parish of Eglwys Rhos on the east bank. The urban parishes within the borough boundary were reorganised in 1894 to comprise Conwy and Gyffin on the west bank and Llanrhos on the east bank. In 1972 the borough council voted to change the spelling of the town's name from "Conway" to "Conwy". The change
850-422: The present church, where it can still be seen. St Gwynin's gwyl mabsant (Patronal Festival) is December 31. Dwygyfylchi is also associated with Saint Ulo , Capelulo at the foot of Sychnant reputedly having been the site of an early medieval church. In 1851, in addition to the parish church, with a congregation of 80 and 20 scholars, the village had also a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Penmaenmawr (erected 1841),
884-410: The quay. It was in continuous occupation from the 16th century (and was even inhabited by a family at one point) until 1900 when the owner (a 6-foot (1.8 m) fisherman – Robert Jones) was forced to move out on the grounds of hygiene. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully. The house is still owned by his descendants today, and visitors can look around it for a small charge. Vardre Hall
918-500: The summit of Conwy mountain, and nearby Braich-y-Dinas , one of the largest Iron Age hill-forts in Europe (and comparable with Tre'r Ceiri near Trefor on the Llŷn peninsula ), at the summit of Penmaenmawr . Nothing remains of Braich-y-Dinas, however, as the last remnants were destroyed in the 1920s. The 1868 National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland notes: "In this neighbourhood are
952-466: The town of Llanfairfechan and the wider coastal plain extending to Bangor . To the south an arc of hills and uplands extends east to west from the latter to Penmaen Mawr, beginning with Yr Allt Wen above Dwygyfylchi, Bwlch Sychnant (the old road crosses this pass to Conwy ) and Pen-sychnant at Capelulo. The rounded hill of Foel Lys, Gwddw Glas (Green Gorge), Bryn Derwydd and the head of Cwm Graiglwyd and finally Penmaenmawr itself. The coastal plain itself
986-604: The town with Bangor, Caernarfon and Llandudno. A lifeboat station was established by the RNLI in 1966 and currently operates the D-class inshore lifeboat, the May-Bob , (D–765). There are two tiers of local government covering Conwy, at community (town) and county borough level: Conwy Town Council (Cyngor Tref Conwy) and Conwy County Borough Council . The town council is based at Conwy Guildhall on Rose Hill Street. Conwy
1020-526: Was agreed by the Secretary of State for Wales and took effect on 1 August 1972. The municipal borough was abolished in 1974, with the area becoming part of the Aberconwy district in the new county of Gwynedd. A community called Conwy was established at the same time covering the area of the former borough. Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw Aberconwy abolished and the town transferred to
1054-480: Was an ancient borough , having been given a charter by Edward I of England in 1284. Unlike most such boroughs, it was not reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 , and so the old borough corporation continued to exist and run the town. By 1876 the borough corporation was seen as an archaic and unaccountable impediment to the proper management of the town. The town's residents organised
Conwy - Misplaced Pages Continue
1088-402: Was estimated to be 116,200 in an ONS-estimate. The name 'Conwy' derives from the old Welsh words cyn (chief) and gwy (water), the river being originally called the 'Cynwy'. Conwy Castle and the town walls were built, on the instructions of Edward I of England , between 1283 and 1289, as part of his conquest of the principality of Wales . The church standing in Conwy has been marked as
1122-455: Was low enough around 1600 AD to make the claims of Sir John Wynne of Gwydir feasible. The Church in Wales parish church , dedicated to Saint Gwynin or Gwynan , was built between 1888 and 1889. The pews of the present church were made from the roof timbers of the earlier church building constructed in 1760, the foundation stone of which was preserved and mounted on the vestry wall of
1156-700: Was refurbished as a shop. Across the estuary is Bodysgallen Hall , which incorporates a medieval tower that was possibly built as a watch tower for Conwy Castle. Conwy Morfa , a marshy spit of land on the west side of the estuary, was probably the location where golf was first played on Welsh soil. It was also the place where Hugh Iorys Hughes developed, and later built, the floating Mulberry Harbour , used in Operation Overlord in World War II. Conwy Hospital closed in 2003 and has since been demolished. Conwy railway station opened in 1848. It
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