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35-581: Capel Celyn was a rural community to the northwest of Bala in Gwynedd , Wales , in the Afon Tryweryn valley. The village and other parts of the valley were flooded in the Tryweryn flooding of 1965 to create a reservoir, Llyn Celyn , in order to supply Liverpool and Wirral with water for industry. At the time the village was one of the few remaining Welsh -only speaking communities. Capel

70-936: A Welsh Bible in Bala. The scarcity of the Bible, along with the determination of Mary to get one (she had saved for six years), was a major factor in the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804. Betsi Cadwaladr , who worked with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea , and who gave her name to the Health Board , came from Bala. Other famous people from the Bala area include Michael D. Jones , Christopher Timothy , Owen Morgan Edwards , born in Llanuwchllyn , and T.E. Ellis , born in Cefnddwysarn . Bala hosted

105-460: A community hall. There are several chapels: notably Capel Mawr and Capel Bach. The livestock market on Arenig Street is still going strong. Bro Eryl estate was built just after World War II . Mary Jones World , a heritage centre about Mary Jones and her Bible is located just outside the town in nearby Llanycil . Bala Town Hall , which now operates as a restaurant, dates back to circa 1800. Bala has been served by various railway stations on

140-522: A consequence there was no public inquiry on the proposal. The villagers created the Capel Celyn Defence Committee, which debated and denounced the scheme all over Wales through newspapers, radio and television. The villagers marched twice to Liverpool in 1956 to make their objections known. However, Liverpool councillors voted overwhelmingly to proceed. When the valley was flooded in 1965, the village and its buildings, including

175-544: A permanent stone circle. This also has the benefit of bringing the Gorsedd ceremonies onto the maes : previously they were often held many miles away, hidden from most of the public. As well as the main pavilion with the main stage, there are other venues through the week. Some are fixtures every year, hosting gigs (Maes B/Llwyfan y Maes/Caffi Maes B). Other fixtures of the maes are the Pabell Lên (literature pavilion),

210-658: Is Bala RFC . National Eisteddfod The National Museum of Wales says that "the history of the Eisteddfod may [be] traced back to a bardic competition held by the Lord Rhys in Cardigan Castle in 1176", and local Eisteddfodau were certainly held for many years prior to the first national Eisteddfod. Even before they became a regular annual event, Eisteddfodau were held on a national scale in Wales, such as

245-534: Is Welsh for chapel, while celyn is Welsh for holly. The villagers first knew about the proposal a few days before Christmas 1955, from reading about it in the Welsh edition of the Liverpool Daily Post . The flooding of the village was controversial as Liverpool City Council did not require planning consent from the local Welsh authorities as the reservoir was approved via an Act of Parliament. As

280-513: Is also a Welsh learners area called Maes D. These efforts have helped increase takings, and the 2006 Eisteddfod reported a profit of over £100,000, despite costing £2.8m to stage. The Eisteddfod attracts some 160,000 people annually. The National Eisteddfod in Cardiff (2008) drew record crowds, with over 160,000 visitors attending. It was proposed that the 2018 National Eisteddfod in Cardiff would use permanent buildings to host events, rather than

315-530: Is being undertaken to extend the line along the lake foreshore to a new station in the town centre. Bus services are provided by Lloyds Coaches , as part of the Welsh Government funded TrawsCymru network. Services operate westbound to Barmouth via Dolgellau , and eastbound to Wrexham via Corwen and Llangollen . Through ticketing is available for onward connections at Dolgellau, to Bangor , Machynlleth and Aberystwyth . The town lies on

350-600: Is found only in the lake. Cwm Hirnant, a valley running south from Bala, gives its name to the Hirnantian Age in the Ordovician Period of geological time. The closest major urban areas to Bala are Wrexham at 30 miles (48 km), Chester at 40 miles (64 km), and Liverpool , 52 miles (84 km) to the northeast. Nearby villages include Llanfor , Llandderfel , Llanycil , Llangower , Llanuwchllyn , Rhyd-uchaf and Rhos-y-gwaliau . As with

385-451: Is officially proclaimed a year in advance, at which time the themes and texts for the competitions are published. The organisation for the location will have begun a year or more earlier, and locations are generally known two or three years ahead. The Eisteddfod Act 1959 ( 7 & 8 Eliz. 2 . c. 32) allowed local authorities to give financial support to the event. Traditionally, the Eisteddfod venue alternates between north and south Wales;

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420-466: Is rare for the Eisteddfod to be in a city or town: instead it is held somewhere with more space. Car parking for day visitors alone requires several large fields, and many people camp on the site for the whole week. The festival has a quasi- druidic flavour, with the main literary prizes for poetry and prose being awarded in colourful and dramatic ceremonies under the auspices of the Gorsedd of Bards of

455-575: Is taken very seriously, and an award of a crown or a chair for poetry is a great honour. The Chairing and Crowning ceremonies are the highlights of the week, and are presided over by the Archdruid . Other important awards include the Prose Medal  [ cy ] (first introduced in 1937) and Welsh Learner of the Year award (first introduced in 1983). There are three ranks of membership in

490-505: The 2021 census , Bala had a population of 1,999 and 72.5 per cent of the population could speak Welsh . The Welsh word bala refers to the outflow of a lake. Tomen Y Bala (30 feet (9 m) high by 50 feet (15 m) diameter) is a tumulus or "moat-hill", formerly thought to mark the site of a Roman camp. In the 18th century, the town was well known for the manufacture of flannel , stockings , gloves and hosiery . The large stone-built theological college , Coleg y Bala , of

525-710: The A494 , a major trunk road that leads to Dolgellau , 18 miles to the southwest, and to Ruthin , Mold and Queensferry to the northwest. The A4212 starts in the town, and crosses the Migneint to Trawsfynydd . Heading southeast, the B4391 crosses the Berwyn range to the English border and the town of Oswestry . Bala is home to Cymru Premier football club Bala Town F.C. who play at Maes Tegid . Bala's local rugby club

560-708: The Academy Award nominated film Hedd Wyn . In 1940, during the Second World War , the Eisteddfod was not held, for fear that it would be a bombing target. Instead, the BBC broadcast an Eisteddfod radio programme, and the Chair, Crown and a Literature Medal (as opposed to the usual Prose Medal) were awarded. From 1950 onward, a newly created rule required all competitions to be held in Welsh . However, settings of

595-614: The Calvinistic Methodists and the grammar school (now Ysgol y Berwyn ), which was founded in 1712, are the chief features, together with the statue of the Rev. Thomas Charles (1755–1814), the theological writer, to whom was largely due the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society . In 1800 a 15-year-old girl, Mary Jones , walked the 25 miles (40 km) from her home village Llanfihangel-y-Pennant to purchase

630-488: The Great Western Railway : The Bala Lake Railway ( Welsh : Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid ) runs for 4.5 miles (7.2 km) from Llanuwchllyn to the edge of the town, along a section of the former trackbed of the Great Western Railway 's line between Ruabon and Barmouth . It terminates at Bala (Penybont) railway station , which opened in 1976 on the site of the former Lake Halt station. As of 2020, work

665-628: The National Eisteddfod in 1967, 1997 and 2009. The 2009 Eisteddfod was notable because the chair was not awarded to any of the entrants as the standard was deemed to be too low. Bala hosted the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol yr Urdd Gobaith Cymru, National Eisteddfod for the Welsh League of Youth, in 2014. On 16 June 2016, Bala's name was changed to Bale temporarily in honour of Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale . This

700-594: The Neuadd Ddawns (dance hall), the Pabell Wyddoniaeth a Thechnoleg (science and technology pavilion), Maes D (learners' pavilion), at least one theatre, Y Cwt Drama (the drama hut), Tŷ Gwerin (folk house), Y Lle Celf ("the Art Place") and hundreds of stondinau (stands and booths) where groups, societies, councils, charities and shops exhibit and sell. Since 2004, alcohol has been sold on

735-434: The maes ; previously there was a no-alcohol policy. The Eisteddfod's most well-known awards are those for poetry. The chair is awarded for an awdl , a long poem in strict metre. A new bardic chair is specially designed and made for each eisteddfod. The crown is awarded for a pryddest  [ cy ] , a poem in free verse . A new bardic crown is specially designed and made for each eisteddfod. In 2014,

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770-488: The mass in Latin are allowed and this has been controversially used to allow concerts featuring international soloists. In recent years efforts have been made to attract more non-Welsh speakers to the event, with the official website stating "everyone is welcome at the Eisteddfod, whatever language they speak". The Eisteddfod offers bilingual signage and simultaneous translation of many events though wireless headphones. There

805-569: The 2011 census, 70.5 per cent of the population noted that they had Welsh-only national identity, with 22.2 per cent noting that they had no Welsh national identity at all. According to the 2021 census, 64.8 per cent of the population noted that they had Welsh-only national identity. Set within the Bala Fault , Bala Lake ( Welsh : Llyn Tegid ) is the largest natural lake in Wales at 3.7 miles (6.0 km) in length and 800 metres (870 yards) wide. At 35 metres (115 feet), its depths could hide

840-425: The Gorsedd. Until 2012 they were, in ascending order of honour: If no stone circle is there already, one is created out of Gorsedd stones , usually taken from the local area. These stone circles are icons all across Wales and signify the Eisteddfod having visited a community. As a cost-saving measure, the 2005 Eisteddfod was the first to use a temporary "fibre-glass stone" circle for the druidic ceremonies instead of

875-759: The Gwyneddigion Eisteddfod of 1789, the Provincial Eisteddfodau from 1819 to 1834, the Abergavenny Eisteddfodau of 1835 to 1851, and The Great Llangollen Eisteddfod of 1858. However the National Eisteddfod of Wales as an organisation traces its history back to the first event held in 1861, in Aberdare . One of the most dramatic events in Eisteddfod history was the award of the 1917 chair to

910-458: The Island of Britain, complete with prominent figures in Welsh cultural life dressed in flowing druidic costumes, flower dances, trumpet fanfares and a symbolic Horn of Plenty . However, the Gorsedd is not an ancient institution or a pagan ceremony but rather a romantic creation by Iolo Morganwg in the 1790s, which first became a formal part of the Eisteddfod ceremonial in 1819. Nevertheless, it

945-596: The decision to hold both the 2014 and 2015 Eisteddfodau in South Wales was thus seen as controversial, but the decision was later reversed and Montgomeryshire named as host county for 2015. Occasionally the Eisteddfod has been held in England, although the last occasion was in 1929. Hundreds of tents, pavilions and booths are erected in an open space to create the Maes (field). The space required for this means that it

980-409: The influx of canoeists from many parts of the world. An annual music festival known as 'Wa Bala' is also held in the town. The venue hosts local Welsh bands and is similar in format to Dolgellau 's Sesiwn Fawr . Nearby are the mountains Aran Fawddwy and Arenig Fawr . Coleg y Bala is at the top of the hill on the road towards Llyn Celyn . The Victoria Hall is a small old cinema, that had been

1015-468: The poet Ellis Humphrey Evans, bardic name Hedd Wyn , for the poem Yr Arwr (The Hero). The winner was announced, and the crowd waited for the winner to stand up to accept the traditional congratulations before the chairing ceremony, but no winner appeared. It was then announced that Hedd Wyn had been killed the previous month on the battlefield at Passchendaele in Belgium. These events were portrayed in

1050-439: The post office, the school, and a chapel with cemetery, were all lost. Twelve houses and farms were submerged, and 48 people of the 67 who lived in the valley lost their homes. Bala, Gwynedd Bala ( Welsh : Y Bala ) is a town and community in Gwynedd , Wales . Formerly an urban district , Bala lies in the historic county of Merionethshire , at the north end of Bala Lake ( Welsh : Llyn Tegid ). According to

1085-863: The rest of the UK, Bala benefits from a maritime climate , with limited seasonal temperature ranges, and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year. The Afon Tryweryn , a river fed from Llyn Celyn which runs through Bala, is world-famous for its white water kayaking . International governing bodies, the International Canoe Federation , the European Canoe Union and the British Canoe Union all hold national and international events there. The Canolfan Tryweryn National Whitewater Centre has its home in Bala. There are at least three local campsites that cater for

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1120-470: The tower of St Giles Church in Wrexham and still have 1 metre (3.3 feet) of water above. The lake has occasionally been known to freeze over, most recently in the severe winters of 1947 and 1963. The rare Gwyniad fish—trapped in the lake at the end of the last ice age , some 10,000 years ago—is in danger because its natural home is increasingly unsuitable. A member of the whitefish family, it

1155-465: The traditional Maes site and tents. This was due partially to a lack of suitable land that could be repaired affordably after the festival. It was billed as an "Eisteddfod with no fence" in the media and was held at Cardiff Bay. The 2019 Eisteddfod in Llanrwst returned to the traditional Maes . The 2020 Eisteddfod was postponed for 12 months because of the international COVID-19 pandemic . This

1190-509: Was only for the duration of UEFA Euro 2016 . Bala, Ontario , Canada, was named after the town in 1868. They have become twin towns . According to the 2021 United Kingdom census , 72.5 per cent of all usual residents aged 3+ in Bala can speak Welsh. The 2011 census noted 78.5 per cent of all usual residents aged 3 years and older in the town could speak Welsh. The Welsh-language skills of Bala residents were as follows in 2011 and 2021: (2011) (2021) (percentage points) According to

1225-521: Was the first year no Eisteddfod had taken place since 1914, when the event was cancelled at short notice because of the outbreak of the Great War . ( incomplete ) The National Eisteddfod is traditionally held in the first week of August, and the competitions are all held in the Welsh language . However, settings of the mass in Latin are allowed and this has been controversially used to allow concerts featuring international soloists. The venue

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