Abergwyngregyn
Encyclopedia
Abergwyngregyn is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 of historical note in Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

, a county and principal area in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. Under its historic name of Aber Garth Celyn it was the seat of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.

It is located at , adjacent to the A55
A55 road
The A55, also known as the North Wales Expressway, is a major road in Britain. Its entire length is a dual carriageway primary route, with the exception of the point where it crosses the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait. All junctions are grade separated except for two roundabouts — one...

, five miles (8 km) east of Bangor
Bangor, Wales
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

, eight miles (13 km) west of Conwy
Conwy
Conwy is a walled market town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales. The town, which faces Deganwy across the River Conwy, formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. Conwy has a population of 14,208...

. Population 222.

History

Abergwyngregyn, generally shortened to Aber, is a settlement of great antiquity and pre-conquest importance on the north coast of Gwynedd. Its boundaries stretch from the Menai Strait
Menai Strait
The Menai Strait is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales.The strait is bridged in two places - the main A5 road is carried over the strait by Thomas Telford's elegant iron suspension bridge, the first of its kind,...

 up to the headwaters of the Afon Goch and Afon Anafon. Protected to the east by the headland of Penmaenmawr
Penmaenmawr
PenmaenmawrConwyPenmaenmawr is a town in the parish of Dwygyfylchi, in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The population was 3857 in 2001. It is a quarrying town, though the latter is no longer a major employer, on the North Wales coast between Conwy and Llanfairfechan.The town was bypassed by the A55...

, and at its rear by Snowdonia
Snowdonia
Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...

, it controlled the ancient crossing point of the Lafan Sands to Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

. A pre-Roman defensive enclosure, Maes y Gaer, which rises above Pen y Bryn
Pen y Bryn
Pen y Bryn is a two-storey manor house, in Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd, in north-west Wales, adjacent to the A55, five miles east of Bangor, eight miles west of Conwy. It is situated within Garth Celyn, a double bank and ditch, overlooking the Menai Strait to Anglesey. A smaller house was immediately...

 on the eastern side of the valley, has far reaching views over Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...

 with the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

 visible on a clear day. The Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

 from Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

 (Deva), linking the forts of Canovium
Canovium
Canovium was a fort in the Roman province of Britannia. Its site is located at Caerhun in the Conwy valley, in the county borough of Conwy, in North Wales....

 (later name Conovium) and Segontium
Segontium
Segontium is a Roman fort for a Roman auxiliary force, located on the outskirts of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, north Wales.It probably takes its name from the nearby River Seiont, and may be related to the Segontiaci, a British tribe mentioned by Julius Caesar. The fort was founded by Agricola in 77 or...

, crossed the river at this point.

The seat of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
Llywelyn the Last
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd or Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf , sometimes rendered as Llywelyn II, was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England....

, the last native Prince of Wales, his daughter Gwenllian of Wales
Gwenllian of Wales
Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn was the only child of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Tywysog Cymru . She is sometimes confused with Gwenllian ferch Gruffudd, who lived two centuries earlier.- Lineage :...

 was born here in June 1282 and his wife, Eleanor de Montfort
Eleanor de Montfort
Eleanor de Montfort, Princess of Wales and Lady of Snowdon was a daughter of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England. She was also the first woman who can be shown to have used the title Princess of Wales....

, died here as a result of the birth on 19 June 1282. In June 1283 Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Llywelyn's brother, who assumed the title of Prince of Wales after Llywelyn's murder in December 1282, was captured at Bera Mountain above the present village.

Abergwyngregyn was one of ten sites chosen for the Welsh Cultural Heritage Initiative in 2009.

Y Mŵd

Y Mŵd is an earthen mound on the valley floor in the middle of the village, at . The mound is circular, 22 feet (6.7 m) high with an oval top 57 feet (17.4 m) by 48 feet (14.6 m). It has been regarded as the base of a Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

, and on that basis was renamed 'Aber Castle Mound' by the Ancient Monuments Board. E. S. Armitage, in The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles, suggested that it might have been constructed by Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester
Earl of Chester
The Earldom of Chester was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs-apparent to the English throne, and from the late 14th century it has been given only in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales.- Honour of Chester :The...

. The word Mŵd in early Welsh means 'vault' or 'chamber', and there is no evidence that there was ever a motte and bailey castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 at Aber. It has been suggested that it might be a much earlier mound built over the body of a local warrior lord who in his lifetime had protected his people, and in death was expected to do the same.

Other similar mounds, such as the one on which the Pillar of Eliseg
Pillar of Eliseg
The Pillar of Eliseg also known as Elise's Pillar or Croes Elisedd in Welsh, stands near Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire, Wales, at . It was erected by Cyngen ap Cadell , king of Powys in honour of his great-grandfather Elisedd ap Gwylog...

 near Llangollen stands, or the one at Scone in Scotland, have been found especially in northern and western Britain.

Adjacent stone building, medieval royal llys

A large structure on the valley bottom between Y Mŵd, the smithy and the water mill was excavated in 1993 and again in 2010. It has been identified as a high status building from the 14th century, possibly contemporary with the last independent princes of Wales or with the early decades after the Conquest. No defensive structures have been found. The floor plan has been interpreted as a medieval hall with large wings, and a separate enclosure that may have been used for large ovens or for metalworking. The 1993 dig found a bronze brooch, some medieval pottery, and a coin from the years before the conquest. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales is a Welsh Government sponsored body based in Aberystwyth, Wales. It was founded in August 1908...

 suggests that this was the site of the medieval royal llys (palace).

Pen y Bryn

Pen y Bryn is a manor house, recorded from the Elizabethan period, on a promontory on the east side of the valley. It overlooks the village and the Menai Straits to Anglesey. With its adjacent buildings and ground works it forms a double bank and ditch enclosure now known as Garth Celyn. A neolithic burial urn was discovered when a driveway was being made to the house in 1824. There is no evidence of mediaeval activity on this site, but it has been claimed as the site of the pre-Conquest royal llys.

Aber Falls

See main article Aber Falls
Aber Falls
Aber Falls is a waterfall located about two miles south of the village of Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd, Wales....


The valley provides the access to one of Wales's great waterfall
Waterfall
A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

s, the Aber Falls as the Afon Goch falls precipitously, some 120 feet (36.6 m) over a sill of igneous rock
Igneous rock
Igneous rock is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava...

 into a marshy area where it is joined by two tributaries; the enlarged stream, Afon Rhaeadr Fawr, heads towards the Menai Strait and the sea. Part way down it becomes known as Afon Aber.

Bont Newydd

The single barrel-vault bridge at spans Afon Aber, providing a roadway across the river, some 25 ft (7.6 m) in width. The date of construction is unknown, but its existence was marked on the Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...

 map of 1822. The bridge provided a safe crossing for drovers leading animals on a Drovers road up the valley. Large stones in the river under the bridge mark the site of an earlier ford
Ford (crossing)
A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading or in a vehicle. A ford is mostly a natural phenomenon, in contrast to a low water crossing, which is an artificial bridge that allows crossing a river or stream when water is low.The names of many towns...

.

Aber is the coastal crossing point for the ancient drovers
Drover (Britain)
A drovers' road, drove or droveway is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to market or between summer and winter pasture...

 and later Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

 that led across the Lafan Sands to Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

.

The Roman road from Chester crossed the river Conwy south of Tal-y-Cafn, connected with the fort at Conovium Caerhun
Caerhun
Caerhun is a village and rural community on the west bank of the River Conwy, to the south of Henryd and to the north of Dolgarrog, in Conwy County Borough, north Wales. The population was 1200 at the 2001 Census.-Features:...

 by a short branch, then led up via Rowen and Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen
Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen
Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen is a mountain pass in Conwy county borough, north Wales, traversable only on foot or horseback, following the former Roman road from Caerhun to Caernarfon...

, the Pass of the Two Stones, as an engineered overlay on top of the earlier British trackway, into Snowdonia.

The Roman road descends down Rhiwiau, the valley between Llanfairfechan and Aber, follows the coastal route west, crosses the river by means of a ford, passes by the church and leads on to the major Roman fort at Segontium
Segontium
Segontium is a Roman fort for a Roman auxiliary force, located on the outskirts of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, north Wales.It probably takes its name from the nearby River Seiont, and may be related to the Segontiaci, a British tribe mentioned by Julius Caesar. The fort was founded by Agricola in 77 or...

, Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...

.

The drovers road from Anglesey came into the settlement on the valley bottom on the west bank of the valley bottom, where provision was made for the animals to be penned and shod, and the feet of the geese to be coated in pitch, and then followed the valley to join with the Roman road.

Three Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 milestones have been discovered in the area. Two of these, found in 1883 in a field called Caegwag, on the farm Rhiwiau Uchaf are now in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, London.

Maes y Gaer

This is a defensive enclosure, built on a hill that forms the western end of a spur overlooking the valley at . It is approx 730 ft (222.5 m). above O.D. The walls of the enclosure are pear shaped and protect an area 400 ft (121.9 m) long and 220 ft (67.1 m) wide of about 1.5 acres (6,070.3 m²). Maes y Gaer has a steep drop on all sides except the east, where there is a more gentle slope leading to the pasture land. The entrance is on the south-east, now badly ruined but originally 11 ft (3.4 m) wide, with a passageway to the interior 20 ft (6.1 m) long. Below Maes y Gaer, above Garth Celyn Pen y Bryn
Pen y Bryn
Pen y Bryn is a two-storey manor house, in Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd, in north-west Wales, adjacent to the A55, five miles east of Bangor, eight miles west of Conwy. It is situated within Garth Celyn, a double bank and ditch, overlooking the Menai Strait to Anglesey. A smaller house was immediately...

, is a level area of land known as 'Elen's Garden' in memory of Eleanor de Montfort, princess of Wales.

Hafod Celyn, Hafod Garth Celyn

This is the summer pastureland of Garth Celyn, on open moorland
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...

 rising to 800 ft (243.8 m) above Ordnance Datum at . The small building on this site, now in ruins, was rebuilt in the 18th century on the ruins of an earlier building that extended further to the west.

Llyn Anafon

Llyn Anafon is the most northerly of the Carneddau lakes, lying between Llwytmor
Llwytmor
Llwytmor is a satellite peak of Foel-fras, and forms a part of the Carneddau. The summit has cairns and a shelter. Good views of the Menai Strait, the Bera's and the Northern Carneddau. The area is often frequented by the Carneddau mountain pony. This peak is very unfrequented....

, Foel Fras and Y Drum
Drum (Wales)
Drum is a summit in the Carneddau mountains in north Wales, 2 km north-east of Foel-fras. It is 770 m high. It is also known as Carnedd Penyborth-Goch....

. It has a maximum depth of 10 feet (3 m). A dam was built across the lake in 1930 to enable water to be supplied to the nearby coastal villages. There are brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

 in the lake and by long held custom people who lived in the village had the right to fish both the lake and the river. Half a mile below the lake there are prehistoric hut circles and other signs of early human inhabitation. There is an arrow stone on the lower slopes of Foel Ganol, and another leading down to Cammarnaint Farm. A gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 cross, five inches (127 mm) in height, was found on the summit of Carnedd y Ddelw above the lake in 1812.

The earliest name for the vale was Nant Mawan ('Record of Caernarfon', 1371, Bangor University Archives). Mawan, a personal name, contracted over time. Llyn Nant Mawan, became Llyn Nan (Mafon) and then Llyn (N)anafon.

Nearby is an area known as Buarth Merched Mafon (Enclosure of Mafon's Daughters).

Nothing is known about Mawan, but his son Llemenig is mentioned in several early Welsh sources.
His name is mentioned in two englyns at the end of a 'Cynddylan' fragment in a manuscript (Canu Llywarch Hen XI. 112b.113b.)

When I hear the thundering roar,
[it is] the host of Llemenig mab Mahawen [read Mawan].
Battle-hound of wrath, victorious in battle.

In Triad Ynys Prydain no. 43, his horse is described as one of the Three pack-Horses of Ynys Prydain. Ysgwyddfrith ('Dappled-shoulder') the horse of Llemenig ap Mawan.

Bird watching

Coedydd Aber is situated in an area of scenic beauty. The steep sided wooded valley, Nant Aber Garth Celyn, leads to the foothill of Y Carneddau. The river has the steepest fall of any in Wales and England. There is a wide variety of habitats in the valley including a diversity of woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

s, open farmland and scrub. A range of birds can be found here, including raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...

, buzzard
Buzzard
A buzzard is one of several large birds, but there are a number of meanings as detailed below.-Old World:In the Old World Buzzard can mean:* One of several medium-sized, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings....

s, peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...

, sparrowhawk and chough
Chough
The Red-billed Chough or Chough , Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, is a bird in the crow family; it is one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax...

s on the sea cliffs, tree pipit
Tree Pipit
Tree Pipit, Anthus trivialis, is a small passerine bird which breeds across most of Europe and temperate western and central Asia. It is a long-distance migrant moving in winter to Africa and southern Asia....

 and redstart
Redstart
Redstarts are a group of small Old World birds. They were formerly classified in the thrush family , but are now known to be part of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae...

 along the woodland edge, and pied flycatcher and wood warbler
Wood Warbler
The Wood Warbler is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asia in the southern Ural Mountains...

 in the Welsh Oak woods.
By the shore, a hide has been erected on the edge of the Menai Strait, providing clear views of the sea birds on the Lafan sands. As a young man, Sir Peter Scott used Twr Llywelyn, part of Pen y Bryn
Pen y Bryn
Pen y Bryn is a two-storey manor house, in Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd, in north-west Wales, adjacent to the A55, five miles east of Bangor, eight miles west of Conwy. It is situated within Garth Celyn, a double bank and ditch, overlooking the Menai Strait to Anglesey. A smaller house was immediately...

, as a place to position his telescope, to watch the birds flying in off the Irish sea.

Glaciation

Since the beginning of the Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

, 2.4 million years ago, the upland
Upland
Upland may refer to:*Highland , an area of higher land*Upland Place namesIn Germany:*Upland - mountain range in the state of Hesse.In Sweden:*Uppland, a province of Sweden In the United States:...

s of North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...

 have been subject to several phases of glaciation. The Aber valley provides physical evidence of the two younger phases of glaciation which occurred between 18,000-20,000 and 10,000-11,000 years ago. Y Carneddau has a notable range of glacial and periglacial
Periglacial
Periglacial is an adjective originally referring to places in the edges of glacial areas, but it has later been widely used in geomorphology to describe any place where geomorphic processes related to freezing of water occur...

 features that have been studied by geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

s, including Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

, for well over a century, and plays a key role not only into research into landforms, but also into climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

 and vegetation history.

External links


Literature

  • Saunders Lewis
    Saunders Lewis
    Saunders Lewis was a Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic, and political activist. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist and a founder of the Welsh National Party...

     play Siwan
  • Thomas Parry
    Thomas Parry (author)
    Sir Thomas Parry was a Welsh author and Academic. He was Librarian of the National Library of Wales from 1953 to 1958, and Principal of the University College of Wales Aberystwyth from 1958 to 1969. The Thomas Parry Library located on Aberystwyth University's Llanbadarn Campus was named in his...

     play Llywelyn Fawr
  • Edith Pargeter
    Edith Pargeter
    Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM , also known by her nom de plume Ellis Peters, was a British author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both...

     novel The Green Branch
  • Edith Pargeter
    Edith Pargeter
    Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM , also known by her nom de plume Ellis Peters, was a British author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both...

     novel The Brothers of Gwynedd
  • Barbara Erskine
    Barbara Erskine
    Barbara Erskine is an English novelist.-Biography:Erskine owns homes in Hereford and Colchester, England. Erskine's first novel was published in 1986...

     novel Child of the Phoenix
  • Sharon Penman novel Here be Dragons
  • Sharon Penman novel Falls the Shadow"
  • Sharon Penman novel The Reckoning
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