Criccieth
Encyclopedia
Criccieth is a town
and community
on Cardigan Bay
, in the Eifionydd
area of Gwynedd
in Wales
. The town lies 5 miles (8 km) west of Porthmadog
, 9 miles (14.5 km) east of Pwllheli
and 17 miles (27.4 km) south of Caernarfon
. It has a population of 1,826.
The town is a seaside resort
, popular with retirees. Attractions include the ruins of Criccieth Castle
, which have extensive views over the town and surrounding countryside. Nearby on Ffordd Castell is Cadwalader's Ice Cream Parlour
, opened in 1927, whilst Stryd Fawr has several bistro
style restaurant
s. In the centre lies Y Maes, part of the original medieval town common
.
The town is noted for its fair
s, held on 23 May and 29 June every year, when large numbers of people visit the fairground
itself and the market which spreads through many of the streets of the town.
Famous people associated with the town include the British prime minister
, David Lloyd George
, who grew up in the nearby village of Llanystumdwy
, and poet William George. Group Captain Leslie Bonnet
, RAF officer, writer and originator of the Welsh Harlequin Duck and his wife Joan Hutt
, artist both lived at Ymwlch just outside Criccieth from 1949 until their deaths in 1985.
Criccieth hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1975 and in 2003 was granted Fairtrade Town
status. It won the Wales in Bloom competition each year from 1999 to 2004.
The town styles itself The Pearl of Wales on the Shores of Snowdonia.
is found in Brut y Tywysogion
where reference is made to the imprisonment of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn in the 'castle of Cruceith (Middle Welsh orthography: Kastell Krukeith). The form Cruciaith was used by Iolo Goch
in a famous 14th century poem addressed to Sir Hywel y Fwyall, custodian of the castle. There are a number of theories as to the meaning, but the most popular is that it comes from Crug Caeth: caeth may mean 'prisoner' and thus the name could mean prisoner's rock, a reference to the imprisonment of one of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth's sons in the castle by his brother. However, caeth has the primary meaning in Middle Welsh of 'serf[s]' and the name could refer to a bond community nearby. In later medieval times the settlement was also known as Treferthyr (martyr's town), probably a reference to Saint Catherine
, after whom the parish church is named.
The spelling of Criccieth remains controversial today. Many regard this version as an anglicism
, arguing that the Welsh form Cricieth should be used instead. Others argue that Criccieth is simply an anomaly in the Welsh language, in which there is no double-C, and that the spelling should be preserved. The dispute has resulted in the vandalising of road signs at the entrance to the town.
The area around Criccieth was settled during the Bronze Age
, and a chambered tomb
, Cae Dyni, survives on the coast to the east of the town; it consists of seven upright stones, and there are 13 cup marks
, arranged in several groups. Evidence from other sites on the Llŷn Peninsula
suggests that the area was colonised by a wave of Celtic settlers, who explored the Irish Sea
, probably around the 4th century BC. Ptolemy
calls the peninsula Ganganorum Promontorium (English
: Peninsula of the Gangani); the Gangani
were a tribe of Irish
Celts, and it is thought there may have been strong and friendly links with Leinster
.
Although it is thought that Criccieth Castle
was built around 1230 by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth
, who had controlled the area since 1202, the first record of the building was in 1239, when the administrative centre of Eifionydd
was moved from Dolbenmaen.
In the later years of his life, Llywelyn turned his attention to his successor. Welsh law
stipulated that illegitimate sons had equal rights with legitimate sons; Llywelyn sought to ensure that Dafydd ap Llywelyn
, his legitimate offspring, would inherit Gwynedd
in place of his eldest, but illegitimate, son Gruffydd
. On Llywelyn's death in 1240, Dafydd sought to secure his position. Dafydd was half English and feared that his pure Welsh half-brother would be able to gather support to overthrow him. Gruffydd was held prisoner in Criccieth Castle, until he was handed over to Henry III of England
in 1241, and moved to the Tower of London
.
Dafydd ap Llywelyn died in 1246, without leaving an heir, and was succeeded by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd
, his nephew. Edward I
had inherited the English throne in 1272, and in 1276 declared Llywelyn a rebel. By 1277, Edward's armies had captured the Isle of Anglesey, and were encamped at Deganwy
; the settlement, the Treaty of Aberconwy
, forced Llywelyn to acknowledge Edward as his sovereign, and stripped him of much of his territory. Dafydd ap Gruffydd
, Llywelyn's younger brother, attacked the English forces at Hawarden
in 1282, setting off a widespread rebellion throughout Wales; Edward responded with a further invasion of Gwynedd, during which Llywelyn was killed on the battlefield at Cilmeri.
With the final defeat of Gwynedd, Edward set about consolidating his rule in Wales. Criccieth Castle was extended and reshaped, becoming one of a ring of castles surrounding Edward's newly conquered territories. A township developed to support the garrison and a charter
was granted in 1284; the charter was intended to create a plantation of English burgesses who would provide food for the soldiers from the arable land behind the Dinas and the grazings on the slopes beyond. Weekly markets were held on Thursdays and there were annual fairs on 25 April and 18 October, the evangelical feasts of Saint Mark and Saint Luke.
The new administration soon proved unpopular among the native Welsh, and in 1294, Madog ap Llywelyn
led a national revolt against English rule. Criccieth was besieged for several months over the winter; 41 residents sought refuge within its walls, joining the garrison of 29 men under William de Leybourne
, until supplies were brought in from Ireland
the following April. The following year, the castle was again used as a prison, housing captives taken in Edward's wars against Scotland
.
Three Welshmen who had settled in the borough, which was supposedly reserved for the English
, were evicted in 1337, but times were about to change. Hywel ap Gruffudd was appointed constable
of the castle in 1359, the first Welshman to hold the post. The following year he became mayor of the town, holding the office for twenty years; in a poem of praise, Iolo Goch
described him as "a puissant knight, head of a garrison guarding the land". By 1374 eight jurymen from the borough had Welsh names.
Richard II
was deposed and imprisoned in 1399, and died in mysterious circumstances the following year. Opposition to the new king, Henry IV
, was particularly strong in Wales and Cheshire
, and in 1400 serious civil unrest broke out in Chester
. Henry had already declared Owain Glyndŵr
, a descendant of the Princes of Powys, a traitor, and on 16 September 1400 Owain launched a revolt. He was proclaimed Prince of Wales, and within days a number of towns in the north east of Wales had been attacked. By 1401 the whole of northern and central Wales had rallied to Owain's cause, and by 1403 villages throughout the country were rising in support. English castles and manor houses fell and were occupied by Owain's supporters. Although the garrison at Criccieth Castle had been reinforced, a French
fleet in the Irish Sea stopped supplies getting through, and the castle fell in the spring of 1404. The castle was sacked; its walls were torn down; and both the castle and borough were burned. The castle was never to be reoccupied, while the town was to become a small Welsh backwater, no longer involved in affairs of state.
The town expanded in the 19th century with the coming of new transportation links. In 1807 a turnpike road was built from Tremadog
to Porthdinllaen
, which was intended to be the main port for traffic to Ireland
; and with the construction of the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway
in 1868, the town began to develop as a Victorian
seaside resort.
Criccieth solicitor David Lloyd George
was elected as Liberal
Member of Parliament for the Caernarfon Boroughs
in 1890. He was to hold the seat for 55 years, during which he was Prime Minister
from 1916 to 1922. He was renowned for his scathing wit; as one of the great reformers of the 20th century; as a wartime leader; and for the scandals that rocked his government. His position as a leading statesman was to bring Criccieth back into national, and international, prominence; the town still has many locations connected with Lloyd George and his family.
Disaster struck Criccieth in October 1927; a great storm in the Irish Sea
stopped the tidal flow, causing a double high tide. High seas and strong on-shore winds destroyed houses at Abermarchnad, the pressure of the waves punching holes through the back walls; the houses subsequently had to be demolished and the occupants rehoused.
Criccieth became a borough
under a charter
granted by Edward I in 1284, and was the capital of Cantraf Eifionydd
. The first mayor was William de Leybourne
, who was appointed constable
of the castle a month after the charter was granted. The borough was left unreformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835
; a royal commission
reported in 1876 that the corporation had long been extinct; and it was formally abolished in 1886.
The Criccieth Impovement Act 1873 had created a board of improvement commissioners
to govern the town, and to take over the borough's property; and from 1889 they formed a second tier of local government below Carnarfonshire County Council
. Under the Local Government Act 1894
the improvement district became an urban district
with a directly-elected council, while the remainder of the civil parish
was renamed Penllyn
, and became part of Llŷn Rural District
. The urban district was extended between the world wars, taking in parts of Penllyn and Treflys in 1934, followed by part of Llanystumdwy
in 1938. Criccieth Urban District was abolished in 1974, and the town became part of Dwyfor District
in the new county
of Gwynedd
, although the town retained limited powers as a community
. Dwyfor itself was abolished when Gwynedd became a unitary authority
in 1996.
The town now forms an electoral division
of Cyngor Gwynedd, electing one councillor; in 2008 Guto Rhys Tomos, an Independent
, was elected. Criccieth Town Council has 12 elected members; in the 2008 elections ten Independent councillors and one representing Plaid Cymru
were elected unopposed.
Since 1950 Criccieth has been part of Caernarfon
parliamentary constituency, and has been represented by Hywel Williams
of Plaid Cymru since 2001. In the National Assembly for Wales
it has since 2007 formed part of Dwyfor Meirionnydd
assembly constituency, represented by Dafydd Elis-Thomas
, the Presiding Officer
of the assembly, and also from Plaid Cymru; the constituency forms part of the electoral region of Mid and West Wales.
Criccieth is located in Eifionydd
on the Cardigan Bay
shore of the Llŷn Peninsula
. The town is south facing and built around the rocky outcrop containing Criccieth Castle
, which effectively divides the shoreline in two at this point. The East Shore has a sandy beach with a shallow area for bathing, whilst the Marine Beach, to the west, is quieter and has a number of hotels and guest houses.
The rhyolitic headland on which the castle is built is strong and not easily eroded. The cliffs to each side, however, are less resistant, being made up of glacial drift, layers of boulders, stones, clay and silt which were laid down during the last ice age
. Sea walls were already in existence at the time of the first Ordnance Survey
map in 1891, and the west shore sea wall had been extended and groynes built by 1913. Extensive remedial work was completed in 1965, and the defences were again strengthened in 1974 and 1985. In 1995 work was started on improving the defences along The Esplanade, followed in 1997 by further work to replace the crumbling gabions below Lôn Felin. Submerged forest
s occur in a number of places off the Cardigan Bay coastline, including Criccieth; these are deposits of peat, soil and tree remains, and appear to be post-glacial coastal lagoons and estuaries, which have been flooded by rising sea levels.
The town has a temperate maritime climate which is influenced by the Gulf Stream
. Frost and snow are rare; the last serious snowfall, of 6 inches (15.2 cm), was in 1985. The climate results in a luscious, green countryside and many delicate plant species grow wild; gorse flowers throughout the year. One plant unusual to Criccieth is lampranthus roseus, known locally as the Oxenbould Daisy and introduced in the late 19th century by a resident of Min-y-Mor.
. 62.54 per cent of households were owner occupied, and 25.30 per cent were in rented accommodation.
The herring industry
was important by the 19th century, with horsedrawn carts converging on Abermarchnad to transport the catch to neighbouring villages. There was also a coal yard and other storehouses by the quay, where the Afon Cwrt enters the sea. Opposite stood a lime kiln, with lime produced both for local use and export, limestone for the kiln being unloaded from ships on the quay.
At the 2001 Census 54.18 per cent of the population were in employment, while the unemployment rate stood at 3.81 per cent. The proportion retired accounted for 22.99 per cent of the inhabitants. Of those employed, 23.04 per cent worked in the wholesale and retail trades and 19.86 per cent in hotels and restaurants.
dominates the town, standing on a rock overlooking Cardigan Bay
. Little survives of the original building, but the outer defences are still prominent. The inner bailey contains the earliest remains, including the inner gatehouse, which has two semi-circular towers. It is thought that the original living quarters were in the south west tower, overlooking the sea, and that the square north tower supported a catapult
.
To the south of Y Maes stands Caffi Cwrt, an early 18th century detached stone house where the burgesses held court when rain prevented them meeting in their usual location on the bridge. The house has been owned by just two families since 1729. Two medieval strip fields to the rear, Llain Fawr (large strip) and Llain Bella (furthest strip), formed most of the smallholding of Cwrt but were lost when the railway was built. Nearby, where the slate shop now stands, was a smithy.
On Penpaled Road is a cottage, Penpaled, built in 1820 on a plot lying between two enclosed meadows. The meadows, Cae'r Beiliaid (bailiff's field) and Llain y Beiliaid (bailiff's strip) were subsequently to form part of the route of both the road and the railway.
The Lifeboat Station
stands on Lôn Felin and was built in 1854. The crew of seventeen are all volunteers and are called out by maroons and flares. The current lifeboat, an Atlantic 85
, is named the Doris Joan. Further uphill stand a 17th century whitewashed cottage, Ty'r Felin, and Foinavon, a pink-stuccoed building once owned by the Bird's Custard
family.
Morfin, on Tan-y-Grisiau Terrace was used as an office by David Lloyd George
whilst he was practising as a solicitor
. Nearby, Ty Newydd, a mid-16th century house, was originally built to house the estate bailiff. Criccieth's first council houses on the adjacent Henbont Road were built on land donated to rehouse families made homeless by the 1927 storm. Three 600 year old cottages, originally thatched, make up Wellington Terrace. They are thought to be the oldest in the town.
Ffordd Castell is within the original settlement, Yr Hen Dref, though most of the houses are Victorian
. Ty Mawr, however, originally a smallholding and later a public house
, dates from the 16th century, whilst on the opposite side of the street a long stone building, divided into three cottages, Porth yr Aur, Trefan and Cemlyn, dates from 1700. The Castle Bakery next door features a stained glass insertion above the shop window which depicts bakers at work. In the past nearby residents could bring their own dough to be baked in the ovens. By the castle entrance Gardd y Stocs, a small green, was home to the town's stocks
, whilst the building that houses the castle information centre was part of the town's guildhall.
The heart of the old town is Y Dref. It was here that the weekly market was held, and it was also the venue for numerous political meetings.
Edward I
granted lands north of the borough to the Bishop of Bangor
, and it is thought that Gardd yr Esgob on Lôn Bach formed part of these. In the 19th century one of the town's abattoirs stood here. Tan y Graig, a house at the end of a long garden, dates from at least 1800. Three 16th century fishermen's cottages stand in Rock Terrace. Named Sea Winds, Ty Canol and Ty Isaf, they have 14th century foundations.
On the green at West Parade stands a shelter donated by Margaret Lloyd George
, the wife of the former prime minister
.
Muriau on Lôn Fel includes a group of partly 17th century farm buildings set around a square, which were converted into houses by Elizabeth Williams Ellis of Chwilog
. Muriau Poethion contains an early spiral staircase going round a large inglenook
fireplace. North of Ffordd Pwllheli, several mansions are along the lane, now named Lôn Fel Uchaf. Parciau was once owned by Ellis Annwyl Owen, rector of Llanystumdwy
from 1837 to 1846, whilst Parciau Mawr has a notable 19th century hay barn. Bryn Awelon was the home of David Lloyd George
before World War I
, and later of his daughter Megan
. Nearby, on Arfonia Terrace, is Parciau Uchaf, a farmhouse dating from 1829.
Y Gorlan on Ffordd Caernarfon formed part of the small estate of Cefniwrch Bach, a hunting lodge for Edward I at the time the castle was being built, and is thought to have been a tannery in medieval times.
Ger y Maes, the end house on Holywell Terrace, is close to an ancient well, Ffynnon y Saint, which supplied much of the town's water. The house had a spring inside a cupboard, and ginger beer
was manufactured and sold. The house at the opposite end of the terrace was a dairy
, and to the south are the ruins of the former animal pound, where stray animals were held before being sold.
The former National Westminster Bank on Stryd Fawr has step gables and is a duplicate of a building at Talgarth
in Powys
. On the south side of the street are a number of 19th century shops, including the Medical Hall, dating from 1875 and Siop Newydd, built in 1869.
At the eastern end of the Esplanade stands the Morannedd Café, built in 1954 by Clough Williams-Ellis
.
Criccieth lies on the A497, the main road running through the southern Llŷn Peninsula
from Porthmadog
to Pwllheli
. The B4411 runs north from Criccieth to join the A487
near Garndolbenmaen
, giving access to Caernarfon
to the north.
The town is served by Criccieth railway station
on the Cambrian Coast Line between Pwllheli
and Machynlleth
. Trains, operated by Arriva Trains Wales
, run through to Shrewsbury
, Wolverhampton
and Birmingham
. The station, which is unstaffed, has been adopted by the local community which provides flower displays, and has engaged local artists to paint scenes of the town on the previously boarded up windows
Buses are operated by Arriva Buses Wales
, Caelloi Motors and Express Motors
, serving Bangor
, Beddgelert
, Caernarfon
, Pen-y-Pass
, Porthmadog
and Pwllheli
, while National Express Coaches has a service from Pwllheli to Birmingham and London
.
is provided by Ysgol Treferthyr on Lôn Bach, which has 130 pupils. At the last school inspection by Estyn
, in 2004, 6 per cent of pupils were entitled to free school meals and over 60 per cent came from homes where Welsh
was the main spoken language; Welsh is the main medium of teaching. Secondary school pupils mainly attend Ysgol Eifionydd
in Porthmadog
.
speaking community, 65.54 per cent of the population speaking the language.
The Memorial Hall, fronting Y Maes, is a venue for concerts, dramas and other community events and the main venue during the annual Criccieth Festival. It was designed by Morris Roberts of Porthmadog
in a fusion of the art deco
and arts and crafts
architectural styles and completed in 1925, the foundation stone having been laid in 1922 by David Lloyd George
.
The construction of Criccieth Library on Stryd Fawr was financed by Andrew Carnegie
. A plaque inside the doorway commemorates local historian Colin Gresham. Among the services provided is free broadband access.
The National Eisteddfod was held in Criccieth in 1975, and a new housing estate, Gorseddfa marks the place where the Gorsedd
stones then stood.
The Brynhir Arms on Stryd Fawr dates from 1631. Originally a single storey farm building, it was extended in 1840 to serve the new turnpike road.
The Lion Hotel, an old coaching inn, was built on Y Maes in 1731. It was here that the town's councillors would retire after their meetings in Cwrt.
Several of the town's hotels, including the Marine Hotel on Min-y-Mor and the Caerwylan Hotel on Min-y-Traeth, date from the period after Porthmadog
's new harbour was developed in 1811, when prosperous sea captains invested in properties where their wives could provide accommodation during the summer months.
An inn had reputedly existed on the site of the George IV Hotel in 1600, but the present building on Stryd Fawr dates from 1830, shortly after the turnpike opened. In the 1920s the hotel boasted that it generated its own electricity, and, for a fee, it offered a fire and private bath in guests' rooms. Servants could stay at reduced rates when accompanying their masters.
Clwb Cerdd Dwyfor stages performances at the Holiday Club Hall, ranging from traditional folk to opera and chamber music.
Côr Eifionydd, a mixed voice choir, was formed in 1986 to compete in the National Eisteddfod at Porthmadog
the following year. Conducted by Pat Jones, originally from Newcastle Emlyn
, the choir has won a number of first prizes at the National Eisteddfod. They have toured internationally and have sung in the International Choral Festival in Paris
.
Actor Dyfan Dwyfor
, who won the Richard Burton Award at the National Eisteddfod in 2004, is from Criccieth.
It used to be the custom, on Easter Sunday morning, for keys or pins to be thrown into Ffynnon Fair as an offering to Saint Catherine.
The town features in Welsh Incident, a humorous poem published in 1950 by Robert Graves
, which tells of the mysterious creatures that supposedly, one Tuesday afternoon, "... came out / From the sea caves of Criccieth yonder." It is also the subject of Shipwrecked Mariners, a painting by English Romantic
landscape painter Joseph Mallord William Turner
; the painting uses his sketch of Criccieth Castle
but, although the rock is depicted correctly, the building is a mirror image.
Religion has been an important part of Criccieth's life since early days, and around 1300 St Catherine's Parish Church was built on what is thought to be the site of an early religious foundation. As the town developed so did the church, and in 1500 an extra nave
was added. The church was restored in 1869 by Henry Kennedy and Gustavus O'Donoghue of Bangor
It contains wooden panelling made from old box pews and a communion table
dating from the 17th century. On the wall is a list of rectors stretching back to 1301. In the graveyard, the oldest stone commemorates the death in 1688 of Robert Ellis who was Groom of the Privy Chamber in Ordinarie to Catarina de Bragança
, the wife of Charles II
. Outside the west door is a sundial dating from 1734 with distances to ports in all directions.
In 1749 St Catherine's was one of the buildings visited by Griffith Jones
's Circulating School. Out of a population of 600, 543 illiterates were taught to read so that they would be able to understand the Bible
.
The nearby Rectory was built in 1831 by John Jones, son of the then rector Owen Jones, who had offered to have the house built if his son could succeed to the position. However, Erasmus Parry, rector from 1863 to 1884, was the first to officially live there.
St Deiniol's Church
was completed in 1887 by the Chester
architects Douglas & Fordham. Built as a chapel of ease
for St Catherine's, it was financed by the Greaves family for the use of English speaking visitors as services at the parish church were held in Welsh. It eventually closed in 1988, its pipe organ
being transported to Sydney
in Australia
.
By the 19th century Wales
was a predominantly nonconformist country, and this pattern was mirrored in Criccieth with the construction of a number of dissenting chapels
. The Congregationalists had met on Castle Hill but 1886 saw the building of Jerusalem Congregational Chapel on Cambrian Terrace.
Capel Uchaf on Ffordd Caernarfon was built in 1791 by the Scotch Baptists
. In 1841 the congregation broke away to become Particular Baptists
, followers of Alexander Campbell and the Disciples of Christ
. David Lloyd George
's uncle often preached here and it was from the steps opposite, leading down into the Afon Cwrt, that the future prime minister was baptised. 1886 saw the Particular Baptists move to their new home at Berea on Tan-y-Grisiau Terrace, and in 1939 they joined the mainstream Baptists.
The Calvinistic Methodists
originally met at Tan y Graig on Lôn Fach but moved to Tal Sarnau, a house on the site of the Memorial Hall. From here they moved again, to a site on Stryd Fawr, rapidly outgrowing the small chapel. The neo-classical
Capel Mawr was built on the same site in 1813. A second chapel, Capel y Traeth on Penpaled Road, with a notable porticoed facade, was built at a cost of £2,040 in 1895 by Owen Roberts of Porthmadog
. Previously known as Capel Seion, it was renamed in 1995 when the congregation merged with that of Capel Mawr, reuniting the two congregations that had separated in 1889.
Salem Methodist Chapel was built on Salem Terrace in 1901. It is now a chapel of rest.
Roman Catholics worship at the Church of the Holy Spirit on Ffordd Caernarfon, whilst Criccieth Family Church meets at the Holiday Club Hall on Lôn Ednyfed.
For over a hundred years community hymn singing has taken place on Sunday evenings on the small green at Abermarchnad, the site of the old market of the original fishing village.
At the 2001 census 82.19 percent of the population claimed to be Christian
, whilst 12.40 percent stated that they had no religion.
in 1896. Fifty-one open tournaments were held up to 1939, with players competing for the North Wales Championships. Notables who played here included John Boynton Priestley
, the novelist, playwright and broadcaster; Frank Riseley
who partnered Sydney Smith
and won the Men's Double Championship at Wimbledon
in 1902 and 1906; his brother Bob Riseley who was on the Wimbledon Committee of Management for many years; Dodd and Mellet of South Africa; Dorothy Round Little
who was Ladies' Singles Champion at Wimbledon in 1934 and 1937 and Mixed Doubles Champion in 1934, 1935 and 1936; Commander Philip Glover, Royal Navy
champion; Thelma Cazalet-Keir
, the Conservative
feminist politician; Alan Davies; Duncan Macaulay, who was Secretary of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
from 1946 to 1963; and Megan Lloyd George
, the Liberal Party's
Deputy Leader from 1949 to 1952.
Golf started in Criccieth with a few holes on Caerdyni Hill, but in 1906 Criccieth Golf Club opened. It is an undulating nine hole course on natural terrain with views of the coast and the mountains of Snowdonia
. The penultimate hole is a challenging par 4 with a green 75 feet (22.9 m) above the tee, whilst the finishing hole is just 100 yards (91.4 m) long with the green 100 feet (30.5 m) below the tee. The club holds the distinction of having three British prime ministers, Andrew Bonar Law, David Lloyd George
and Winston Churchill
, play the course on the same day.
The town is a popular venue for sea anglers. From the East Shore, bass
, dogfish
, mackerel
and whiting
can be caught. The Stone Jetty, in addition, is a good spot for conger
, pollock
and wrasse dabs
, whilst bass, dogfish, mackerel, pollock and whiting can all also be found from the Marine Beach.
Criccieth, Llanystumdwy and District Angling Association, formed in 1927, controls the fishing rights on 8 miles (12.9 km) of the Afon Dwyfor and Afon Dwyfach. Each year between 2,000 and 3,000 sea trout and 30 to 40 salmon
are caught; the association runs a hatchery where between 8,000 and 10,000 sea trout are reared annually. Gloddfa Lake, a disused quarry pool on Criccieth Golf Course, is a location for coarse fishing, with catches of rudd, roach and eels
.
Bathing is popular, particularly on the East Shore, which is sandy and has a safe shallow area for children. At the eastern end is a rocky area with rock pools exposed at low tide. Graig Ddu (English
: Black Rock) marks the boundary with Black Rock Sands. The Marine Beach to the west of the castle is pebbly. The water quality prediction is "good" and in 2009 both beaches were awarded a yellow flag seaside award.
Surfing is possible at all stages of the tide, but there is a fairly exposed beach break that does not work very often. It is particularly flat in summer. Most of the surf comes from groundswells and the best swell direction is from the southwest, the beach break providing left- and right-handers. Offshore winds blow from the north-northeast.
Crown green bowls
is played at Criccieth Bowling Club, and there is a miniature golf
course nearby.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
and community
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
on Cardigan Bay
Cardigan Bay
Cardigan Bay is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between Bardsey Island, Gwynedd in the north, and Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire at its southern end. It is the largest bay in Wales....
, in the Eifionydd
Eifionydd
Eifionydd is an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn Peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli. The Afon Erch forms its western border. It now lies in Gwynedd....
area of 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...
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...
. The town lies 5 miles (8 km) west of Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
, 9 miles (14.5 km) east of Pwllheli
Pwllheli
Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...
and 17 miles (27.4 km) south of 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...
. It has a population of 1,826.
The town is a seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
, popular with retirees. Attractions include the ruins of Criccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle is a native Welsh castle situated on the headland between two beaches in Criccieth, Gwynedd, in North Wales, on a rocky peninsula overlooking Tremadog Bay...
, which have extensive views over the town and surrounding countryside. Nearby on Ffordd Castell is Cadwalader's Ice Cream Parlour
Cadwalader's Ice Cream
Cadwalader's Ice Cream is a family-run chain of well known ice cream parlours that originated in Gwynedd, Wales. The ice cream parlour was introduced in Criccieth, by husband and wife David and Hannah Cadwalader in 1927, and was originally run as a general store...
, opened in 1927, whilst Stryd Fawr has several bistro
Bistro
A bistro, sometimes spelled bistrot, is, in its original Parisian incarnation, a small restaurant serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting. Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve. Home cooking with robust earthy dishes, and slow-cooked foods like cassoulet are typical...
style restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s. In the centre lies Y Maes, part of the original medieval town common
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
.
The town is noted for its fair
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
s, held on 23 May and 29 June every year, when large numbers of people visit the fairground
Funfair
A funfair or simply "fair" is a small to medium sized travelling show primarily composed of stalls and other amusements. Larger fairs such as the permanent fairs of cities and seaside resorts might be called a fairground, although technically this should refer to the land where a fair is...
itself and the market which spreads through many of the streets of the town.
Famous people associated with the town include the British prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
, who grew up in the nearby village of Llanystumdwy
Llanystumdwy
Llanystumdwy is a village and community on the Llŷn Peninsula of Gwynedd in Wales, although it is not regarded as being part of Llŷn, but belonging instead to the local region of Eifionydd...
, and poet William George. Group Captain Leslie Bonnet
Leslie Bonnet
Group Captain Leslie Bonnet, MA, LLB, Order of the Cloud and Banner with Special Rosette was an RAF officer, short-story writer and duck-breeder, creating the Welsh Harlequin Duck, the only true Welsh duck breed....
, RAF officer, writer and originator of the Welsh Harlequin Duck and his wife Joan Hutt
Joan Hutt
Joan Hutt was a British artist who spent most of her career in North Wales.-Early life:Joan Hutt was born on 16 September 1913 in Aspenden, Hertfordshire, England Her father, John Hutt MBE, was posted with the Ministry of Food in Malta at that time, but had sent his wife back to England to give...
, artist both lived at Ymwlch just outside Criccieth from 1949 until their deaths in 1985.
Criccieth hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1975 and in 2003 was granted Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town is a status awarded by a recognized Fairtrade certification body describing an area which is committed to the promotion of Fairtrade certified goods...
status. It won the Wales in Bloom competition each year from 1999 to 2004.
The town styles itself The Pearl of Wales on the Shores of Snowdonia.
Etymology
The earliest recorded form of the place name Criccieth in WelshWelsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
is found in Brut y Tywysogion
Brut y Tywysogion
Brut y Tywysogion is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. Brut y Tywysogion has survived as several Welsh translations of an original Latin version, which has...
where reference is made to the imprisonment of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn in the 'castle of Cruceith (Middle Welsh orthography: Kastell Krukeith). The form Cruciaith was used by Iolo Goch
Iolo Goch
Iolo Goch , , was a medieval Welsh poet or bard who composed poems addressed to Owain Glyndŵr, among others.- Lineage :...
in a famous 14th century poem addressed to Sir Hywel y Fwyall, custodian of the castle. There are a number of theories as to the meaning, but the most popular is that it comes from Crug Caeth: caeth may mean 'prisoner' and thus the name could mean prisoner's rock, a reference to the imprisonment of one of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth's sons in the castle by his brother. However, caeth has the primary meaning in Middle Welsh of 'serf[s]' and the name could refer to a bond community nearby. In later medieval times the settlement was also known as Treferthyr (martyr's town), probably a reference to Saint Catherine
Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
, after whom the parish church is named.
The spelling of Criccieth remains controversial today. Many regard this version as an anglicism
Anglicism
An Anglicism, as most often defined, is a word borrowed from English into another language. "Anglicism" also describes English syntax, grammar, meaning, and structure used in another language with varying degrees of corruption.-Anglicisms in Chinese:...
, arguing that the Welsh form Cricieth should be used instead. Others argue that Criccieth is simply an anomaly in the Welsh language, in which there is no double-C, and that the spelling should be preserved. The dispute has resulted in the vandalising of road signs at the entrance to the town.
History
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, and a chambered tomb
Chamber tomb
A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one...
, Cae Dyni, survives on the coast to the east of the town; it consists of seven upright stones, and there are 13 cup marks
Cup and ring mark
Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found mainly in Atlantic Europe and Mediterranean Europe although similar forms are also found throughout the world including Mexico, Brazil, Greece, and India, where...
, arranged in several groups. Evidence from other sites on the Llŷn Peninsula
Llŷn Peninsula
The Llŷn Peninsula extends into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the modern county and historic region of Gwynedd. The name is thought to be of Irish origin, and to have the same root Laigin in Irish as the word Leinster...
suggests that the area was colonised by a wave of Celtic settlers, who explored the 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...
, probably around the 4th century BC. Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
calls the peninsula Ganganorum Promontorium (English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: Peninsula of the Gangani); the Gangani
Gangani
The Gangani were a people of ancient Ireland who are referred to in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography as living in the south-west of the island, probably near the mouth of the River Shannon, between the Auteini to the north and the Uellabori to the south...
were a tribe of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
Celts, and it is thought there may have been strong and friendly links with Leinster
Leinster
Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...
.
Although it is thought that Criccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle is a native Welsh castle situated on the headland between two beaches in Criccieth, Gwynedd, in North Wales, on a rocky peninsula overlooking Tremadog Bay...
was built around 1230 by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth
Llywelyn the Great
Llywelyn the Great , full name Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, was a Prince of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually de facto ruler over most of Wales...
, who had controlled the area since 1202, the first record of the building was in 1239, when the administrative centre of Eifionydd
Eifionydd
Eifionydd is an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn Peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli. The Afon Erch forms its western border. It now lies in Gwynedd....
was moved from Dolbenmaen.
In the later years of his life, Llywelyn turned his attention to his successor. Welsh law
Welsh law
Welsh law was the system of law practised in Wales before the 16th century. According to tradition it was first codified by Hywel Dda during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales; as such it is usually called Cyfraith Hywel, the Law of Hywel, in Welsh...
stipulated that illegitimate sons had equal rights with legitimate sons; Llywelyn sought to ensure that Dafydd ap Llywelyn
Dafydd ap Llywelyn
Dafydd ap Llywelyn was Prince of Gwynedd from 1240 to 1246. He was for a time recognised as Prince of Wales.- Descent :...
, his legitimate offspring, would inherit Gwynedd
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
in place of his eldest, but illegitimate, son Gruffydd
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the first born son of Llywelyn the Great . His mother Tangwystl probably died in childbirth.-Hostage:...
. On Llywelyn's death in 1240, Dafydd sought to secure his position. Dafydd was half English and feared that his pure Welsh half-brother would be able to gather support to overthrow him. Gruffydd was held prisoner in Criccieth Castle, until he was handed over to Henry III of England
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
in 1241, and moved to the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
.
Dafydd ap Llywelyn died in 1246, without leaving an heir, and was succeeded by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd
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....
, his nephew. Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
had inherited the English throne in 1272, and in 1276 declared Llywelyn a rebel. By 1277, Edward's armies had captured the Isle of Anglesey, and were encamped at Deganwy
Deganwy
Deganwy is a village in Conwy County Borough in Wales with a population of 3,700. It is in a more English-speaking region of North Wales, with only 1 in 4 residents speaking Welsh as a first language...
; the settlement, the Treaty of Aberconwy
Treaty of Aberconwy
The Treaty of Aberconwy was signed in 1277 by King Edward I of England and Llewelyn the Last of modern-day Wales, who had fought each other on and off for years over control of the Welsh countryside...
, forced Llywelyn to acknowledge Edward as his sovereign, and stripped him of much of his territory. Dafydd ap Gruffydd
Dafydd ap Gruffydd
Dafydd ap Gruffydd was Prince of Wales from 11 December 1282 until his execution on 3 October 1283 by King Edward I of England...
, Llywelyn's younger brother, attacked the English forces at Hawarden
Hawarden
Hawarden is a village in Flintshire, North Wales. Hawarden forms part of the Deeside conurbation on the Welsh/English border. At the 2001 Census, the population of Hawarden Ward was 1,858...
in 1282, setting off a widespread rebellion throughout Wales; Edward responded with a further invasion of Gwynedd, during which Llywelyn was killed on the battlefield at Cilmeri.
Town privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
was granted in 1284; the charter was intended to create a plantation of English burgesses who would provide food for the soldiers from the arable land behind the Dinas and the grazings on the slopes beyond. Weekly markets were held on Thursdays and there were annual fairs on 25 April and 18 October, the evangelical feasts of Saint Mark and Saint Luke.
The new administration soon proved unpopular among the native Welsh, and in 1294, Madog ap Llywelyn
Madog ap Llywelyn
Madog ap Llywelyn, or Prince Madoc, was from a junior branch of the House of Aberffraw and a distant relation of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last recognised native Prince of Wales.-Lineage:...
led a national revolt against English rule. Criccieth was besieged for several months over the winter; 41 residents sought refuge within its walls, joining the garrison of 29 men under William de Leybourne
Leybourne
Leybourne is a small village in Kent, England situated off Junction 4 of the M20 Motorway. Leybourne is adjacent to Larkfield and West Malling....
, until supplies were brought in from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
the following April. The following year, the castle was again used as a prison, housing captives taken in Edward's wars against Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Three Welshmen who had settled in the borough, which was supposedly reserved for the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, were evicted in 1337, but times were about to change. Hywel ap Gruffudd was appointed constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
of the castle in 1359, the first Welshman to hold the post. The following year he became mayor of the town, holding the office for twenty years; in a poem of praise, Iolo Goch
Iolo Goch
Iolo Goch , , was a medieval Welsh poet or bard who composed poems addressed to Owain Glyndŵr, among others.- Lineage :...
described him as "a puissant knight, head of a garrison guarding the land". By 1374 eight jurymen from the borough had Welsh names.
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
was deposed and imprisoned in 1399, and died in mysterious circumstances the following year. Opposition to the new king, Henry IV
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
, was particularly strong in Wales and Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, and in 1400 serious civil unrest broke out in 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...
. Henry had already declared Owain Glyndŵr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
, a descendant of the Princes of Powys, a traitor, and on 16 September 1400 Owain launched a revolt. He was proclaimed Prince of Wales, and within days a number of towns in the north east of Wales had been attacked. By 1401 the whole of northern and central Wales had rallied to Owain's cause, and by 1403 villages throughout the country were rising in support. English castles and manor houses fell and were occupied by Owain's supporters. Although the garrison at Criccieth Castle had been reinforced, a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
fleet in the Irish Sea stopped supplies getting through, and the castle fell in the spring of 1404. The castle was sacked; its walls were torn down; and both the castle and borough were burned. The castle was never to be reoccupied, while the town was to become a small Welsh backwater, no longer involved in affairs of state.
The town expanded in the 19th century with the coming of new transportation links. In 1807 a turnpike road was built from Tremadog
Tremadog
Tremadog is a village on the outskirts of Porthmadog, in Gwynedd, north west Wales. It was a planned settlement, founded by William Madocks, who bought the land in 1798...
to Porthdinllaen
Porthdinllaen
Porthdinllaen , is a small coastal village in the Dwyfor locality on the Llŷn Peninsula within Gwynedd, North Wales, previously in Caernarfonshire. It is near the larger village of Morfa Nefyn....
, which was intended to be the main port for traffic to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
; and with the construction of the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway
Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway
The Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway was a standard gauge railway built in 1863 connecting major towns on the Welsh coast.- History :...
in 1868, the town began to develop as a Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
seaside resort.
Criccieth solicitor David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
was elected as Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Member of Parliament for the Caernarfon Boroughs
Caernarfon (UK Parliament constituency)
Caernarfon was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Caernarfon in Wales. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system....
in 1890. He was to hold the seat for 55 years, during which he was Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
from 1916 to 1922. He was renowned for his scathing wit; as one of the great reformers of the 20th century; as a wartime leader; and for the scandals that rocked his government. His position as a leading statesman was to bring Criccieth back into national, and international, prominence; the town still has many locations connected with Lloyd George and his family.
Disaster struck Criccieth in October 1927; a great storm in the 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...
stopped the tidal flow, causing a double high tide. High seas and strong on-shore winds destroyed houses at Abermarchnad, the pressure of the waves punching holes through the back walls; the houses subsequently had to be demolished and the occupants rehoused.
Governance
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
under a charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
granted by Edward I in 1284, and was the capital of Cantraf Eifionydd
Eifionydd
Eifionydd is an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn Peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli. The Afon Erch forms its western border. It now lies in Gwynedd....
. The first mayor was William de Leybourne
Leybourne
Leybourne is a small village in Kent, England situated off Junction 4 of the M20 Motorway. Leybourne is adjacent to Larkfield and West Malling....
, who was appointed constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
of the castle a month after the charter was granted. The borough was left unreformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835
Municipal Corporations Act 1835
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 – sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales...
; a royal commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
reported in 1876 that the corporation had long been extinct; and it was formally abolished in 1886.
The Criccieth Impovement Act 1873 had created a board of improvement commissioners
Improvement commissioners
Boards of improvement commissioners were ad-hoc boards created during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom. They were an early form of local government.The first Improvement Commission was the Manchester Police Commission, established in 1765...
to govern the town, and to take over the borough's property; and from 1889 they formed a second tier of local government below Carnarfonshire County Council
Caernarfonshire
Caernarfonshire , historically spelled as Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire in English during its existence, was one of the thirteen historic counties, a vice-county and a former administrative county of Wales....
. Under the Local Government Act 1894
Local Government Act 1894
The Local Government Act 1894 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level under the Local Government Act 1888...
the improvement district became an urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
with a directly-elected council, while the remainder of the civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
was renamed Penllyn
Penllyn
Penllyn is a former civil parish in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The parish was created in 1894 from the part of Criccieth parish that lay outside the ancient borough. It was abolished in 1934, and divided between Llanystumdwy and Criccieth....
, and became part of Llŷn Rural District
Llŷn Peninsula
The Llŷn Peninsula extends into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the modern county and historic region of Gwynedd. The name is thought to be of Irish origin, and to have the same root Laigin in Irish as the word Leinster...
. The urban district was extended between the world wars, taking in parts of Penllyn and Treflys in 1934, followed by part of Llanystumdwy
Llanystumdwy
Llanystumdwy is a village and community on the Llŷn Peninsula of Gwynedd in Wales, although it is not regarded as being part of Llŷn, but belonging instead to the local region of Eifionydd...
in 1938. Criccieth Urban District was abolished in 1974, and the town became part of Dwyfor District
Dwyfor
Dwyfor was one of the five local government districts of Gwynedd, Wales from 1974 to 1996, covering the Llŷn peninsula. Its council was based in Pwllheli....
in the new county
Preserved counties of Wales
The preserved counties of Wales are the current areas used in Wales for the ceremonial purposes of Lieutenancy and Shrievalty. They are based on the counties created by the Local Government Act 1972 and used for local government and other purposes between 1974 and 1996.-Usage:The Local Government ...
of 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...
, although the town retained limited powers as a community
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
. Dwyfor itself was abolished when Gwynedd became a unitary authority
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
in 1996.
The town now forms an electoral division
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
of Cyngor Gwynedd, electing one councillor; in 2008 Guto Rhys Tomos, an Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
, was elected. Criccieth Town Council has 12 elected members; in the 2008 elections ten Independent councillors and one representing Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
were elected unopposed.
Since 1950 Criccieth has been part of Caernarfon
Caernarfon (UK Parliament constituency)
Caernarfon was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Caernarfon in Wales. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system....
parliamentary constituency, and has been represented by Hywel Williams
Hywel Williams
Hywel Williams is a Welsh politician and Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament for Arfon. He previously represented Caernarfon.-Biography:He was educated at Ysgol Glan y Môr, Pwllheli and the University of Wales, Cardiff....
of Plaid Cymru since 2001. In the National Assembly for Wales
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
it has since 2007 formed part of Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Assembly constituency)
Dwyfor Meirionnydd is a constituency of the National Assembly for Wales, created for the 2007 Assembly election. It elects one Assembly Member by the first past the post method of election...
assembly constituency, represented by Dafydd Elis-Thomas
Dafydd Elis-Thomas
Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas, PC, AM, is a Welsh politician and was the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales until 2011...
, the Presiding Officer
Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales
The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales is the Speaker of the National Assembly for Wales, elected by the Members of the National Assembly for Wales to chair their meetings ; to maintain order; and to protect the rights of Members.He or she also heads the Corporate Body of the...
of the assembly, and also from Plaid Cymru; the constituency forms part of the electoral region of Mid and West Wales.
Geography
Eifionydd
Eifionydd is an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn Peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli. The Afon Erch forms its western border. It now lies in Gwynedd....
on the Cardigan Bay
Cardigan Bay
Cardigan Bay is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between Bardsey Island, Gwynedd in the north, and Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire at its southern end. It is the largest bay in Wales....
shore of the Llŷn Peninsula
Llŷn Peninsula
The Llŷn Peninsula extends into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the modern county and historic region of Gwynedd. The name is thought to be of Irish origin, and to have the same root Laigin in Irish as the word Leinster...
. The town is south facing and built around the rocky outcrop containing Criccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle is a native Welsh castle situated on the headland between two beaches in Criccieth, Gwynedd, in North Wales, on a rocky peninsula overlooking Tremadog Bay...
, which effectively divides the shoreline in two at this point. The East Shore has a sandy beach with a shallow area for bathing, whilst the Marine Beach, to the west, is quieter and has a number of hotels and guest houses.
The rhyolitic headland on which the castle is built is strong and not easily eroded. The cliffs to each side, however, are less resistant, being made up of glacial drift, layers of boulders, stones, clay and silt which were laid down during the last 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...
. Sea walls were already in existence at the time of the first 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 in 1891, and the west shore sea wall had been extended and groynes built by 1913. Extensive remedial work was completed in 1965, and the defences were again strengthened in 1974 and 1985. In 1995 work was started on improving the defences along The Esplanade, followed in 1997 by further work to replace the crumbling gabions below Lôn Felin. Submerged forest
Submerged forest
Submerged forest is a term used to describe the remains of trees which have been submerged by marine transgression, i.e. sea level rise and petrified. Examples can be found at low tide on the fringes of the submerged landmass known as Doggerland, around the coast of England and Wales, the Channel...
s occur in a number of places off the Cardigan Bay coastline, including Criccieth; these are deposits of peat, soil and tree remains, and appear to be post-glacial coastal lagoons and estuaries, which have been flooded by rising sea levels.
The town has a temperate maritime climate which is influenced by the Gulf Stream
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...
. Frost and snow are rare; the last serious snowfall, of 6 inches (15.2 cm), was in 1985. The climate results in a luscious, green countryside and many delicate plant species grow wild; gorse flowers throughout the year. One plant unusual to Criccieth is lampranthus roseus, known locally as the Oxenbould Daisy and introduced in the late 19th century by a resident of Min-y-Mor.
Demography
At the 2001 Census, Criccieth had a population of 1,826, of which 62.76 per cent were born in Wales, whilst 32.61 per cent were born in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. 62.54 per cent of households were owner occupied, and 25.30 per cent were in rented accommodation.
| Population change in Criccieth | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 |
| Population | 396 | 459 | 530 | 648 | 811 | 797 | 498 | 901 | 1,213 |
| Year | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1939 | 1951 | 1961 | 2001 |
| Population | 1,507 | 1,406 | 1,376 | 1,886 | 1,449 | 2,290 | 1,652 | 1,672 | 1,826 |
| Sources: | |||||||||
Economy
In the 16th century, at the bottom of Lôn Felin stood the town's mill, powered by water from a millpond near to the present level crossing and fed from the Afon Cwrt.The herring industry
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
was important by the 19th century, with horsedrawn carts converging on Abermarchnad to transport the catch to neighbouring villages. There was also a coal yard and other storehouses by the quay, where the Afon Cwrt enters the sea. Opposite stood a lime kiln, with lime produced both for local use and export, limestone for the kiln being unloaded from ships on the quay.
At the 2001 Census 54.18 per cent of the population were in employment, while the unemployment rate stood at 3.81 per cent. The proportion retired accounted for 22.99 per cent of the inhabitants. Of those employed, 23.04 per cent worked in the wholesale and retail trades and 19.86 per cent in hotels and restaurants.
Landmarks
Criccieth CastleCriccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle is a native Welsh castle situated on the headland between two beaches in Criccieth, Gwynedd, in North Wales, on a rocky peninsula overlooking Tremadog Bay...
dominates the town, standing on a rock overlooking Cardigan Bay
Cardigan Bay
Cardigan Bay is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between Bardsey Island, Gwynedd in the north, and Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire at its southern end. It is the largest bay in Wales....
. Little survives of the original building, but the outer defences are still prominent. The inner bailey contains the earliest remains, including the inner gatehouse, which has two semi-circular towers. It is thought that the original living quarters were in the south west tower, overlooking the sea, and that the square north tower supported a catapult
Catapult
A catapult is a device used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. Although the catapult has been used since ancient times, it has proven to be one of the most effective mechanisms during...
.
To the south of Y Maes stands Caffi Cwrt, an early 18th century detached stone house where the burgesses held court when rain prevented them meeting in their usual location on the bridge. The house has been owned by just two families since 1729. Two medieval strip fields to the rear, Llain Fawr (large strip) and Llain Bella (furthest strip), formed most of the smallholding of Cwrt but were lost when the railway was built. Nearby, where the slate shop now stands, was a smithy.
The Lifeboat Station
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....
stands on Lôn Felin and was built in 1854. The crew of seventeen are all volunteers and are called out by maroons and flares. The current lifeboat, an Atlantic 85
Atlantic 85 class lifeboat
Atlantic 85 class lifeboats serve the shores of the UK and Ireland as a part of the RNLI inshore fleet.The Atlantic 85 is the third generation B-Class Rigid Inflatable Boat developed from the Atlantic 21 and later Atlantic 75...
, is named the Doris Joan. Further uphill stand a 17th century whitewashed cottage, Ty'r Felin, and Foinavon, a pink-stuccoed building once owned by the Bird's Custard
Bird's Custard
Bird's Custard is the original version of what is known generically as custard powder. It is a cornflour -based powder which thickens to form a custard-like sauce when mixed with milk and heated to a sufficient temperature...
family.
Morfin, on Tan-y-Grisiau Terrace was used as an office by David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
whilst he was practising as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
. Nearby, Ty Newydd, a mid-16th century house, was originally built to house the estate bailiff. Criccieth's first council houses on the adjacent Henbont Road were built on land donated to rehouse families made homeless by the 1927 storm. Three 600 year old cottages, originally thatched, make up Wellington Terrace. They are thought to be the oldest in the town.
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
. Ty Mawr, however, originally a smallholding and later a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, dates from the 16th century, whilst on the opposite side of the street a long stone building, divided into three cottages, Porth yr Aur, Trefan and Cemlyn, dates from 1700. The Castle Bakery next door features a stained glass insertion above the shop window which depicts bakers at work. In the past nearby residents could bring their own dough to be baked in the ovens. By the castle entrance Gardd y Stocs, a small green, was home to the town's stocks
Stocks
Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...
, whilst the building that houses the castle information centre was part of the town's guildhall.
The heart of the old town is Y Dref. It was here that the weekly market was held, and it was also the venue for numerous political meetings.
Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
granted lands north of the borough to the Bishop of Bangor
Bangor, Gwynedd
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...
, and it is thought that Gardd yr Esgob on Lôn Bach formed part of these. In the 19th century one of the town's abattoirs stood here. Tan y Graig, a house at the end of a long garden, dates from at least 1800. Three 16th century fishermen's cottages stand in Rock Terrace. Named Sea Winds, Ty Canol and Ty Isaf, they have 14th century foundations.
On the green at West Parade stands a shelter donated by Margaret Lloyd George
Margaret Lloyd George
Dame Margaret Lloyd George, GBE , née Margaret Owen, was the first wife of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George - from 1888 until her death in 1941.-Biography:...
, the wife of the former prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
.
Chwilog
Chwilog is a village in Eifionydd on the Llyn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It forms part of the community of Llanystumdwy.The village is fairly linear, built up around the B4354 which crosses the peninsula to Boduan...
. Muriau Poethion contains an early spiral staircase going round a large inglenook
Fireplace
A fireplace is an architectural structure to contain a fire for heating and, especially historically, for cooking. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows gas and particulate exhaust to escape...
fireplace. North of Ffordd Pwllheli, several mansions are along the lane, now named Lôn Fel Uchaf. Parciau was once owned by Ellis Annwyl Owen, rector of Llanystumdwy
Llanystumdwy
Llanystumdwy is a village and community on the Llŷn Peninsula of Gwynedd in Wales, although it is not regarded as being part of Llŷn, but belonging instead to the local region of Eifionydd...
from 1837 to 1846, whilst Parciau Mawr has a notable 19th century hay barn. Bryn Awelon was the home of David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and later of his daughter Megan
Megan Lloyd George
Lady Megan Arfon Lloyd George CH was a British politician, the first female Member of Parliament for a Welsh constituency, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. She later became a Labour MP....
. Nearby, on Arfonia Terrace, is Parciau Uchaf, a farmhouse dating from 1829.
Y Gorlan on Ffordd Caernarfon formed part of the small estate of Cefniwrch Bach, a hunting lodge for Edward I at the time the castle was being built, and is thought to have been a tannery in medieval times.
Ger y Maes, the end house on Holywell Terrace, is close to an ancient well, Ffynnon y Saint, which supplied much of the town's water. The house had a spring inside a cupboard, and ginger beer
Ginger beer
Ginger beer is a carbonated drink that is flavored primarily with ginger and sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners.-History:Brewed ginger beer originated in England in the mid-18th century and became popular in Britain, the United States, and Canada, reaching a peak of popularity in the...
was manufactured and sold. The house at the opposite end of the terrace was a dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
, and to the south are the ruins of the former animal pound, where stray animals were held before being sold.
The former National Westminster Bank on Stryd Fawr has step gables and is a duplicate of a building at Talgarth
Talgarth
Talgarth is a small market town and community in southern Powys , Mid Wales, with a population of 1,645. Notable buildings in the town include its 14th-century parish church and 13th century Pele Tower, located in the town centre, now home to the Tourist Information and Resource Centre...
in Powys
Powys
Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
. On the south side of the street are a number of 19th century shops, including the Medical Hall, dating from 1875 and Siop Newydd, built in 1869.
At the eastern end of the Esplanade stands the Morannedd Café, built in 1954 by Clough Williams-Ellis
Clough Williams-Ellis
Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC was an English-born Welsh architect known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.-Origins, education and early career:...
.
Transport
Llŷn Peninsula
The Llŷn Peninsula extends into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the modern county and historic region of Gwynedd. The name is thought to be of Irish origin, and to have the same root Laigin in Irish as the word Leinster...
from Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
to Pwllheli
Pwllheli
Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...
. The B4411 runs north from Criccieth to join the A487
A487 road
The A487 is a trunk road in Wales, running up the western side of the country from Haverfordwest in the south to Bangor in the north.It starts at Merlin's Bridge near Haverfordwest, from where it travels north west to St David's, then switches back north east through Fishguard, Cardigan, Aberaeron,...
near Garndolbenmaen
Garndolbenmaen
Garndolbenmaen, known colloquially as Garn, is a village in the county of Gwynedd, Wales. It lies near the A487, approximately 6 miles north west of Porthmadog, in the community of Dolbenmaen, which has a population of 1,300. The closest villages are Dolbenmaen and Bryncir...
, giving access to 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...
to the north.
The town is served by Criccieth railway station
Criccieth railway station
Criccieth railway station serves the seaside town of Criccieth on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales. This railway station is on the Cambrian Coast Railway with passenger services to Pwllheli, Harlech, Barmouth, Machynlleth and Shrewsbury...
on the Cambrian Coast Line between Pwllheli
Pwllheli
Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...
and Machynlleth
Machynlleth
Machynlleth is a market town in Powys, Wales. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads.Machynlleth was the seat of Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh Parliament in 1404, and as such claims to be the "ancient capital of Wales". However, it has never held any official...
. Trains, operated by Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...
, run through to Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
, Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
and Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. The station, which is unstaffed, has been adopted by the local community which provides flower displays, and has engaged local artists to paint scenes of the town on the previously boarded up windows
Buses are operated by Arriva Buses Wales
Arriva Buses Wales
Arriva Buses Wales is a division of Arriva that operates bus services in north Wales. It has its origins in the former Crosville Motor Services. Arriva Buses Wales has approximately 700 employees. The company's official name is Arriva Cymru Ltd.-History:...
, Caelloi Motors and Express Motors
Express Motors
Express Motors is a bus and coach hire company based in Penygroes, Gwynedd. The company operates numerous public bus services in the Caernarfon, Porthmadog, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Bangor and Llandudno areas, as well as the long-distance TrawsCambria service X32 between Bangor and Aberystwyth, though...
, serving Bangor
Bangor, Gwynedd
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...
, Beddgelert
Beddgelert
Beddgelert, or in older English spelling often Bedgellert, is a village and community in the Snowdonia area of Gwynedd, Wales. It is reputed to be named after the legendary hound Gelert. Population 617.- History:...
, 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...
, Pen-y-Pass
Pen-y-Pass
Pen-y-Pass is a mountain pass in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is a popular location from which to walk up Snowdon, as three of the popular routes can be started here...
, Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
and Pwllheli
Pwllheli
Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...
, while National Express Coaches has a service from Pwllheli to Birmingham and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Education
Primary educationPrimary Education in Wales
Primary Education in Wales has a similar structure to Primary Education in England, but teaching of the Welsh language is compulsory and it is used as the medium of instruction in many schools...
is provided by Ysgol Treferthyr on Lôn Bach, which has 130 pupils. At the last school inspection by Estyn
Estyn
Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Its name comes from the Welsh language verb meaning "to extend". Its mission is to achieve excellence for all in learning in Wales by providing an independent, high quality inspection and advice service to the Welsh Assembly Government and...
, in 2004, 6 per cent of pupils were entitled to free school meals and over 60 per cent came from homes where Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
was the main spoken language; Welsh is the main medium of teaching. Secondary school pupils mainly attend Ysgol Eifionydd
Ysgol Eifionydd, Porthmadog
Ysgol Eifionydd, Porthmadog is a bilingual comprehensive school. The majority of its students speak Welsh as a first language and receive their education through the medium of Welsh. The school is located next to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway in Porthmadog.There were 487 pupils at the school...
in Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
.
Culture
Criccieth is a predominantly WelshWelsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
speaking community, 65.54 per cent of the population speaking the language.
The Memorial Hall, fronting Y Maes, is a venue for concerts, dramas and other community events and the main venue during the annual Criccieth Festival. It was designed by Morris Roberts of Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
in a fusion of the art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
and arts and crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
architectural styles and completed in 1925, the foundation stone having been laid in 1922 by David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
.
The construction of Criccieth Library on Stryd Fawr was financed by Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
. A plaque inside the doorway commemorates local historian Colin Gresham. Among the services provided is free broadband access.
The National Eisteddfod was held in Criccieth in 1975, and a new housing estate, Gorseddfa marks the place where the Gorsedd
Gorsedd
A gorsedd plural gorseddau, is a community or coming together of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is occasionally spelled gorsedh , or goursez in Brittany....
stones then stood.
The Brynhir Arms on Stryd Fawr dates from 1631. Originally a single storey farm building, it was extended in 1840 to serve the new turnpike road.
Several of the town's hotels, including the Marine Hotel on Min-y-Mor and the Caerwylan Hotel on Min-y-Traeth, date from the period after Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
's new harbour was developed in 1811, when prosperous sea captains invested in properties where their wives could provide accommodation during the summer months.
An inn had reputedly existed on the site of the George IV Hotel in 1600, but the present building on Stryd Fawr dates from 1830, shortly after the turnpike opened. In the 1920s the hotel boasted that it generated its own electricity, and, for a fee, it offered a fire and private bath in guests' rooms. Servants could stay at reduced rates when accompanying their masters.
Clwb Cerdd Dwyfor stages performances at the Holiday Club Hall, ranging from traditional folk to opera and chamber music.
Côr Eifionydd, a mixed voice choir, was formed in 1986 to compete in the National Eisteddfod at Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
the following year. Conducted by Pat Jones, originally from Newcastle Emlyn
Newcastle Emlyn
Newcastle Emlyn is a town straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in west Wales and lying on the River Teifi.Adpar is the part of the town that lies on the Ceredigion side of the River Teifi...
, the choir has won a number of first prizes at the National Eisteddfod. They have toured internationally and have sung in the International Choral Festival in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Actor Dyfan Dwyfor
Dyfan Dwyfor
Dyfan Dwyfor is a Welsh actor, originally from Cricieth. He attended Ysgol Eifionydd, Porthmadog and Coleg Meirion Dwyfor before going on to Ysgol Glanaethwy. He graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 2007....
, who won the Richard Burton Award at the National Eisteddfod in 2004, is from Criccieth.
It used to be the custom, on Easter Sunday morning, for keys or pins to be thrown into Ffynnon Fair as an offering to Saint Catherine.
The town features in Welsh Incident, a humorous poem published in 1950 by Robert Graves
Robert Graves
Robert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...
, which tells of the mysterious creatures that supposedly, one Tuesday afternoon, "... came out / From the sea caves of Criccieth yonder." It is also the subject of Shipwrecked Mariners, a painting by English Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
landscape painter Joseph Mallord William Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
; the painting uses his sketch of Criccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle
Criccieth Castle is a native Welsh castle situated on the headland between two beaches in Criccieth, Gwynedd, in North Wales, on a rocky peninsula overlooking Tremadog Bay...
but, although the rock is depicted correctly, the building is a mirror image.
Religion
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
was added. The church was restored in 1869 by Henry Kennedy and Gustavus O'Donoghue of Bangor
Bangor, Gwynedd
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...
It contains wooden panelling made from old box pews and a communion table
Communion table
A Communion table is used by many Protestant churches, particularly from Reformed, Baptist, Congregational, and non-denominational traditions, for the preparation of the Eucharist ....
dating from the 17th century. On the wall is a list of rectors stretching back to 1301. In the graveyard, the oldest stone commemorates the death in 1688 of Robert Ellis who was Groom of the Privy Chamber in Ordinarie to Catarina de Bragança
Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza was a Portuguese infanta and queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles II.She married the king in 1662...
, the wife of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
. Outside the west door is a sundial dating from 1734 with distances to ports in all directions.
In 1749 St Catherine's was one of the buildings visited by Griffith Jones
Griffith Jones (Llanddowror)
Griffith Jones was a minister of the Church of England famous for his work in organising circulating schools in Wales. His name is usually associated with that of Llanddowror, Carmarthenshire....
's Circulating School. Out of a population of 600, 543 illiterates were taught to read so that they would be able to understand the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
.
St Deiniol's Church
St Deiniol's Church, Criccieth
St Deiniol's Church, Criccieth, was a church in Criccieth, Gwynedd, Wales . It was built between 1884 and 1887.The church was designed by Douglas & Fordham, a Chester firm of architects. Its plan was cruciform, consisting of a six-bay nave, a three-bay chancel with sanctuary, north and south...
was completed in 1887 by the 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...
architects Douglas & Fordham. Built as a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
for St Catherine's, it was financed by the Greaves family for the use of English speaking visitors as services at the parish church were held in Welsh. It eventually closed in 1988, its pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
being transported to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
By the 19th century 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...
was a predominantly nonconformist country, and this pattern was mirrored in Criccieth with the construction of a number of dissenting chapels
Dissenter
The term dissenter , labels one who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of England and Wales, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the Established Church.Originally, the term...
. The Congregationalists had met on Castle Hill but 1886 saw the building of Jerusalem Congregational Chapel on Cambrian Terrace.
Baptist Union of Scotland
The Baptist Union of Scotland is the main denomination of Baptist churches in Scotland.-From the 1650s to 1869:Baptists first arrived in Scotland with the armies of English republican Oliver Cromwell in the 1650s, who established small churches in Leith, Perth, Cupar, Ayr and Aberdeen, but they did...
. In 1841 the congregation broke away to become Particular Baptists
Strict Baptist
Strict Baptists, also known as Particular Baptists, are Baptists who believe in a Calvinist or Reformed interpretation of Christian soteriology. The Particular Baptists arose in England in the 17th century and took their namesake from the doctrine of particular redemption.-Further reading:*History...
, followers of Alexander Campbell and the Disciples of Christ
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church is a Mainline Protestant denomination in North America. It is often referred to as The Christian Church, The Disciples of Christ, or more simply as The Disciples...
. David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
's uncle often preached here and it was from the steps opposite, leading down into the Afon Cwrt, that the future prime minister was baptised. 1886 saw the Particular Baptists move to their new home at Berea on Tan-y-Grisiau Terrace, and in 1939 they joined the mainstream Baptists.
Calvinistic Methodists
Calvinistic Methodists are a body of Christians forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales and claiming to be the only denomination of the Presbyterian order in Wales which is of purely Welsh origin.-Early history:...
originally met at Tan y Graig on Lôn Fach but moved to Tal Sarnau, a house on the site of the Memorial Hall. From here they moved again, to a site on Stryd Fawr, rapidly outgrowing the small chapel. The neo-classical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
Capel Mawr was built on the same site in 1813. A second chapel, Capel y Traeth on Penpaled Road, with a notable porticoed facade, was built at a cost of £2,040 in 1895 by Owen Roberts of Porthmadog
Porthmadog
Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...
. Previously known as Capel Seion, it was renamed in 1995 when the congregation merged with that of Capel Mawr, reuniting the two congregations that had separated in 1889.
Salem Methodist Chapel was built on Salem Terrace in 1901. It is now a chapel of rest.
Roman Catholics worship at the Church of the Holy Spirit on Ffordd Caernarfon, whilst Criccieth Family Church meets at the Holiday Club Hall on Lôn Ednyfed.
For over a hundred years community hymn singing has taken place on Sunday evenings on the small green at Abermarchnad, the site of the old market of the original fishing village.
At the 2001 census 82.19 percent of the population claimed to be Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, whilst 12.40 percent stated that they had no religion.
Sport
Criccieth Tennis Club can claim to be one of the oldest clubs in existence today. It began in 1882 in the grounds of Parciau Mawr and transferred to its present site in 1884. It was first affiliated to the Lawn Tennis AssociationLawn Tennis Association
The Lawn Tennis Association is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.As the governing body, the LTA is responsible for the coaching and development of junior players, offering courses and qualifications on coaching, as well as the...
in 1896. Fifty-one open tournaments were held up to 1939, with players competing for the North Wales Championships. Notables who played here included John Boynton Priestley
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley, OM , known as J. B. Priestley, was an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He published 26 novels, notably The Good Companions , as well as numerous dramas such as An Inspector Calls...
, the novelist, playwright and broadcaster; Frank Riseley
Frank Riseley
Frank Lorymer Riseley was a British male tennis player. He won the Wimbledon Double Championships twice in 1902 and 1906. He lost the singles finals three times against Lawrence Doherty in 1903, 1904 and 1906....
who partnered Sydney Smith
Sydney Smith (badminton and tennis player)
Sydney Howard Smith was a British badminton and tennis player.Sydney Smith was the first All England Badminton men's singles champion in 1900 . 1897 – 1906 he was Welsh tennis champion...
and won the Men's Double Championship at Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
in 1902 and 1906; his brother Bob Riseley who was on the Wimbledon Committee of Management for many years; Dodd and Mellet of South Africa; Dorothy Round Little
Dorothy Round Little
Dorothy Edith Round Little was a World No. 1 British female tennis player. She was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, where she attended the Dudley Girls High School....
who was Ladies' Singles Champion at Wimbledon in 1934 and 1937 and Mixed Doubles Champion in 1934, 1935 and 1936; Commander Philip Glover, Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
champion; Thelma Cazalet-Keir
Thelma Cazalet-Keir
Thelma Cazalet-Keir CBE, née Cazalet, was a British feminist and Conservative Party politician.She was born in London, the third child and only daughter of William Marshall Cazalet , and Maud Lucia née Heron-Maxwell...
, the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
feminist politician; Alan Davies; Duncan Macaulay, who was Secretary of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club , also known as the All-England Club, based at Aorangi Park, Wimbledon, London, England, is a private members club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon Championships, the only Grand Slam tennis event still held on grass...
from 1946 to 1963; and Megan Lloyd George
Megan Lloyd George
Lady Megan Arfon Lloyd George CH was a British politician, the first female Member of Parliament for a Welsh constituency, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. She later became a Labour MP....
, the Liberal Party's
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Deputy Leader from 1949 to 1952.
Golf started in Criccieth with a few holes on Caerdyni Hill, but in 1906 Criccieth Golf Club opened. It is an undulating nine hole course on natural terrain with views of the coast and the mountains of 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:...
. The penultimate hole is a challenging par 4 with a green 75 feet (22.9 m) above the tee, whilst the finishing hole is just 100 yards (91.4 m) long with the green 100 feet (30.5 m) below the tee. The club holds the distinction of having three British prime ministers, Andrew Bonar Law, David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, play the course on the same day.
Bass (fish)
Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...
, dogfish
Squaliformes
Squaliformes is an order of sharks that includes about 97 species in seven families.Members of the order have two dorsal fins, which usually possess spines, no anal fin or nictitating membrane, and five gill slits. In most other respects, however, they are quite variable in form and size...
, mackerel
Mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...
and whiting
Merlangius merlangus
Merlangius merlangus, commonly known as whiting is an important food fish in the eastern North Atlantic, northern Mediterranean, western Baltic, and Black Sea...
can be caught. The Stone Jetty, in addition, is a good spot for conger
European conger
The European conger, Conger conger, is a conger of the family Congridae, found in the eastern Atlantic from Norway and Iceland to Senegal, and also in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It is sometimes seen in very shallow water by the shore but can also go down to depths of 1170 m...
, pollock
Pollock
Pollock is the common name used for either of the two species of marine fish in the Pollachius genus. Both P. pollachius and P. virens are commonly referred to as pollock. Other names for P...
and wrasse dabs
Wrasse
The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 82 genera, which are divided into nine subgroups or tribes....
, whilst bass, dogfish, mackerel, pollock and whiting can all also be found from the Marine Beach.
Criccieth, Llanystumdwy and District Angling Association, formed in 1927, controls the fishing rights on 8 miles (12.9 km) of the Afon Dwyfor and Afon Dwyfach. Each year between 2,000 and 3,000 sea trout and 30 to 40 salmon
Atlantic salmon
The Atlantic salmon is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and the north Pacific....
are caught; the association runs a hatchery where between 8,000 and 10,000 sea trout are reared annually. Gloddfa Lake, a disused quarry pool on Criccieth Golf Course, is a location for coarse fishing, with catches of rudd, roach and eels
European eel
The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is a species of eel, a snake-like, catadromous fish. They can reach in exceptional cases a length of 1½ m, but are normally much smaller, about 60–80 cm, and rarely more than 1 m....
.
Bathing is popular, particularly on the East Shore, which is sandy and has a safe shallow area for children. At the eastern end is a rocky area with rock pools exposed at low tide. Graig Ddu (English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: Black Rock) marks the boundary with Black Rock Sands. The Marine Beach to the west of the castle is pebbly. The water quality prediction is "good" and in 2009 both beaches were awarded a yellow flag seaside award.
Surfing is possible at all stages of the tide, but there is a fairly exposed beach break that does not work very often. It is particularly flat in summer. Most of the surf comes from groundswells and the best swell direction is from the southwest, the beach break providing left- and right-handers. Offshore winds blow from the north-northeast.
Crown green bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
is played at Criccieth Bowling Club, and there is a miniature golf
Miniature golf
Miniature golf, or minigolf, is a miniature version of the sport of golf. While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf,...
course nearby.