County in Wales
Gwynedd
Gwynedd has the tallest mountain in Wales, a village built as a fantasy Italian resort, and a slate strike that dragged on for three years.
Key information
- County
- Gwynedd
- Nation
- Wales
- Population
- about 117,000 (2021 Census)
- Known for
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), Caernarfon Castle, Portmeirion, slate, the Llŷn Peninsula and narrow-gauge railways
- What locals are called
- North Walians, sometimes 'Gogs'; people from Caernarfon are 'Cofis'
- Famous people
- David Lloyd George, Bertrand Russell, Hedd Wyn, Clough Williams-Ellis
- Football clubs
- Caernarfon Town, Porthmadog, Llanberis, Bangor 1876
About Gwynedd
The kingdom that outlived the Romans
Long before Wales had a county map, Gwynedd was a kingdom. It rose in the early Middle Ages, after the Romans left, and became the strongest Welsh power. Its rulers took refuge in the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) when enemies pressed in. Its great figures were Llywelyn the Great and his grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, who was Prince of Wales until he was killed in 1282. His brother Dafydd took up the title and held it until 1283, and Edward I then set about making sure Gwynedd stayed conquered. He did it in stone. Caernarfon and Harlech are the heart of an extraordinary ring of castles, which together form a World Heritage Site. Caernarfon was built to look like the walls of Constantinople, and Edward's son, later Edward II, was born there in 1284. The castle hosted the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1911 and again in 1969. The old kingdom's legacy is still audible. Welsh is the everyday language across much of Gwynedd, in shops, schools and pubs.
A dragon under the mountain
Legend says the red dragon on the Welsh flag began at Dinas Emrys, a wooded hill near Beddgelert. The king Vortigern kept failing to build a fortress there because the walls kept falling down. The young Merlin explained why: two dragons, one red and one white, were fighting in a pool beneath the hill. The red one won. The region's other great story belongs to Snowdon, or Yr Wyddfa, 'the tomb'. Folklore says it is the grave of the giant Rhita Gawr. At 1,085 metres it is the highest mountain in Wales. Edmund Hillary and the 1953 Everest team trained around here, and the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel below the peak still has memories of that. Walkers can climb it by several routes, or ride the Snowdon Mountain Railway, which opened in 1896. A man died on its very first day.
The slate that roofed the world
Gwynedd's grey-purple hills made fortunes. Quarries at Llanberis, Bethesda and Blaenau Ffestiniog sent roofing slate to cities across Britain and far beyond. It came at a cost. The Penrhyn quarry dispute of 1900 to 1903 is one of the longest industrial disputes in British history. Families in Bethesda held out for years against the quarry owner, Lord Penrhyn. The Ffestiniog Railway was built in the 1830s to carry slate down to the sea at Porthmadog. It is among the oldest narrow-gauge railway companies in the world and still runs steam trains through the hills. The Welsh Highland Railway links Porthmadog to Caernarfon, and a heritage line runs beside Bala Lake. The old workings have found new uses. A former quarry at Penrhyn now carries zip wires. At Dinorwig, near Llanberis, the power station's machinery sits in vast underground caverns. It stores energy by pumping water from Llyn Peris up to Marchlyn Mawr, then lets it rush back down through turbines to generate electricity.
Italy, but in Gwynedd
Portmeirion looks like a Mediterranean fishing village that has drifted onto the Welsh coast. The architect Clough Williams-Ellis built it from 1925, mixing pastel cottages, a campanile and a gilded Buddha. He said he wanted to show that a beautiful site could be developed without being ruined. It became a television legend when it played 'The Village' in the 1960s cult series The Prisoner. Some of Gwynedd's other landmarks are quieter. Bardsey Island (Ynys Enlli) off the tip of the Llŷn Peninsula is said to hold the graves of 20,000 saints. Pilgrims crossed to it in the Middle Ages, and grey seals haul out on its shores today. Bangor, one of the smallest cities in Britain, has a cathedral on a site founded in the sixth century, a Victorian pier and a university dating from 1884.
People, poems and pride
David Lloyd George, the only Welsh-speaking prime minister, grew up in Llanystumdwy, near Criccieth, where a museum tells his story. The philosopher Bertrand Russell spent his last years at Penrhyndeudraeth and died there in 1970. The poet Hedd Wyn, from Trawsfynydd, was killed at Passchendaele in 1917. A few weeks later he was awarded the Chair at the National Eisteddfod. At the ceremony the chair was draped in black, and it has been known ever since as the Black Chair. People from Caernarfon are Cofis, and their lively dialect is famous across Wales. The town's football club, Caernarfon Town, plays in the Welsh league system. Bangor City, who played in European competition, withdrew from league football in 2022, and a separate club, Bangor 1876, carries on in the city. Porthmadog and Llanberis also have their own clubs. For a meal, expect Welsh lamb, cawl (a broth of lamb and vegetables), and a slice of bara brith, the speckled tea loaf, with a cup of tea.