Town in Conwy, Wales
Llandudno
A herd of wild goats strolls the streets, a tram hauled by cable climbs a mountain, and a girl called Alice may have started a rabbit hole here. Meet the Queen of the Welsh Resorts.
Key information
- County
- Conwy
- Nation
- Wales
- Known for
- Victorian seaside resort, the Great Orme, Wales's longest pier and the historic Great Orme Tramway, Alice in Wonderland links
- Famous people
- Neville Southall, Alice Liddell (family holidays), Edward Mostyn
- Football clubs
- Llandudno FC
About Llandudno
The goats that treat the town as their own
Llandudno has a wild herd of Kashmiri goats, and they have a habit of wandering down off the Great Orme into the streets. They have been spotted nibbling hedges and gazing at hotel gardens, and in 2020 the lockdown famously sent them on a wander through the empty town. The herd is said to descend from a pair given to Lord Mostyn in the 1890s. Its link to the army is even better: the Royal Welsh regimental goat mascot is chosen from the Great Orme herd. The goats are the town's unofficial mascots, and they appear on souvenirs, signs and local businesses.
A resort designed on a drawing board
Most seaside towns grew by accident. Llandudno was planned. In the middle of the 19th century the Mostyn family, who owned the land, saw that a sheltered bay between two limestone headlands, the Great Orme and the Little Orme, would suit a Victorian holiday resort. Before then it was a modest place where people worked copper mines and fished. The Liverpool surveyor Owen Williams drew up the layout, with wide streets, a sweeping curve of promenade and room for grand hotels. Edward Mostyn backed it, and the railway helped bring in the crowds from Lancashire and the Midlands. That is why Llandudno still feels so ordered. The long crescent of seafront is lined with terraces, and the grid of streets behind it was laid out with a purpose. The nickname Queen of the Welsh Resorts stuck.
Down the rabbit hole in Llandudno
Alice Liddell, the real girl who inspired Lewis Carroll's Alice, spent holidays here. Her father, Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, had a holiday house called Penmorfa on the shore west of the Great Orme. Town tradition links the visits with details in the Alice books, and Llandudno has fully embraced it. A White Rabbit statue stands on the West Shore, there are rabbit trails around the town, and an Alice in Wonderland festival is held here. Whether or not the White Rabbit was ever spotted in Llandudno, the connection is a big part of the town's identity.
Four thousand years of mining under the headland
Long before the Victorians, people were digging here. The Great Orme Mines are Bronze Age copper workings, around 4,000 years old, and among the largest prehistoric mines known. Miners worked tunnels with stone and bone tools, following the veins of copper through the rock. The workings were rediscovered in the 20th century, and visitors can now go underground into the ancient passages. The headland has a quieter, older story too. St Tudno, who gave the town its name, is said to have brought Christianity here in the 6th century. The church on the Great Orme still carries his name, and the town takes its name from his church: Llan Tudno.
Trams, piers and Punch and Judy
The Great Orme Tramway opened in 1902 and climbs the headland on a steep route. It is Britain's only cable-hauled street tramway still running on a public road, and it is a sensible way to reach the top. The pier arrived in 1877 and is 2,295 feet long, the longest in Wales. It is a listed building and the town's best-known landmark. Seaside tradition survives on the promenade too: the Codman family have run a Punch and Judy show here since the 1860s. Other favourites include the Happy Valley gardens, the Marine Drive loop around the headland, a cable car over the town and a toboggan run on the hillside.
Eating, sport and local names
Food here is classic seaside. Fish and chips on the promenade is the standard order, and Conwy mussels and Welsh lamb show up on local menus, along with bara brith and Welsh cakes at tea. In football, Llandudno FC play at Maesdu Park. The town's best-known footballing son is the goalkeeper Neville Southall, born here in 1958, who went on to win league titles and the FA Cup with Everton and to play for Wales. Venue Cymru, the big theatre on the seafront, brings in touring shows, opera and comedy all year round, which keeps the resort lively outside the summer.