Aberdaron
Aberdaron is a community, electoral ward and former fishing village at the western tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. It lies west of Pwllheli and south-west of Caernarfon; as of 2021, it has a population of 896. The community includes Bardsey Island, the coastal area around Porthor, and the villages of Anelog, Llanfaelrhys, Penycaerau, Rhoshirwaun, Rhydlios, Uwchmynydd and Y Rhiw. It covers an area of just under 50 square kilometres.
Y Rhiw and Llanfaelrhys have long been linked by sharing rectors and by their close proximity, but were originally ecclesiastical parishes in themselves. The parish of Bodferin/Bodverin was assimilated in the 19th century. The village was the last rest stop for pilgrims heading to Bardsey Island, the legendary "island of 20,000 saints". In the 18th and 19th centuries, it developed as a shipbuilding centre and port. The mining and quarrying industries became major employers, and limestone, lead, jasper and manganese were exported. There are the ruins of an old pier running out to sea at Porth Simdde, which is the local name for the west end of Aberdaron Beach. After the Second World War, the mining industry collapsed and Aberdaron gradually developed into a holiday resort. The beach was awarded a Seaside Award in 2008.
The coastal waters are part of Pen Llŷn a'r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation, one of the largest marine designated sites in the United Kingdom. The coast itself forms part of the Aberdaron Coast and Bardsey Island Special Protection Area and was designated a Heritage Coast in 1974. In 1956, the area was included in Llŷn Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Conservation Areas have been created in Aberdaron, Bardsey Island and Y Rhiw; the area has been designated a Landscape of Historic Interest.
Etymology
Aberdaron means "Mouth of the Daron river", a reference to the river which flows into the sea at Aberdaron Bay.The river itself is named after Daron, an ancient Celtic goddess of oak trees, with Dâr being an archaic Welsh word for oak. As such, the name shares an etymology with Aberdare and the Dare river.
Prehistory
The area around Aberdaron has been inhabited by people for millennia. Evidence from the Iron Age hillfort at Castell Odo, on Mynydd Ystum, shows that some phases of its construction began unusually early, in the late Bronze Age, between 2850 and 2650 years before present. The construction was wholly defensive but, in later phases, defence appears to have been less important; in the last phase, the fort's ramparts were deliberately flattened, suggesting there was no longer a need for defence. The Bronze and Iron Age double-ringed fortification at Meillionnydd was occupied intensively from at least the 8/7th to the 3rd/2nd century BCE and was also deliberately flattened. It appears that Aberdaron became an undefended farming community. Ptolemy calls the Llŷn Peninsula Ganganorum Promontorium ; the Gangani were a tribe of Celts also found in Ireland and it is thought there may have been strong ties with Leinster.History
The church at Aberdaron had the ancient privilege of sanctuary. In 1094, Gruffudd ap Cynan, the exiled King of Gwynedd, sought refuge in the church while attempting to recapture his throne; he escaped in the monastic community's boat to Ireland. He regained his territories in 1101 and, in 1115, Gruffydd ap Rhys, the exiled prince of Deheubarth, took refuge at Aberdaron to escape capture by Gwynedd's ruler. Henry I of England had invaded Gwynedd the previous year and, faced by an overwhelming force, Gruffudd ap Cynan had been forced to pay homage and a substantial fine to Henry. The King of Gwynedd, seeking to give up the exiled prince to Henry, ordered that the fugitive prince be dragged from the church by force, but his soldiers were beaten back by the local clergy; Gruffydd ap Rhys escaped under cover of night and fled south to join up with his supporters in Ystrad Tywi.Following the conquest of Gwynedd, in 1284, Edward I set about touring his new territories. He visited the castles at Conwy and Caernarfon. Court was held at Nefyn, at which his new subjects were expected to demonstrate their loyalty; he visited Aberdaron on his way to Bardsey Abbey.
The medieval townships of Aberdaron were Isseley, Uwchseley, Ultradaron and Bodrydd. These locatives predate the idea of the modern ecclesiastical parish; some were or became hamlets in themselves, whereas others have subsequently been divided.
After the English Civil War, when the Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell introduced a strongly Protestant regime, Catholicism remained the dominant religion in the area. Catholics, who had largely supported the Royalist side, were often considered to be traitors and efforts were made to eradicate the religion. The persecution even extended to Aberdaron and, in 1657, Gwen Griffiths of Y Rhiw was summoned to the Quarter Sessions as a "papist".
Agricultural improvement and the Industrial Revolution came to Aberdaron in the 19th century. The Inclosure Act 1801 was intended to make it easier for landlords to enclose and improve common land, introduce increased efficiency, bring more land under the plough and reduce the high prices of agricultural production. Rhoshirwaun Common, following strong opposition, was enclosed in 1814; the process was not completed in Aberdaron, Llanfaelrhys and Y Rhiw until 1861. On the industrial front, mining developed as a major source of employment, especially at Y Rhiw, where manganese was discovered in 1827.
During the Second World War, Y Rhiw played a vital role in preparations for the Normandy landings. A team of electronic engineers set up an experimental ultra high frequency radio station, from where they were able to make a direct link to stations in Fishguard and Llandudno. The system employed a frequency that the German forces were unable to either monitor or jam, and was used in the 1944 landings.
Governance
Aberdaron, Bardsey Island, Bodferin, Llanfaelrhys and Y Rhiw were civil parishes in the commote of Cymydmaen within Cantref Llŷn, in Caernarfonshire. Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, parishes were grouped into "unions": Pwllheli Poor Law Union was created in 1837. Under the Public Health Act 1848 the area of the poor law union became Pwllheli Rural Sanitary District, which from 1889 formed a second tier of local government under Caernarfonshire County Council. Y Rhiw was absorbed into the smaller Llanfaelrhys in 1886; and under the Local Government Act 1894 the four remaining parishes became part of Llŷn Rural District. Bodferin, Llanfaelrhys, and parts of Bryncroes and Llangwnnadl, were amalgamated into Aberdaron in 1934. Llŷn Rural District was abolished in 1974 and Bardsey Island was absorbed into Aberdaron; this formed a community within Dwyfor District in the new county of Gwynedd; Dwyfor was abolished as a local authority area when Gwynedd became a unitary authority in 1996.The community now forms an electoral division of Gwynedd Council, electing one councillor; William Gareth Roberts of Plaid Cymru was re-elected in 2008. Aberdaron Community Council has 12 elected members, who represent three wards: Aberdaron De, Aberdaron Dwyrain and Aberdaron Gogledd. Ten Independent councillors and one from Plaid Cymru were elected unopposed in the 2008 election.
From 1950, Aberdaron was part of Caernarfon UK parliamentary constituency; in 2010, the community was transferred to Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency. In the Senedd, it has formed part of the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency since 2007, represented by Dafydd Elis-Thomas of Plaid Cymru, who was the Presiding Officer of the assembly until 2011. The constituency forms part of the electoral region of Mid and West Wales.
Geography
Aberdaron stands on the shore of Aberdaron Bay in a small valley at the confluence of the Afon Daron and Afon Cyll-y-Felin, between the headlands of Uwchmynydd to the west and Trwyn y Penrhyn to the east. At the mouth of the bay stand two islands, Ynys Gwylan-Fawr and Ynys Gwylan-Fach, which are known together as Ynysoedd Gwylanod. Gwylan-Fawr reaches 108 feet in height. The Llŷn Peninsula is a marine eroded platform, an extension of the Snowdonia massif, with a complex geology including Precambrian rocks. The coastline is rocky, with crags, screes and low cliffs; heather-covered hills are separated by valleys occupied by pastures.To the east, Mynydd Rhiw, Mynydd y Graig and Mynydd Penarfynydd form a series of hog-back ridges of igneous rock that reaches the sea at Trwyn Talfarach. Above the ridges are topped by hard gabbro. At its northern end, Mynydd Rhiw rises to and is a Marilyn. The outcrop of Clip y Gylfinhir looming above the village of Y Rhiw. Mynydd Penarfynydd is one of the best exposures of intrusive, layered, igneous rock in the British Isles.
East of Y Rhiw is an extensive low-lying plateau between and above sea level. The coastal rock is softer here and the sea has been free to erode the rock and boulder clay to form sand, resulting in the spacious beach of Porth Neigwl.
West of Aberdaron, four peaks rise above the rocky shoreline at Uwchmynydd. Mynydd Anelog stands high and another Marilyn, Mynydd Mawr at ; Mynydd y Gwyddel rises to and Mynydd Bychestyn is above sea level.
Bardsey Island lies off Pen y Cil, where there is another Marilyn; Mynydd Enlli. The island is wide and long. The north-east rises steeply from the sea to a height of. In contrast, the western plain comprises low and relatively flat, cultivated farmland; in the south, the island narrows to an isthmus, connecting to a peninsula.
The coast around Aberdaron has been the scene of many shipwrecks. In 1822, the Bardsey Island lighthouse tender was wrecked, with the loss of six lives; in 1752, the schooner John the Baptist, carrying a cargo of oats from Wexford to Liverpool, was wrecked on the beach at Aberdaron. The sailing ship Newry, with 400 passengers bound from Warrenpoint to Québec, was wrecked at Porth Orion in 1880. The crew abandoned the passengers, leaving just the captain, ship's mate and one sailor, assisted by three local men, to lead 375 men, women and children to safety. A great storm swept the country on 26 October 1859 and many ships were lost; nine were wrecked at Porthor, seven of them with complete loss of life. On the south coast, vessels were often driven ashore at Porth Neigwl by a combination of south westerly gales and treacherous offshore currents. The Transit was lost in 1839, the Arfestone in the following year and the Henry Catherine in 1866. The bay earned its English title, Hell's Mouth, from its reputation for wrecks during the days of the sailing ship.
Aberdaron is noted for low levels of air pollution. The Gwynedd State of the Environment Report in 2004 found levels of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide to be very low, with particulates to be low. It is one of the few sites in the United Kingdom for golden hair lichen, a striking bright orange lichen that is very sensitive to air pollution. The climate is relatively mild and, because of the Gulf Stream, frosts are rare in winter.