Tywyn
Tywyn, formerly spelled Towyn, is a town, community, and seaside resort on the Cardigan Bay coast of southern Gwynedd, Wales. It was previously in the historic county of Merionethshire. It is famous as the location of the Cadfan Stone, a stone cross with the earliest known example of written Welsh, and the home of the Talyllyn Railway.
History of the name
The name derives from the Welsh tywyn. The place-name element tywyn is found in many other parts of Wales, most notably Towyn near Abergele and Porth Tywyn.In Middle Welsh, the spelling was generally Tywyn. In the Early Modern period, however, the spelling Towyn was common in Welsh in order to reflect a slight variation in pronunciation. That also came to be the usual spelling in English up to the latter part of the twentieth century.
With the standardisation of the orthography of the Welsh language in the first part of the 20th century, the spelling Tywyn became increasingly common in all contexts. In 1967, members of Towyn Urban Council voted to request that the town be officially called Tywyn and in July 1967 this was accepted by Merionethshire County Council. Opponents of the change, however, campaigned against it and held an unofficial plebiscite in Tywyn on 25 May 1968. This plebiscite was not administered by an official body but was organised and financed by tradespeople and the campaign to revert to the spelling Towyn. Those who took part in the vote were asked to decide between Tywyn or Towyn – a large majority of those who voted favoured Towyn. As a result, Tywyn Urban Council requested that the decision to use Tywyn be revisited. In June 1969, this request was declined by Merionethshire County Council and thus the name has remained as Tywyn.
The spelling Tywyn better reflects the name's history and the standard orthography of modern Welsh. Writing in 1967, Melville Richards, the noted toponymist and professor of Welsh at the University College of North Wales, Bangor stated that 'in modern Welsh the form should be uniformly "yw" and therefore, Tywyn is the most acceptable spelling for this name which means a strand or seashore'. In 1974, he further commented: 'Mae'r holl ymrafael ynglŷn â sillebu'r enw wedi codi am fod cryn ansicrwydd ac amrywio yn Gymraeg gynt rhwng y seiniau ow ac yw. Ond yn ddiddadl, Tywyn yw'r ffurf gywir'.
In Welsh, the town is sometimes referred to as Tywyn Meirionnydd. In origin, this usage probably refers to the cantref of Meirionnydd, but is now generally understood as referring to the historical county of the same name. In English, during the late nineteenth century and until the middle of the twentieth century, the town was sometimes called Towyn-on-Sea.
History
Tywyn was the location of the first religious community administered by the Breton saint Cadfan upon his arrival in Gwynedd in the early 6th century, prior to his departure he founded a monastery on Bardsey Island off the Llŷn Peninsula. The church contains some early material.Location
The town's historic centre lies about a kilometre from the beach, around St Cadfan's Church. In the second half of the nineteenth century the town expanded considerably, mainly towards the sea.To the north of the town lie the reclaimed salt marshes of Morfa Tywyn and Morfa Gwyllt, beyond which lie the Broad Water lagoon and the mouth of the Afon Dysynni. To the north-east lie the rich farmland of Bro Dysynni and the village of Bryncrug, and to the east the hills of Craig y Barcud and Craig Fach Goch. To the south towards Aberdyfi is the mouth of the Afon Dyffryn Gwyn and Morfa Penllyn.
The Tywyn coastal defence scheme, officially unveiled on 24 March 2011 by Jane Davidson, provides a rock breakwater above the low-tide level, rock groynes, and rock revetment to protect 80 sea-front properties. The costs of this civil engineering project was £7.62M, shared between the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Union's Regional Development Fund.
Language and demography
Until the middle of the twentieth century, Welsh was the main language of Tywyn. The local dialect is of a northern type with some features that are shared with southern dialects. This combinations of features led one Victorian observer to state that three languages were spoken in the town: English, Welsh and 'Tywynaeg'.Victorian Tywyn was overwhelmingly Welsh-speaking with English being for most a language learnt in school rather than in the home or on the street. Indeed, in the town's British School in the 1860s, a 'Welsh stick' was used to punish children who were caught speaking Welsh in school. According to the 1901 and 1911 censuses, the percentages of Welsh speakers in the Towyn Urban District were 86.5% and 83.5% respectively, with 22.4% and 13.8% recorded as speaking only Welsh.
Welsh remained the dominant language in Tywyn until the middle of the twentieth century. In his book Railway Adventure, L. T. C. Rolt recounts walking up the track of the Talyllyn Railway during the Second World War – on stopping to speak to two elderly railway workers a couple of miles from the town, he found that they didn't understand English. Increased tourism, however, and the impact of the military camps on the outskirts of the town had a significant impact on language use and English came to predominate.
At the time of the 2001 census, 40.5% of the population were recorded as Welsh speakers. By the 2011 census this had decreased to 37.5%. In 2016, an Estyn inspection report of Ysgol Penybyryn, the town's primary school, noted that about 22% of the children at the school came from Welsh-speaking homes.
Tywyn is now a significantly anglicised town, with the majority of its population having been born in England according to the 2011 census. Likewise, slightly more respondents claimed an English-only identity than a Welsh-only identity.
Transport and tourism
Improved transport links during the 19th century increased Tywyn's appeal as a tourist destination. In the early decades of that century, a creek of the river Dysynni allowed ships to approach the town's northern fringes, where there was a shipbuilding yard. The draining of the salt marsh and the channelling of the river brought this industry to an end, but during the early part of that century the town was made more accessible by building new roads along the coast to Aberdyfi and Llwyngwril.The railway arrived in the mid-1860s, and had a significant effect on the town. Tywyn railway station opened in 1863. The station is still open, and is served by the Cambrian Line.
Slate-quarrying in the Abergynolwyn area led to the building in 1865 of the Talyllyn Railway, a narrow-gauge line designed to carry slates to Tywyn. Two stations were opened in the town. Tywyn Wharf railway station was originally opened to enable slates to be unloaded onto a wharf adjacent to the main railway line. It is now the Talyllyn's western terminus and principal station. Pendre railway station was originally the passenger station, and now houses the locomotive and carriage sheds and works.
Notable visitors who stayed at Tywyn in the 19th century include:
- Thomas Love Peacock
- Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe
- Ignatius Spencer
- Charles Darwin
- William Morris
- Elizabeth Blackwell
- Sir Rupert Kettle
There has been extensive bungalow and caravan development in the vicinity.
Other industries
Apart from tourism, agriculture has long been the most important industry in the area. Lead and copper used to be mined in the town's hinterland.The Marconi Company built a Long Wave receiver station in Tywyn in 1914, working in duplex with the high-power transmitter station near Waunfawr. In 1921 the Tywyn and Waunfawr stations initiated a transatlantic wireless telegraph service with a similar RCA wireless transmitting station in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA and RCA's receiver station in Belmar, New Jersey. This new transatlantic service replaced Marconi's obsolete transatlantic telegraph station in Clifden, Ireland following its 1922 destruction during the Irish Civil War.
For most of the 20th century, the armed forces were a significant presence in Tywyn. The town was a major training ground for the amphibious warfare landings in the Second World War and had a strategic war base. Abandoned pillboxes may still be seen on the coast to the south of the town. RAF Towyn opened on 8 September 1940 as an air-cooperation base for the Royal Artillery Anti-Aircraft Practice Camp at Tonfanau, but closed on 25 July 1945. The links with the armed forces came to an end when the Joint Service Mountain Training Centre at Morfa Camp closed in 1999. Morfa camp is now in private ownership and many buildings are let as small storage units.
Facilities and notable features
Much of the town's infrastructure was put in place by an industrialist from the English Midlands, John Corbett, who in the 1870s decided to develop the town into a major tourist resort to rival Torquay. As well as constructing a row of boarding houses and a grand esplanade, he developed the water and sewerage system. He gave land and money for a new Market Hall, built to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. He paid for Brynarfor to be opened as 'Towyn Intermediate School' in 1894. He refurbished the Corbet Arms Hotel, and also contributed to the Assembly Room, now the Magic Lantern Cinema. Plaques commemorating his generosity may still be seen on the north end of the promenade and on the Market Hall. Another commemorative plaque was on Brynarfor, and his portrait was hung there when the school first opened. However, the anticipated grand watering-place never took off, and these additions to the town were never matched.In 1912, a drill hall was built in the Pendre area of the town for the Territorial Army. The hall, now known as Neuadd Pendre, has recently been renovated, mainly with money from the National Lottery Big Lottery Fund and the Welsh Government. The hall houses a 3-manual 9-rank Wurlitzer Organ which was originally installed in a cinema in Woolwich in 1937.
Tywyn Hospital is located on the outskirts of the town, on land known as Pen-y-bryn Mawr that was gifted by Thomas Corbett of Ynysymaengwyn. The foundation stone was laid by Dame Margaret Lloyd George on 11 August 1920 and the hospital was officially opened on 17 August 1922 by Sir Osmond Williams.
Like the hospital, Towyn Memorial Institute was built to commemorate those killed in the First World War. It was officially opened by David Lloyd George on 29 October 1926. The Institute was the location of the town's library before a new library building was built next to it and officially opened on 18 January 1973. The Institute was closed in 2007.
The main schools in Tywyn are the primary school, Ysgol Penybryn, and the secondary school, Ysgol Uwchradd Tywyn.
Local places of interest include Craig yr Aderyn, Castell y Bere, Llanfendigaid Estate and Llyn Myngul. Hen Dyffryn Gwyn is a Grade II listed building dating from 1640 which retains many of its original features.