A bit here from The net.
It's good stuff too.
Betws-y-Coed is North Wales' most popular inland resort.
It is where the River Conwy meets its three tributaries flowing from the west, the Llugwy, the Lledr and the Machno.
Much of it was built in Victorian times and it is the principal village of the Snowdonia National Park.
Set in a beautiful valley in the Snowdonia Forest Park, it is ideal for outdoor activity holidays. Numerous Craft and outdoor activity shops are in the village with the popular Swallow Falls nearby.
It’s has a wonderful setting surrounded by dense woodland and magnificent mountain country is only part of the answer.
The beauty of the area is enhanced by cascading waterfalls, hill-top lakes, river pools and ancient bridges.
Ever since the Victorian artists flocked to the area and formed the first artist colony it has been a mecca for those that appreciate its unique natural beauty.
The main street, Holyhead Road, has numerous inns and bed-and-breakfasts.
Shops specialise in outdoor clothes and the tourist center provide maps and advice on day trips in the area.
At the railway station is a Museum with a miniature railway, shop and restaurant.
The old 14th century church of St Michael's is one of the oldest in Wales and is worth viewing.
Of exceptional interest are the many bridges in the area. Pont-y-Pair (the bridge of the cauldron), built in 1468, is buffeted by foaming water after heavy rain.
A number of sign-posted walks in the surrounding countryside start near this bridge.
A mile or so away is the Miner's Bridge, on the road to Capel Curig, where the miners crossed the river on a steep ladder to their work.
Thomas Telford's iron Waterloo Bridge built in 1815, which carries the A5 across the River Conwy, bears the cast iron inscription "This arch was constructed in the same year the battle of Waterloo was fought". Also worth visiting are the awesome Conwy Falls off the road to Pentrefoelas and the beautiful Fairy Glen off the A470 where the River Conwy flows through a narrow gorge.
Local History
Stone Age man lived in the area and was responsible for the Neolithic Burial Chamber at Capel Garmon.
During the Bronze Age (at about 2000 BC) the Beaker Folk who originated from Spain sailed into Britain, bringing with them metal-working, although they did not penetrate into the mountainous areas which remained the preserve of the Neolithic people.
The Celts arrived from Central Europe about 600 BC introducing the use of bronze and later iron-working.
They developed tools bringing improvements in agriculture and during this period the roots of a distinctive Welsh life and culture can be detected.
These Celts were known as the Britons.
The Romans invaded Britain in AD43 and by AD78 the conquest of Wales was complete.
The lives of the Celtic peoples was not greatly affected in the area as the Romans were largely confined to their hill forts and roads.
However the Romans left a legacy of improved agricultural practices (including the introduction of sheep) and mining technology when they left Wales in AD383, as well as introducing Christianity.
After the Romans left, much of Britain was overrun by the pagan Anglo-Saxons and others from the continent, and the Picts of Scotland and the Irish also attacked the Celtic Britons.
This was the period of the Arthurian Legends, but the area around Snowdonia remained a Celtic stronghold, although the Welsh became separated from their Celtic cousins in Cornwall and Cumbria.
The area was part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd which covered north west Wales, although its borders changed depending on the fortunes of its ruler at the time.
Although England was conquered by the Normans in 1066, Wales was not successfully conquered for over 200 years and it was during this period that many castles were built such as Dolwyddelan by the Welsh and Conwy by the Normans.
During this time Wales was perhaps at its strongest when Gwynedd was under the rule of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth also known as Llewelyn Fawr (Llewelyn the Great).
He was born in Dolwyddelan, succeeded in uniting Wales when King John was on the English throne and had a lot of connections with this area.
With the final conquest of Wales by Edward I, and the death of Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales (grandson of Llewelyn Fawr) in 1283, Wales was ruled by the English.
This was the last Celtic rule until Merlin's prophecy came true and the Welsh Tudors took the throne of England.
During the Tudor period laws discriminating against the Welsh were repealed which led to the prominence of local families such as the Wynns of Gwydir.
The local economy was based on agriculture, and in the 19th century slate quarrying and woollen mills were developed.
The slate quarries are now shut down, but agriculture continues to be the mainstay of the economy along with tourism which developed in Victorian times.
Up in the hills at nearby Capel Garmon there is a celebrated cromlech; a 5,000 year old Neolithic burial chamber. There are also spectacular views of the mountains of Snowdonia from Capel Garmon.
Swallow Falls
The Swallow Falls are considered to be one of the loveliest spots of North Wales.
Here the river rushes down from the mountains.
Crags and jagged rocks divide the stream into a number of foaming cascades.
A mile further on are the famous Swallow Falls, where the Llugwy river hurls itself into a spectacular chasm.
The Local Cuisine
The following is an extract from an American Tourist Website, where visitors post their personal experiences of visiting the UK. This one is about Betwy-y-Coed:
‘A long bike ride or hike in the chilly Welsh air, sometimes with a light drizzle as an accompaniment, will help diet-conscious tourists understand why traditional Welsh cuisine is heavily dependent on butter and cheese.
Welsh rarebit - a dish consisting of cheese sauce with a mustard tang poured over buttered toast - might sound like a heavy dish for a midday meal, but it seems natural in the Welsh climate.
You can try the rarebit at Tu Hwnt I'r Bont, a 15th-century stone cottage in Llanwrst, on the other side of the Gwydyr Forest from Betws-y-Coed.
The teahouse, which sits on a riverbank, its roof level to the road, is prepared for tourists: Its dark, low ceiling beams bear warnings for diners to "watch your head" in languages ranging from German to Arabic.
The Welsh cuisine, which locals concede once was heavy and laden with fatty meats, has recently become more refined.
The Glamorgan sausages at the Riverside restaurant in Betws, for example, are served with a light, chunky tomato sauce accented by leeks.
Glamorgan sausages are touted as the original vegetarian dish, created by the Welsh out of vegetables and cheese for times when meat was pricey or scarce.
For those who haven't tired of dairy products, afternoon tea is served with buttered bara brith, a loaf bread similar to - but lighter than - fruitcake. ’
The Welsh Culture
Visitors to Betws-y-Coed, as with other towns in North Wales, will hear the locals speak Welsh. This warm croeso, or welcome, is itself part of the Welsh culture - expressed through the bilingual signs that greet tourists in every small town.
In the past the English outlawed the Welsh language but it lived on through the singing, reciting and storytelling that are a part of Welsh daily life. The recent development of the National Assembly for Wales had produced a heightening sense of national identity, allowing foreigners a greater opportunity to experience Welsh culture .
Capel Curig
At the very heart of the National Park, this rugged mountain village is the mecca for climbing and walking in Snowdonia. Ringed by the Glyders, Moel Siabod and the foothills of the Carneddau range, Capel Curig is the home of Plas-y-Brenin - the national centre for mountain activities. Also at Capel Curig is Ty Hyll (The Ugly House), so named because of the huge uneven boulders in its walls. It is now the home of the Snowdonia Society.
Photo:- Waterloo Bridge at Betws-y-Coed has carried the A5 traffic since 1815.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...es__bridge.jpg
Dolwyddelan Castle must be the most dramatically sited castles in Wales, built by the native Welsh prince Llwelyn the Great. The views over Snowdonia from the castle are superb.
The Wales 2000 Network
Click on the town name below to visit other areas of Wales
Aberdovey Aberystwyth Amlwch Bala Barmouth Beaumaris Betws-y-Coed Caernarfon Chester Chirkhttps://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gifColwyn Bay ConwyDenbigh Flintshire Harlech Holyhead Llanberis Llandrindod Llandudno Llangollen Oswestry Pwllheli Porthmadog Rhayader Rhyl Ruabon Ruthin Snowdonia St Asaph Welshpool Wrexham PhotosOld Photos
But today I have driven two hundred and fifty miles, had a great day out.
Drove into Wales.
I'll give full details in next day or two, it's getting late now and I'm tired.
Swallow Falls though at 'Betws Y Coed' were fantastic, brilliant.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...ws_Y_Coed_.jpg
The Cauldron was bubbling.
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It was throwing it down when we left the north.
The weather in Wales, apart from a couple of very light showers was superb.
The last thirty or forty miles home was in horrendous driving conditions. Day turned into night.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...Y_Coed___1.jpg
The actual day was brilliant though. We went down some very narrow lanes in the Welsh countryside.
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We were extremely impressed by some of the beautiful places we came to. I'm sure the next few days will make for good reading and viewing on here.
The heavy rains of late had really enhanced the water falls.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...ales_welsh.jpg
This was a photograph taken just a few hours ago at Pontcysyllte, we were walking on top of the aqueduct which carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee.
It is an absolute amazing feat of engineering. I'll write much more up on the same and put some additional photographs on here in the next few days.
** I was pointed in the right direction for this amazing aqueduct some two months or more since by Propagator on this thread and I'm taking the opportunity of thanking him for that. Cheers Pal, it was an amazing experience.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...e_aquaduct.jpg
Back to the trip.
First port of call yesterday was St Winifrides Well, at Holywell North Wales.
It quite amazes me how certain tales of old create so much interest and so many side issues.
These are the basics regarding the same, which I have to say are interesting:-
St. Winifred's Well was an important place for pilgrims to visit during the Middle Ages. The story is told of how in the 7th century a young prince, Caradoc, visited Tegeingle near the mouth of the River Dee. Caradoc saw a pretty young girl called Winifred and made advances towards her. Winifred rejected and then ran towards the church. Caradoc, furious for being treated in this way, chased after her and cut off her head with a sword.
The head rolled down the hill towards the church. Winifred's father, Beuno, was just leaving the church and realizing what had happened, "cursed Caradoc so that he fell dead". Beuno lifted the head, wrapped it in his cloak and returned to Mass, where he asked the people to help him with their prayers for Winifred. He then joined the "head to her body and she at once revived, and afterwards bearing only a red threadlike mark around her throat."
Legend has it that where Winifred's head had fallen "the stones surrounding the fountain were stained forever with her blood, and the blood falling in the water coloured also the moss that grows there and which has the perfume of frankincense, though some say of violets."
A well was built where Winifred's head fell and people believed in the Middle Ages that its water had a curative quality. Therefore people visited St. Winifred's Well seeking physical help rather than a pilgrimage of penance.
On 23rd November, 1851, Pope Pius IX granted indulgences to pilgrims who visited St. Winifred's Well. This increased the number of visitors but on 5th January, 1917, disaster struck when the spring, which had been bubbling at the rate of twenty-one tons a minute, went suddenly dry. The reason for this was that tunneling by a local lead-mine company, had caused the water to drain away into the River Dee. Later that year the lead-miners had managed to divert another underground stream to restore the supply of water.
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St. Winifred's Well, Holywell
It's an extremely impressive old church, that's for sure.
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There's an outside type of bathing pool area which enables the faithful to bathe in the spring water and say various prayers.
Apparently there is quite a good response to the 'healing powers' of the water.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...lywell_004.jpg
Inside the building there were quite a large number of crutches and other walking aid paraphernalia, which had been discarde by the 'healed'
You can see from this photograph that there are several tent type modesty units to allow folk to change prior to bathing in the water.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...lywell_012.jpg
I always look at these places with considerations that if they each do one person any good, it's alright, carry on. It's not like there is a massive fee or any fee above a few 'bob' admission and no claims are made to the same being a cure for anything. It's a kind of faith thing, if it works for some. So mote it be.
There are additional wells, or bathing places inside the Church building.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...well_008-1.jpg
Personally I was really impressed with the architecture.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...lywell_007.jpg
I'm not at all sure how old the building section above is, it's obviously clocking on a fair bit, there are more modern additions to the Church in general throughout the grounds as well.
This information is quite interesting though.
Holywell first enters written history in 1093, when 'Haliwel' was presented to St Werburgh's Abbey, Chester. In 1240, the Welsh prince Dafydd ap Llewelyn, once more in control of this area in Wales, gave the holy well and church to the newly-established Basingwerk Abbey; and the Cistercian monks cared for the well and its pilgrims until the Reformation.
Winifred's fame, and with it the fame of the Well, continued to spread throughout the middle ages, but little is factually recorded about the pilgrimage. By 1415, her feast had become a major solemnity throughout Wales and England. Kings could be found among her pilgrims. Henry V came in 1416. Richard III maintained a priest at the Well. But it was during the reign of the Welsh Henry VII that devotion reached its pinnacle, with the building of the present well-shrine under the patronage of Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort.
Such glory was short lived, though the Well's fame was never eclipsed. The Reformation swept away shrines and pilgrimages; but no attempt ever quite succeeded in destroying devotion to St Winifred at her Well. Through all the years of religious persecution, pilgrims, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, continued to visit Holywell. It became the centre of Catholic resistance. James II and his queen visited the Well in 1686, to pray for an heir. But James was exiled, and the persecution renewed. Through these long years, Holywell and its pilgrims were served by the Jesuits. They wrote popular Lives of the saint; and even kept inns in the town, where Mass could be said in comparative safety.
In the nineteenth century, after Catholic Emancipation, it was the Jesuits who oversaw and directed the spectacular renaissance of the pilgrimage. A church opened in the town in the 1840's was constantly enlarged and enriched. A pilgrim's hospice was erected shortly afterwards. And under Fr. Beauclerk in the 'nineties, the pilgrimage underwent a revival of medieval proportions. Pilgrims came literally in thousands, necessitating a branch rail line into the town. The popular press gave account of each reported cure. And the sick reported cures in such numbers that Holywell came to be called the 'Lourdes of Wales'. Despite the alterations to pilgrimage patterns caused by the increasing secularism of 20th-century life, and by devotional changes within Catholicism itself, the Jesuit's heritage continues: people are still coming to Holywell on pilgrimage.
The Well Crypt and Chapel
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...ll_winwell.gif
Unlike Gwytherin, with the grave and other relics of the saint, or Shrewsbury Abbey, which after 1138 enshrined Winifred's body, the Holywell pilgrimage has always centred on the Well itself. A church, almost certainly on the site of the present Anglican church of St James, over-looking the Well, has stood by the Well, certainly since 1093 and probably since Winifred's own time. And there may perhaps have been a further small chapel, connected more directly with the Well. But we have no indication as to the form of the Well itself throughout the middle ages. Celtic holy wells take many individual forms, and it is possible that until the end of the fifteenth century there was no form of structure at all around the spring itself, which is what the medieval Welsh votive poems suggest.
The sheer force of the spring would support this.
The present glorious structure was begun around 1500 and probably took 10 or 15 years to complete. It is unique, having no parallel anywhere in Europe; and is a masterpiece of late Perpendicular architecture. It takes the form of an almost square crypt, built into the steep hillside, but open to the North through a triple arcade which gives access to the Well. In the centre the spring rises in a star-shaped basin, before flowing into an oblong bath, access to which is gained at either end by steps. All around the Well graceful columns rise to support the elaborately vaulted roof; and in the centre, directly over the source, is a large pendent boss, beautifully carved with the legend of St Winifred, but now badly worn. Originally, the spaces between the columns were filled with delicate Gothic tracery, destroyed by the Puritans. An open gallery in the west wall originally gave the pilgrim his first glimpse of the holy well as he descended from the chapel above, to enter the crypt through the now closed door. An elaborate niche houses a statue of St Winifred, placed there in 1886 to replace the original much-venerated Gothic image, which was destroyed in the seventeenth century.
The chapel comprises a nave and a side-aisle, and is built directly over the crypt, with which it is contemporary. At its east end an apse was built out onto the hillside to contain the altar. The well-crypt has never ceased to be used for its original purpose, but the chapel has seen many changes of use, used at times as a court-house, at others as a school. In consequence, it suffered great damage, but it was thoroughly restored and re-roofed in 1976. Both the interior and exterior of the chapel are enriched with fine, and often amusing, sculptures.
Considering the superior quality of the architecture, and the degree of technical skill required to build directly over the source of a small river, it is odd that not a single hard fact concerning its construction has survived. We do not know the name of its architect, nor the name of those who commissioned and paid for the shrine: not even the dates of its construction. The building itself yields the only clues. The emblems and coats of arms carved on the bosses of the crypt ceiling suggest the patronage of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, the pious mother of Henry VII. Margaret died in 1509. The arms of Catherine of Aragon suggest further royal patronage; and yet other badges indicate the beneficence of other noble families. Such patronage, which alone could account for the building's splendour, is also the only real clue to dating it to the first decade of the sixteenth century.
Though its exact history will probably always remain a mystery, the shrine remains a fitting setting for the only British pilgrimage to have survived continuously for over 1300 years.
The history is quite amazing, in my opinion anyhow.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...lywell_005.jpg
As mentioned before the architecture and buildings in general are wonderful.
A pleasure to look at.
*Edited by dirtydog so any mistakes or mess ups are mine*
