| Llanrwst | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Llanrwst Location withinConwy | |
| Area | 5.24 km2 (2.02 sq mi) |
| Population | 3,128 (Community, 2021)[1] |
| • Density | 597/km2 (1,550/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | SH800615 |
| Community |
|
| Principal area | |
| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LLANRWST |
| Postcode district | LL26 |
| Dialling code | 01492 |
| Police | North Wales |
| Fire | North Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
53°08′13″N3°47′42″W / 53.137°N 3.795°W /53.137; -3.795  Map of the community | |
Llanrwst (Welsh for 'church or parish ofSaint Grwst';Welsh pronunciation:[ɬanˈruːst]) is amarket town andcommunity inConwy County Borough, Wales. It is on the east bank of theRiver Conwy and theA470 road, and lies within thehistoric county boundaries ofDenbighshire. It developed around thewool trade and became known also for the making ofharps and clocks.[3] Today, less than one mile (two kilometres) from the edge ofSnowdonia,[4] its main industry istourism. Notable buildings includealmshouses, two 17th-century chapels, and theParish Church of St Grwst, which holds the stone coffin ofLlywelyn the Great. At the2021 census, the community had a population of 3,128.
Llanrwst takes its name fromSaint Grwst, a 6th-century saint. The first church dedicated to him at Llanrwst was on a site now occupied by Seion Methodist Chapel, between Station Road and Cae Llan.[5] A secondchurch of St Grwst was built on a new site a short distance south of its predecessor, on the banks of the Conwy. The site was donated for the purpose in about 1170 by Rhun ap Nefydd Hardd, a member of the royal family ofGwynedd.[6] The second church was replaced by the current building on the same site in the late 15th century.[7]
Llanrwst developed around thewool trade, and for a long time the price of wool for the whole of Britain was set here.[9] The growth of the village in the 13th century was considerably aided by an edict byEdward I of England (who builtConwy Castle) prohibiting any Welshman from trading within 10 miles (16 km) of the town ofConwy. Llanrwst, located some 13 miles (21 km) from that town, was strategically placed to benefit from this.[10]
During the13th century wars between the Welsh and English rulers, Llanrwst was for a time a border town, with the River Conwy serving as a boundary between English and Welsh rule in the 1240s and 1250s, and again in the 1270s and 1280s. The town's ambiguous status during this time gave rise to the local saying"Cymru, Lloegr a Llanrwst" (Wales, England and Llanrwst).[11] The saying was used as the title of a 1989 song by local band,Y Cyrff.[12]
The parish was also contested between different ecclesiastical jurisdictions; whilst the Conwy was generally the boundary between the dioceses ofBangor andSt Asaph, the parish of Llanrwst straddled the river. In 1276,Llywelyn ap Gruffudd,Prince of Wales, claimed the whole parish for the Bangor diocese as part of trying to assert Welsh rule over the area. This was disputed by the bishop of St Asaph, who appealed to theArchbishop of Canterbury and thePope. Matters resolved after Llywelyn's death in 1282 and the subsequent conquest of the Welsh territories by the English crown.[13] The parish of Llanrwst was thereafter allowed to straddle the two dioceses, with the part east of the Conwy (including the town and parish church) being in the diocese of St Asaph, and the part west of the Conwy (includingGwydir Forest) being in the diocese of Bangor.[14]
In a survey in 1334, Llanrwst was described as one of threeboroughs in theLordship of Denbigh, with the others beingDenbigh andAbergele.[15] Boroughs were towns with certain trading rights and judicial powers. Some boroughs were subordinate only to the monarch rather than any interveninglord of the manor; these were sometimes termed 'free boroughs', and included places such asCaernarfon and Conwy.[16][17] Modern writers sometimes claim that Llanrwst was a free borough.[18] The origins and extent of Llanrwst's claim to borough status are unclear, but it appears to have been already in decline by the time of the 1334 survey, and Llanrwst's borough status did not endure.[15]
In 1610Sir John Wynn ofGwydir had the historic LlanrwstAlmshouses built to house poor people of the parish. These closed in 1976, but were restored in 1996 with the aid ofHeritage Lottery funding, reopening as a museum of local history and community focal point. It held a collection of over 100 items relating largely to the rural Conwy valley, and a number associated with the renowned Llanrwst Bards of the late 19th century. It closed as a museum in 2011.[19]
The Grade I-listedPont Fawr, a narrow, three-arched stone bridge said to have been designed byInigo Jones, was built in 1636 bySir Richard Wynn (son of Sir John Wynn) ofGwydir Castle.[20] It links the town with Gwydir, amanor house dating from 1492, a 15th-centurycourthouse known asTu Hwnt i'r Bont, and a road from nearbyTrefriw.[21][22][23] North of the village is the site of a house, Plas Madoc, which was the home of Colonel John Higson. A friend ofHenry Pochin ofBodnant, Higson developed a garden at Plas Madoc which may have had input from, or been influenced by,Henry Ernest Milner. The house has been demolished but the garden remain and are listed at Grade II on theCadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.[24]
Llanrwst hosted theNational Eisteddfod in 1951, 1989 and 2019.[25]
It is sometimes said that Llanrwst sought to join theUnited Nations in 1946 or 1947 as an independent state.[26][27][18] No contemporary evidence confirming such a bid has been found.[28] The earliest published version found of the story is a mention in a newspaper article from 1992, which gave no dates or further detail, but mentioned that Llanrwst "once discussed applying for membership of the United Nations".[11] Various versions of the claim have been made since 1992.[26][27] At the 2019 Eisteddfod, a local arts group handed out mock passports for the "Free Borough of Llanrwst" to visitors.[18][29]
Llanrwst lies between 10 and 50 metres (33 and 160 ft) above sea level on the eastern bank of the River Conwy. The A470 trunk route between North and South Wales runs through the town, joined by the A548 main road fromRhyl,Prestatyn andChester. To the south-west isGwydir Forest. On the hills above isMoel Maeloganwind farm; the power generated by its turbines is fed to the town sub-station.
In 1830 the local doctor and naturalist John Williams published a workFaunula Grustensis ('Crusty Plants') which described the fauna, geography and pathologies in and around Llanrwst.
There are two tiers of local government covering Llanrwst, atcommunity (town) andcounty borough level: Llanrwst Town Council (Cyngor Tref Llanrwst) andConwy County Borough Council (Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy). The town council is based at 19 Ancaster Square in the town centre.[30]
Llanrwst was anancient parish.[31] The parish historically straddled the River Conwy, which formed the boundary between thecantrefi ofArllechwedd to the west andRhos to the east. Under theStatute of Rhuddlan in 1284, Arllechwedd became part of the county ofCaernarfonshire and Rhos became part of themarcher lordship ofDenbighland.[32] Denbighland subsequently became part ofDenbighshire from that county's creation in 1536.[33] The parish of Llanrwst continued to straddle the two counties until the 19th century, with the part in Caernarfonshire being known as thetownship ofGwydir (sometimes also called Treywdir).[34][32]
From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under thepoor laws, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, the civil functions were exercised by subdivisions of the parish rather than the parish as a whole. In the case of Llanwrst, the parish was split into two parts for administering the poor laws: the Caernarfonshire township of Gwydir, and the rest of the parish in Denbighshire.[35] In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Gwydir and Llanrwst became separatecivil parishes.[36] The civil parish of Gwydir or Trewydir was subsequently abolished in 1905, being absorbed into the neighbouring parish ofLlanrhychwyn.[37]
When elected parish and district councils were established in 1894, Llanrwst was given a parish council and included in theLlanrwst Rural District. In 1897 part of the parish was converted into anurban district. The remainder of the old parish outside the urban district became a separate parish called Llanrwst Rural.[38] Llanrwst Urban District was abolished in 1974 and its area became a community instead. District-level functions passed toAberconwy Borough Council, which was in turn replaced in 1996 by Conwy County Borough Council.[39][40] The Llanrwst Rural parish also became a community in 1974; it was reorganised into a community calledBro Garmon in 1983.[41][42][43]
In the 2011 census the town population was put at 3,323,[44] 61 per cent beingWelsh speakers.[45] At one time Llanrwst was the Wales's eighth largest town, with a higher population thanCardiff.[47][48] The change in the town population in the 19th and 20th centuries appears in the chart below.
Llanrwst has tworailway stations,Llanrwst andNorth Llanrwst, on theConwy Valley Line, which terminated here before being extended toBetws-y-Coed in 1867 andBlaenau Ffestiniog in 1879. It was originally envisaged that the railway would pass closer to the river, on the site of today's Central Garage. The Victoria Hotel was built opposite the bridge in anticipation of this. Had the line been built on the west bank of the River Conwy, as originally planned, to serve the inland port ofTrefriw across the river from Llanrwst, it is unlikely that Llanrwst would have gained its present status.
Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy, previously Llanrwst Grammar School, is a bilingualsecondary school with about 790 pupils. According to the latest inspection report byEstyn, it has aGCSE pass rate of 71 per cent (based on five GCSEs, grades A–C), putting the school in equal 24th place, just outside the top 10 per cent of secondary schools inWales. It is also the second best-performing secondary school in Conwy, behindEirias High School inColwyn Bay.
There is a Christian-based youth club in Seion Chapel called Clwb Cyfeillion.
Llanrwst hostsLlanrwst United FC, with two seniorteams. The first plays in the Welsh Alliance League and the reserves in Clwyd League Division 2. The club has a junior section of eight teams, playing in the Aberconwy and Colwyn League. Llanrwst Cricket Club plays in theNorth Wales Premier Cricket League. Since 2012, there has been an annualhalf marathon round the town.[49]
In birth order:
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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