Clynnog Fawr, often simply called Clynnog, is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

on the north coast of

Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, north-west

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It is in the historic county of

Caernarfonshire Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Geography The county ...

. The community includes

Pant Glas ; as in other Celtic languages, "glas" may mean both 'green' and 'blue') is a hamlet on the A487 road in Gwynedd, Wales, in the community of Clynnog. Historically in Caernarfonshire, it is located approximately south of Caernarfon, north-west ...

. Clynnog Fawr lies on the

A499 road The A499 road is the major road of the Llŷn peninsula in North Wales. Its northern terminus is a roundabout with the A487 trunk road between Llanwnda and Llandwrog It then runs south-westerly along the northern coast of the peninsula, thr ...

between

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

and

Pwllheli Pwllheli ( ; ) is a market town and community on the Llŷn Peninsula (), in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011, which declined slightly to 3,947 in 2021; a large proportion (81%) were Welsh language, Welsh speaking. ...

, at , between the coast and a mountainous area including Bwlch Mawr. It had a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 130 in 1991, which had increased to 997 at the 2011 Census. The

covers an area of . The main feature of the village is St Beuno's Church, which is much larger than would be expected in a village of Clynnog's size. The site is said to be that of a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

founded by

Beuno Saint Beuno (;Baring-Gould & Fisher, "Lives of the British Saints" (1907), quoted a Early British Kingdoms website by David Nash Ford, accessed 6 February 2012 640), sometimes anglicized as Bono, was a 7th-century Welsh abbot, confessor ...

in the early 7th century. Clynnog means 'the place of the holly-trees': compare Breton ''

Quelneuc Quelneuc () is a former commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the commune Carentoir. It developed into an important foundation and some Welsh law manuscripts specify that the Abbot of Clynnog was entitled to a seat at the court of the king of

Deial Haul Eglwys Beuno Sant Clynnog Fawr Sundial - geograph

The church is recorded as having been burnt in 978 by the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

and later burnt again by the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

. By the end of the 15th century it was a collegiate church, one of only six in Wales. The church was an important stopping place for

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

s heading for

Bardsey Island Bardsey Island (), known as the legendary "Island of 20,000 Saints", is located off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Wales, Welsh county of Gwynedd. The Welsh language, Welsh name means "The Island in the Currents", while its English name refers to t ...

and contains ''Cyff Beuno'', an ancient wooden chest hollowed out of a single piece of ash and used to keep alms given by the pilgrims. ''Maen Beuno'' or "Beuno's Stone" has markings reputed to be those of Beuno's fingers. Outside in the churchyard there is a

canonical sundial A tide dial, also known as a mass dial or a scratch dial, is a sundial marked with the canonical hours rather than or in addition to the standard hours of daylight. Such sundials were particularly common between the 7th and 14th centuries in Europ ...

dated between the late 10th century and the early 12th century. ''Ffynnon Beuno'' (St Beuno's Well) is a Grade II* listed structure at the south-west end of the village. The church is a major location on the North Wales Pilgrims Way. The church is open from 10am to 5pm every day from Easter to October. The area has been the site of a number of battles, including the Battle of Bron yr Erw in 1075 when

Gruffudd ap Cynan Gruffudd ap Cynan (–1137) was List of rulers of Gwynedd, King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to House of Normandy, Norman rule. As a descen ...

's first bid to become king of Gwynedd was defeated by Trahaearn ap Caradog, and the

Battle of Bryn Derwin The Battle of Bryn Derwin was fought in Eifionydd, Gwynedd on June 1255, between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and his brothers, Dafydd ap Gruffudd and Owain Goch ap Gruffydd. Llywelyn had ruled over a truncated Kingdom of Gwynedd jointly with Owain ...

in 1255 when

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ( – 11 December 1282), also known as Llywelyn II and Llywelyn the Last (), was List of rulers of Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd, and later was recognised as the Prince of Wales (; ) from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 128 ...

defeated his brothers

Owain Owain () is a name of Welsh origin, variously written in Old Welsh as Ougein, Eugein, Euguen, Iguein, Ou(u)ein, Eug(u)ein, Yuein, and in Middle Welsh as Ewein, Owein, and Ywein. Other variants of the name Owain include Ewein, Iguein, Owein, Ouein, Y ...

and Dafydd to become sole ruler of Gwynedd.

Modern era

Clynog Golf Club (now defunct) appeared only briefly after World War I. It had disappeared by the mid-1920s. Clynnog's population was 997, according to the 2011 census; this was a 15.9% increase since the 860 people noted in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. The 2011 census showed 73.2% of the population could speak Welsh, a rise from 67.2% in 2001. The Clynnog

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

elects one councillor to sit on

Gwynedd Council Gwynedd Council, which calls itself by its Welsh name , is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language. History The county of Gwynedd was c ...

. Clynnog is covered by a Neighbourhood Policing Team based in the nearby village of Penygroes.

Notable people

Morus Clynnog Morys Clynnog (also Morus or Clynog; c. 1525–1581), also known as Maurice Clen(n)ock(e), was a Welsh people, Welsh Roman Catholic priest and recusant exile. He was the first head of the English College, Rome. He was born at Llŷn or Eifionydd (p ...

(ca. 1525 - 1581), Welsh Roman Catholic priest and recusant exile. * St. John Jones (ca. 1530 - 1598), a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest, and martyr. * Ebenezer Thomas (1802–1863), a Welsh teacher and poet, bardic name of ''Eben Fardd'', moved to the village in 1827, where he lived opposite the church.

References

{{authority control Villages in Gwynedd Clynnog