Frongoch is a village located in Gwynedd,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It lies close to the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

of Bala, on the A4212 road. It was the home of the

Frongoch internment camp Frongoch internment camp at Frongoch in Merionethshire, Wales was a makeshift place of imprisonment during the First World War and the 1916 Easter Rising. History 1916 the camp housed German prisoners of war in a yellow distillery and cru ...

, used to hold German

prisoners-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

during

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and then Irish Republican prisoners from the 1916 Rising.

History

Whisky

By the late 1800s, Frongoch was the main centre for

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...

production in Wales. The distillery was bought by Scottish whisky companies and closed in 1910 when they were attempting to establish brands in England.

Prison camp

A whisky distillery was built in the village in 1897, attracted by the purity of its water but went bankrupt by 1910. The former distillery buildings were requisitioned by the UK government and used as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

camp for German prisoners during

World War One World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland it was used to imprison 500 of the Irish Volunteer Army rank and file. Among them were Michael Collins and

Arthur Griffith Arthur Joseph Griffith ( ga, Art Seosamh Ó Gríobhtha; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that prod ...

Railway station

Frongoch railway station was on the Bala Ffestiniog Line. It closed to passenger services on 2 January 1960 and freight services on 27 January 1961. The station building and signal box are now in use as a private residence. It was converted to a holiday home during the early 1970s. The main station had a small extension added to the end to house a bathroom and the large warehouse was demolished to make way for several homes.

Cwmtirmynach Chapel

The Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel at Cwmtirmynach, lies on the B4501, north of Fron-goch. It was built in 1826 and rebuilt in 1880 in the Lombardic/Italian style of the gable-entry type. The folk singer Robert Roberts (Bob Tai'r Felin) was precentor at the chapel for nearly 50 years. There is weekly worship and the current minister is Hywel Edwards.

Education

There is a Welsh-medium

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, Ysgol Bro Tryweryn, in the village. There were 58 pupils aged between 3 and 11 years on roll in 2017. As of January 2018, the school had the highest percentage of pupils (aged 5 and over) who spoke Welsh fluently at home in Wales, at 97.4%.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Fron-goch and surrounding area
{{authority control Villages in Gwynedd Llandderfel Villages in Snowdonia