Bronaber is a village in

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 ...

, Wales, adjacent to the

A470 The A470 (also named the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road) is a trunk road in Wales. It is the country's longest road at and links the capital Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. While previously one had to navigate th ...

north of

Dolgellau Dolgellau (; ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Merion ...

and in

Trawsfynydd Trawsfynydd (; Welsh language, Welsh for ) is a linear village in Gwynedd, Wales, near Llyn Trawsfynydd reservoir, and adjacent to the A470 road, A470 north of Bronaber and Dolgellau and 10 km (6 miles) south of Blaenau Ffestiniog. It als ...

community.

General information

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

used a site near Bronaber up in the Ranges for training exercises. There is a part of a river named after the training area called ' Llyn Soldiers' which means 'Soldiers Lake' Its continued use for training exercises following the war was the subject of protest by

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

, which also challenged the UK government's continued military conscription in peace time. Other locations in Wales used for training exercises included Preseli Hills and Tregaron. The village has a high proportion of Welsh language speakers (96.9%), and is accordingly in the top five Welsh communities in

Attractions

In Bronaber there is a

holiday village A holiday village (abbreviated HV) is a holiday resort where the visitors stay in villas. There is a central area with shops, entertainment, and other amenities.Stanisław Pietkiewicz, Stefan Żmuda: ''Słownik pojęć geograficznych''. Warsaw ...

used by

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

s every year to stay in

Snowdonia Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...

, there are approximately 200 lodges in Bronaber and most of them occupied every year until November. Also in Bronaber there is a shop, a bar, a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

, a launderette, a

letter box A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business. For outgoing mail, post boxes are often used for depositing the mail for collection, altho ...

and a

phone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

. There was a restaurant called the Rhiw Goch until recently when it was burnt down. There is also a lake in Bronaber called Llyn Llygain which is also referred as Llyn Pikes, this is because there were pikes in the lake that people used to fish, but several believe that most of them have gone.

References

{{authority control Villages in Gwynedd