Frongoch is a village located in Gwynedd,

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 lies close to the market town of Bala, on the A4212 road. It was the home of the Frongoch internment camp, used to hold German prisoners-of-war during

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and then Irish Republican prisoners from the 1916 Rising.

History

Whisky

By the late 1800s, Frongoch was the main centre for whisky production in Wales. The distillery was bought by Scottish whisky companies and closed in 1910.

Prison camp

The former distillery buildings (see above) were requisitioned by the UK government and used as a prisoner of war camp for German prisoners during World War One . After the 1916

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

in Ireland it was used to imprison 500 of the Irish Volunteer Army rank and file. Among them were Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith .

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 a private residence.

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 what the

RCAHMW The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW; ; ), established in 1908, is a Welsh Government sponsored body concerned with some aspects of the archaeological, architectural and historic environment of Wales. ...

describes as a "Lombardic/Italian style". 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, 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