Llanbedr () 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 ...

south of

Harlech Harlech () is a seaside resort and community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, North Wales, and formerly in the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Merionethshire. It lies on Tremadog Bay in the Snowdonia National Park. Before 1966, it ...

. Administratively, it lies in the

Ardudwy Ardudwy () is an area of Gwynedd in north-west Wales, lying between Tremadog Bay and the Rhinogydd. Administratively, under the old Kingdom of Gwynedd, it was first a division of the sub kingdom (cantref) of Dunoding and later a commote in i ...

area, formerly

Meirionnydd is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a kingdom, a , a district and, as Merionethshire, a county. It is currently a committee area within the county Gwynedd. Kingdom (Meirion, with as a Welsh suffix of land, literally 'La ...

, of the county of

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. In 2011 the community had a population of 645.

History

Ancient monuments at Llanbedr include

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

s; the Stones of Llanbedr and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

hut circle In archaeology, a hut circle is a circular or oval depression in the ground which may or may not have a low stone wall around it that used to be the foundation of a round house. The superstructure of such a house would have been made of timber an ...

s. The village originally grew around the

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

ing industry. Glyn Pedr is a Victorian Grade II listed residence on Maes Ffynnon. During the

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 ...

, Marian Antonia Gamwell, a widow, created a British Red Cross auxiliary hospital at her new home, the country house called Aber Artro, at Llanbedr.

Climate

Church and chapel

The church of St Peter, after whom the village is named (Pedr being the Welsh for Peter), is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. In 2019 approval was given to convert Capel Moriah in Llanbedr, which had gone out of use, into a Mosque. About east of the village centre is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

Pentre Gwynfryn Pentre Gwynfryn is a village in the Ardudwy area of Gwynedd, Wales, about east of Llanbedr. The village is at the confluence of the River Artro and the River Cwmnantcol. The inside of the village's chapel (Capel Salem) was made famous by th ...

whose chapel, Capel Salem, was the subject of a painting by the artist

Sydney Curnow Vosper Sydney Curnow Vosper RWS, RWA (29 October 1866 – 10 July 1942) was an English painter and etcher of landscapes and figure subjects. His later work has a close association with Wales and Brittany. His most famous work is '' Salem'' (1908), w ...

. The painting, entitled ''

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada * Salem, Ontario, various places Germany * Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district ** Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery * Salem, Schleswig-Holstein Israel * Salem (B ...

'', showed a member of the congregation, Siân Owen, in

traditional Welsh costume The Welsh traditional costume () was worn by rural women in Wales. It was identified as being different from that worn by the rural women of England by many of the English visitors who toured Wales during the late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

and became famous throughout Britain in the mid-20th century.

Airport

The village is home to

Llanbedr Airport Llanbedr Airfield (), formerly RAF Llanbedr (ICAO: EGOD), is an operational general aviation aerodrome located in the Snowdonia National Park near the village of Llanbedr, Gwynedd, northwest Wales. History It opened in 1941 as part of RAF Fi ...

, a general aviation aerodrome. Until 2004 the site was operated as a military airfield by the

Defence Evaluation and Research Agency The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) was a part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) between 1995 and 2 July 2001. At the time it was the United Kingdom's largest science and technology organisation. It was regarded by its official h ...

(DERA) and

QinetiQ QinetiQ ( as in '' kinetic'') is a British defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire. It operates primarily in the defence, security and critical national infrastructure markets and run testing and evaluation capabili ...

as a launch site for remotely-piloted drones for use as aerial targets by the RAF and other UK forces. The airfield was included in the Snowdonia Enterprise Zone by the Welsh Government in January 2013. In 2018 the airport became home to a flying school offering pleasure flights and flying lessons. After the UK passed 2021 enabling legislation, in 2022, the Welsh Government announced plans to develop

space launch Space launch is the earliest part of a flight that reaches space. Space launch involves liftoff, when a rocket or other space launch vehicle leaves the ground, floating ship or midair aircraft at the start of a flight. Liftoff is of two main ...

capability at the site, to be named

Spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...

Snowdonia.

Amenities

The

Morfa Dyffryn Morfa Dyffryn beach is on the west coast of Wales, between Barmouth and Harlech in Gwynedd. This sandy beach is several miles long and is chiefly known for having an officially recognised naturist area, in length. The beach is very clean and is ...

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

s and Mochras (Shell Island) lie nearby. It has two public houses. To the north of the village is the smaller village of

Pensarn Pensarn is a suburb of Abergele in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The name Pensarn means 'end of the causeway' in English. The crossing of Morfa Rhuddlan was facilitated by a causeway near the sea, located at this point. This causeway was later ...

, situated at the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

of the

River Artro The River Artro () is a river in Gwynedd, Wales. It is about long and has its source at Llyn Cwm Bychan below Rhinog Fawr and Moel Ysgyfarnogod. It flows westwards from its source and is joined by the Afon Cwmnantcol at Pentre Gwynfryn before ...

. This is the location of Llanbedr & Pensarn Yacht Club and the Christian Mountain Centre, a residential adventure activity centre.

Railways

Llanbedr railway station Llanbedr railway station (formerly Talwrn Bach) serves the village of Llanbedr in Gwynedd, Wales. The station is an unstaffed halt on the Cambrian Coast Railway with passenger services to , , , and . The station is a request stop and close to t ...

, formerly known as Talwrn Bach Halt, is a little out of the village itself and is served by the

Cambrian Line The Cambrian Line (), sometimes split into the Cambrian Main Line () and Cambrian Coast Line () for its branches, is a railway line that runs from Shrewsbury in England, westwards to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli in Wales. Passenger train services ...

Governance

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 ...

in the same name existed. This ward also covered the Community of Llanfair. The total ward population at the 2011 Census was 1,098. From the 2022 Gwynedd Council election the ward was merged with Harlech, renamed ''Harlech a Llanbedr'' and the representation increased to 2 county councillors.

Twinning

In 2008 Llanbedr was twinned with Huchenfeld, Germany, following many years of exchanges between schools, churches, musicians and community leaders, in remembrance of the occurrences at

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

and Huchenfeld 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 ...

Notable people

* Henry Lloyd (ca.1718 – 1783), a Welsh army officer and military writer. *

Katherine Mudge Katherine Gwen Mudge (16 August 1881 – 26 July 1975) was a British archer. She competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both ...

(1881–1975), a British archer; she competed at the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

in London. * Sir Philip Pullman CBE FRSL (born 1946), an English writer; his formative years were spent in Llanbedr.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Llanbedr and surrounding areaLlanbedr Community Council Website
{{Authority control Villages in Gwynedd Communities in Gwynedd