Llandderfel is a village and a sparsely populated
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 ...
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, near
Bala, formerly served by the
Llandderfel railway station. The community also includes the settlements of
Glan-yr-afon,
Llanfor,
Cefnddwysarn and
Frongoch. The Community population taken at the
2011 census was 1,095.
Palé Hall
Palé Hall was built in 1871, on the site of an older manor house in Llandderfel. It was designed by
Samuel Pountney Smith of
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
for
Henry Robertson MP, a railway engineer and local landowner. The house was used as a military hospital in World War I and a home for evacuated children in World War II. The Robertson family sold the estate to the
Duke of Westminster in the 1950s.
St Derfel's Church
The parish church of Llandderfel is dedicated to
Saint Derfel. It is part of the diocese of
St Asaph
St Asaph (; "church on the Elwy") is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and community (Wales), community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population ...
and is mentioned in the Papal Registers of the late 15th century. Originally 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 ...
Llan site, founded by Derfel in the early 6th century, the church was rebuilt probably in the early 16th century. The poet
Dewi Havhesp is buried in the churchyard.
Governance
An
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 exists. This ward stretches beyond the confines of Llandderfel with a population taken at the 2011 census of 1,511.
Notable people
*
Huw Cae Llwyd (born about 1431 – died after 1505), poet
*
Gainor Hughes (1745 – 1780),
fasting girl
*
Edward Jones (1752–1824), harpist.
*
Dewi Havhesp (1831–1884), poet, noted especially for his
englynion.
*
Huw Derfel (1816–1890), author of the first mountain handbook in Welsh.
*
Robert Jones Derfel (1824–1905), patriotic poet and early Socialist.
*
Rees Davies (1938–2005), Chichelle Professor of Medieval History
References
External links
*
Three Saints, Two Wells & a Welsh Parish' by Tristan Gray Hulse, Living Spring Journal, Issue 6 (Summer 1998)
*
St Derfel and the Stag – icon or idol?', by Dr Madeleine Gray, WalesOnline, 2 May 2013
{{Gwynedd-geo-stub