Llanfair Talhaiarn (), abbreviated to ''Llanfair TH'', 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 ...

approximately south of

Abergele Abergele (; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community, situated on the north coast of Wales between the holiday resorts of Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, in Conwy County Borough. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county b ...

Conwy county borough Conwy County Borough () is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the north Wales, north of Wales. It borders Gwynedd to the west and south and Denbighshire to the east. The largest settlement is Colwyn Bay, and Conwy is the administrativ ...

, Wales. Until 1974 it was included in

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

. The

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

was 979 in 2001, increasing to 1,070 at the 2011 census with 44% being

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

speakers.

History

The village derives its name from the church ("Llan") dedicated to

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

("Mair", altered in this compound word to "Fair", hence "Llanfair"), that was founded by a monk called Talhaiarn from Valle Crucis Abbey (according to local legend). The original church has long disappeared. The poet and architect John Jones (January 1810 – October 1869) was born at the Harp Inn (now known as Hafod y Gân) in Llanfair. He took the bardic name "Talhaiarn", and there is a popular misconception that this was the origin of the name of the village. However, the name of the village is documented long before Jones's birth.

Garthewin

The village was once part of the estate of Garthewin. The first written records of Garthewin date to the fourteenth century, but both that house and a later Jacobean house were replaced in the 18th century by the present building, which was subsequently altered in 1930 by

Clough Williams-Ellis Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Military Cross, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate architecture, Italianate village of Portmeirion in North ...

. It was from the 18th century until the late 20th the home of the Wynne family and notable for a private theatre constructed in the stables by R.O.F. Wynne which in the 1950s saw the first performances of several of

Saunders Lewis Saunders Lewis (born John Saunders Lewis; 15 October 1893 – 1 September 1985) was a Welsh politician, poet, dramatist, Medievalist, and literary critic. Born into a Welsh-speaking ministerial family in Greater Liverpool, Lewis studied in a p ...

's dramas. The theatre was designed by Thomas S. Tait. The house 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 ...

and its gardens and grounds are listed at Grade II on the

Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and ...

Location

Llanfair is accessible from the Abergele to Llanrwst road via an ancient three arch bridge that spans the Elwy and leads directly into the heart of the village, where can be found two old pubs, The Black Lion and The Swan Inn. About 100 yards north of the old bridge is a more modern bridge that carries the main Abergele to Llansannan road across the river. Nearby is Mynydd Bodran, a 287 m (942 ft) hill which towers above the

River Elwy The River Elwy () is a river in Wales forming a tributary to the River Clwyd. Though the source of the river may be on the northern flank of Moel Seisiog, south-east of Llanrwst, the river only receives the name Elwy at the village of Llanger ...

. From the hill are fine views of

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 ...

and the North Wales coast. Other nearby hills include

Moelfre Isaf Moelfre Isaf is a hill located to the south of the town of Abergele. There are views towards the Clwydian Range, Snowdonia, and the Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in th ...

and

Moelfre Uchaf Moelfre Uchaf is a hill in Conwy County Borough, North Wales, south-east of Colwyn Bay and south-west of Betws-yn-Rhos. It is above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or ...

. The village is situated on the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the River Elwy (Afon Elwy). The community includes the hamlet of

Moelfre, Conwy {{Infobox UK place , country = Wales , welsh_name = , latitude = , longitude = , official_name = Moelfre , population = , , unitary_wales = Conwy , community_wales = Llanfair Talhaiarn , lieutenancy_wales = Clwyd , constituency_we ...

and Moelfre Path near

Abergele Hospital Abergele Hospital () is a community hospital in Abergele, Wales. It is managed by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. History The facility was established by Manchester City Council to treat children suffering from tuberculosis in 1910. Ori ...

References

External links

A Vision of Britain Through Time

British Listed Buildings

Geograph

Office for National Statistics
{{authority control Villages in Conwy County Borough Communities in Conwy County Borough