Pwllheli ( ; ) is a market town and community on the

Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...

(), 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 ...

, north-west

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 had a population of 4,076 in 2011, which declined slightly to 3,947 in 2021; a large proportion (81%) were Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where

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 ...

was founded. It is the birthplace of the Welsh poet Sir Albert Evans-Jones (

bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh language, Welsh term bardd ('poet') originally referred to the Welsh poets of the M ...

). Pwllheli has a range of shops and other services. As a local railhead with a market every Wednesday, the town is a gathering point for the peninsula's population.

Etymology

The town's name means 'salt-water pool'.

History

The town was given its charter as a borough by

Edward, the Black Prince Edward of Woodstock (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), known as the Black Prince, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II of England, Richard II, succession to the Br ...

in 1355; a market is still held each Wednesday in the centre of the town on ''Y Maes'' (‘the field’ or ‘the town square’ in English). The town grew around the

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

industries and the

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

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 ...

at Gimlet Rock (). The population in 1841 was 2,367. During the 1890s, the town was developed by Solomon Andrews, a

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

businessman. This work included the

promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortification, fortress or city walls ...

, roads and houses at West End. The

Pwllheli and Llanbedrog Tramway The Pwllheli and Llanbedrog Tramway was a narrow gauge horse tramway on the coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in North West Wales, UK. It was originally constructed to convey building stone from Carreg-y-Defaid to Pwllheli's West End, with a secon ...

was built, linking the town to

Llanbedrog Llanbedrog is a village and community on the Llŷn peninsula of Gwynedd in Wales. It is situated on the south side of the peninsula on the A499 between Pwllheli and Abersoch. Formerly in the county of Caernarfonshire, it had a population of ...

. The trams ran until 1927, when the section of track between Carreg-y-Defaid and Tyddyn-Caled was seriously damaged by a storm. Andrews ran the Cardiff Road section in 1928 and offered to sell the tramway to Pwllheli Corporation at the end of the season, but they did not take up his offer. He then sold the assets and the Corporation removed the tracks during the winter of 1928/29.

Poet

Albert Evans-Jones Sir (Albert) Cynan Evans-Jones CBE (14 April 1895 – 26 January 1970), more commonly known within Wales by his bardic name of Cynan, was a Welsh poet and dramatist. Early life Cynan was born in Pwllheli as Albert Evan Jones, the son of Richa ...

, who was an archdruid for the

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...

and was known by his bardic name , was born in Pwllheli. Before becoming an archdruid, he joined 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 ...

effort through the Welsh Student Company of the

RAMC The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

, serving in

Salonika Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

and France, initially as an ambulance driver and medic, later as the company's chaplain. He was the son of the proprietor of the Central Restaurant in Penlan Street, Pwllheli.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Pwllheli, at

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 ...

(town) and

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

level, with both councils using Welsh as their primary language: ('Pwllheli Town Council') and ('Gwynedd Council'). The town council is based at the Old Town Hall at 9 Penlan Street.

Administrative history

Pwllheli formed part of the

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Denio (or Deneio). It also was part of the medieval

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a Wales in the Early Middle Ages, medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divid ...

of Llŷn, which in 1284 was made part of the new county of

Caernarfonshire Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Geography The county ...

under the

Statute of Rhuddlan The Statute of Rhuddlan (), also known as the Statutes of Wales ( or ''Valliae'') or as the Statute of Wales ( or ''Valliae''), was a royal ordinance by Edward I of England, which gave the constitutional basis for the government of the Principal ...

. Pwllheli was made a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

in 1355 under a charter from

Edward the Black Prince Edward of Woodstock (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), known as the Black Prince, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the throne instead. Edward n ...

. The borough covered the same area as the parish of Denio. The borough was reformed to become a

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

in 1836 under the

Municipal Corporations Act 1835 The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 ( 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The le ...

, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country. The borough of Pwllheli was abolished in 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. A community called Pwllheli was created instead, covering the area of the abolished borough. District-level functions passed to Dwyfor District Council, which was in turn replaced in 1996 by Gwynedd Council.

Education

is the town's

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. was formed in 1969 by the merger of the former Pwllheli

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

at Penrallt and the Frondeg

Secondary Modern School A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

in Upper Ala Road to form a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

based on two sites in the town. The junior pupils (year 1 and year 2) were located at the Penrallt site and the senior pupils (year 3 and upwards) at a new complex in Cardiff Road. This new school was subsequently expanded to accommodate all pupils under the name. The Penrallt site was later redeveloped as the Pwllheli campus of . The façade of the main building of the old grammar school was retained and incorporated into the design of the current college buildings. Thus the 'old school' is readily seen from the town square (), as it has been since the former Pwllheli County School moved to Penrallt in the early 20th century.

Transport

Pwllheli railway station Pwllheli railway station serves the small coastal town of Pwllheli, on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales. It is the northern terminus of the Cambrian Line, Cambrian Coast Railway. History In 1861 the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway was ...

is the north-western terminus of the

Cambrian Coast 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 ...

, which provides services to ; most trains continue on to and . Services are operated by

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; ; ) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consisting of itself and its subsidiaries: Trans ...

. The railway line to , via the

Carnarvonshire Railway The Carnarvonshire Railway was a railway connecting Caernarvon (terminus of the Bangor and Caernarvon Railway line from Bangor) with Afon Wen. History The Carnarvonshire Railway was absorbed into the LNWR in 1869. At the grouping of ...

, was axed under the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

and it closed in December 1964. Pwllheli is connected to the wider road network by the

A497 List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the ...

Porthmadog Porthmadog (), originally Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port", is a coastal town and community (Wales), community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Caernarfonshire. It li ...

and the A499 to

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

. From there, major roads lead away from Gwynedd to the rest of Wales. Bus services on the Llŷn Peninsula are operated by Berwyn Coaches and Nefyn. Routes connect the town with

Aberdaron Aberdaron () is a community (Wales), community, electoral ward and former fishing village at the western tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in the Wales, Welsh county of Gwynedd. It lies west of Pwllheli and south-west of Caernarfon; as of 2021, it h ...

, Caernarfon,

Nefyn Nefyn (, archaically anglicised as Nevin) is a town and community (Wales), community on the northwest coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd, Wales. Nefyn is popular with visitors for its sandy beach, and has one substantial hotel, a community pu ...

and Rhydlios. Pwllheli bus station is sited in the town centre.

Attractions

* , which was a

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

red

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

until 2009walesonline news
/ref> * , a 15th-century house * , a former Butlins holiday camp now operated by Haven * Pwllheli Market * , a theatre and cinema in Penlan Street Pwllheli has a section of the

Wales Coast Path The Wales Coast Path () is a designated long-distance trail which follows, or runs close to, the coastline of Wales. Launched in 2012, the footpath is long and was heralded as the first dedicated coast path in the world to cover the entire len ...

along its shoreline.

Pwllheli Harbour and Hafan Pwllheli

Pwllheli has a small harbour at the confluence of the

Afon Erch The Afon Erch is a short river on the Llŷn peninsula, Gwynedd, Wales. It arises near the village of Llanaelhaearn, flowing south and southwest towards the hamlet of Llwyndyrys where it turns abruptly eastwards and curves around to the south, pa ...

and Afon Rhyd-Hir. ''Hafan Pwllheli'' is a marina built in Pwllheli Harbour during the 1990s.

Arts

Pwllheli hosted the

National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...

in 1925, 1955 and 2023, as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1875.

Language

According to the 2011 Census, 80% of the population spoke Welsh.

Sport and leisure

Pwllheli is home to

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team Pwllheli F.C.,

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team Pwllheli RFC and running club Llŷn Striders. There is a hockey club, . It is a hub for water sports, owing in part to a marina; Pwllheli Sailing Club and (the Welsh National Sailing Academy) are based here. The town has two beaches, South Beach and Glan-y-don. South Beach stretches from Gimlet Rock, across the Promenade and West End, towards Penrhos and

. Glan-y-don Beach is on the eastern side of the river mouth and runs for 3 miles (5 km) from behind the marina workshops and out towards Penychain (holiday camp). The town has a golf club on the Llŷn coastline.

Notable people

* Eleazar Roberts (1825–1912), musician, translator, writer and amateur astronomer * Owen Davies (1840–1929), Baptist minister and writer * Alice Gray Jones (1852-1943), known as Ceridwen Peris, writer, editor and activist; governor of Pwllheli County School * Sir (Albert) Cynan Evans-Jones (1895–1970), bardic name ''Cynan'', was a war poet and dramatist. * William Richard Williams (1896–1962), Principal of the

United Theological College, Aberystwyth The United Theological College located in Aberystwyth, in the county of Ceredigion in mid Wales, is a Grade II listed building which was the ministerial training college of the Presbyterian Church of Wales from 1906 to 2003 and an associate colle ...

John Robert Jones John Robert Jones (4 September 1911 in Wales, 1911 – 3 June 1970 in Wales, 1970), was a Wales, Welsh philosopher. He was born in Pwllheli, and went to school there before going on to study philosophy at University of Wales, Aberystwyth in ...

(1911–1970), philosopher * Eirwen Gwynn (1916-2007), Welsh nationalist, writer, teacher and physicist; attended Pwllheli County School *

Christine Evans Christine Evans (born 1943) is a poet of Welsh origin, born in the West Riding of Yorkshire and writing in English. She lives in North Wales. Her book ''Cometary Phrases'' was Welsh Book of the Year in 1989. Career In 1967 Evans moved to Pwllhe ...

(born 1943), poet; taught at Pwllheli County Grammar School *

Hywel Williams Hywel Williams (born 14 May 1953) is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arfon, previously Caernarfon, from 2001 to 2024. Early life Hywel Williams was born in Pwllheli in 1953, and went to school at ...

(born 1953), Plaid Cymru politician, MP for Arfon, previously

, 2001-2024 * David Dawson (born 1960), artist

References

External links

Official Website for Pwllheli

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Pwllheli and surrounding area
{{Authority control Towns in Gwynedd