Llangollen Bridge, 1793Llangollen in 1850St. Collen's parish churchLlangollen BridgeEglwyseg Mountain
Llangollen[2] takes its name from the Welsh llan meaning "a religious settlement" and Saint Collen, a 7th-century monk who founded a church beside the river.[3] St Collen is said to have arrived in Llangollen by coracle. St Collen’s Church is the only church in Wales dedicated to St Collen, and he may have had connections with Colan in Cornwall and with Langolen in Brittany.
The ancient parish of Llangollen was divided into three traeanau (traean being the Welsh for "a third"): Llangollen Traean, Trefor Traean, and Glyn Traean.
Llangollen Traean contained the townships of Bachau, Cysylltau, Llangollen Abad, Llangollen Fawr, Llangollen Fechan, Feifod, Pengwern and Rhisgog.
Trefor Traean contained the townships of Cilmediw, Dinbren, Eglwysegl, Trefor Isaf and Trefor Uchaf.
Glyn Traean contained the townships of Cilcochwyn, Crogeniddon, Crogenwladus, Erwallo, Hafodgynfor, Nantygwryd, Pennant and Talygarth.
The bridge at Llangollen was built across the Dee in the 16th century to replace a previous bridge built in about 1345 by John Trevor, of Trevor Hall (later Bishop of St Asaph), which replaced an even earlier bridge built in the reign of King Henry I. In the 1860s the present bridge was extended by adding an extra arch (to cross the new railway) and a two-storey stone tower with a castellated parapet. This became a café before being demolished in the 1930s to improve traffic flow. The bridge was also widened in 1873 and again in 1968, using masonry which blended in with the older structure.[4] It is a Grade I listed structure and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[5]
Plas Newydd ("New Mansion" or "New Place") high on the outskirts of the town, was from 1780 the home of the Ladies of Llangollen (the Honourable Sarah Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler) and their maid Mary Carryl. They share the same grave memorial in the church.[6]
Elevated on the opposite side of the Dee is Castell Dinas Brân, the ruins of a medieval castle built by the Princes of Powys Fadog.
Today Llangollen relies heavily on the tourist industry, but still gains substantial income from farming. Most of the farms in the hills around the town were sheep farms, and the domestic wool industry, both spinning and weaving, was important in the area for centuries. Several factories were later built along the banks of the River Dee, where both wool and cotton were processed. The water mill opposite Llangollen railway station is over 600 years old, and was originally used to grind flour for local farmers.
Culture
In the late 19th century, Llangollen had a weekly newspaper, the Llangollen Advertiser.
Llangollen hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1908. The Gorsedd ceremony was held on the Hermitage Field, next to Plas Newydd, and the circle of stones was later moved into the grounds of the hall. The eisteddfod itself took place on the old Vicarage Field at Fronhyfryd and was visited by David Lloyd George, accompanied by Winston Churchill.
The annual Llangollen International Eisteddfod is a large international music festival. It starts on a Tuesday and ends on the following Sunday. It opens with a parade led by the Llangollen Silver Band, in which both locals and visitors take part in dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments.[10]
"Pastai Fawr Llangollen" (The Great Llangollen Pie), Arfon Gwilym
According to an anonymous rhyme, the bridge over the Dee is one of the Seven Wonders of Wales.
The nursery rhyme "Mary had a little lamb" is frequently, but incorrectly, linked with Llangollen. Its true origins are in the United States:[13]"This is a lovely folklore story, but sadly Mary Thomas of Llangollen was not the heroine of the nursery rhyme ... The Mary of the rhyme was Mary Sawyer and the school was the Redstone Schoolhouse in Sterling Massachusetts, U.S.A."
Transport
Llangollen Railway Station and the River Dee.River Dee and Llangollen Railway
Various buses serve the town, including buses to Wrexham (Arriva service 5), Barmouth (TrawsCymru service T3) and the Ceiriog Valley. Services 5 and T3 connect Llangollen to Ruabon and Wrexham, which have the closest railway stations on the national network. The Dee Valley Picturesque Bus (service 199) operates between April and November, linking Llangollen and the surrounding villages to popular local attractions including Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Wenffrwd Nature Reserve, Horseshoe Falls, Valle Crucis Abbey, Plas Newydd house and the Horseshoe Pass.
Railways
The railway, operating both passenger and goods services, was extended from Ruabon, via Acrefair and Trevor, to reach Llangollen by 1865. The Ruabon to Barmouth Line became part of the Great Western Railway. However under the Beeching Axe of 1964, the line closed to passengers in early 1965, and to freight in April 1969.[14] The line was lifted in May 1969.[15] However, a 10-mile stretch of the line between Llangollen and Corwen has been restored and operates as the Llangollen Railway, a tourist attraction. In 2002, the Rainhill locomotive trials were re-staged on the line.
Waterways
The Ellesmere Canal was intended to connect the coal mines and ironworks at Ruabon and Wrexham to the canal network and thence to the sea via the River Mersey and the River Severn. The plans were altered, and instead of connecting Trevor northwards to the sea via the River Dee and southwards to the Severn, the canal ran eastwards to join the national network at Hurleston Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal near Nantwich. A feeder canal, navigable to Llangollen, was constructed from Trevor to tap water from the River Dee at Llantysilio (at the weir called "Horseshoe Falls"). After company mergers, the canal became part of the Shropshire Union System.[16] Until recently it was properly called the Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal, though it is now known as the Llangollen Canal.
The canal supplied enough Dee water to supply Crewe and Nantwich, and when commercial traffic failed in the 1940s, it was kept open to function as a water supply. Amongst Britain's artificial waterways, the canal has an unusually strong flow of up to 2 miles per hour (3.2 kilometres per hour). Since the use of canals for leisure took off in the 1970s and 1980s, the route, roughly parallel to the river Dee and across the Dee Valley on the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, is an important part of Llangollen's attraction as a holiday destination. Moorings at Llangollen Wharf and additional moorings in a marina are built at the end of the generally-navigable section, allowing visitors arriving by narrowboat to moor overnight in Llangollen. The canal then extends 1.7 miles (2.7 km), north and then west, to Horseshoe Falls in a section navigable only by a horse-drawn excursion boat.[17]
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