Abersoch is a village in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

Llanengan Llanengan ( Welsh for " St. Einion's") is a small village and community around Abersoch in Gwynedd in north-west Wales. It had a population of 2,024 at the 2001 census, which had been reduced to 1,989 at the 2011 Census. The popular seaside re ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

, Wales. It is a popular coastal

seaside resort A seaside resort is a resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, suc ...

, with around 800 residents, on the east-facing south coast of the

Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn or , ) extends into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Mu ...

at the southern terminus of the A499. It is about south-west of

Pwllheli Pwllheli () is a market town and community of the Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011 of whom a large proportion, 81%, are Welsh language, Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the pl ...

and south-west of the county town of

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

. The village takes its name from the river Soch, which reaches the sea in the village. 'Aber' meaning 'estuary', gives us a literal translation of the 'Soch Estuary'.

Archaeology

In the dry summer of 2018, aerial photography at Fach Farm, some 1100 metres north of the bridge over the Afon Soch, identified crop marks that were reported as a possible Roman fortlet. High-resolution geophysics in 2019 revealed evidence of a complex defended enclosure, unlike Roman military structures but suggesting a pre-Roman date.

Tourism

Built upon the fishing trade, Abersoch was once a small village which grew exponentially after the 1950's with the rise of tourism. The

fishing port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

which was guided by the ''Abersoch Fishermen's Society'' (which was replaced with the active ''Pysgotwyr Llŷn Fishermen's Association'') is still being used for fishing, however it is no longer the village's major source of income. It is now a tourist centre specialising in

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

sailing and other watersports such as

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

and

jet-ski A personal watercraft (PWC), also called water scooter or jet ski, is a recreational watercraft that a rider sits or stands on, not within, as in a boat. PWCs have two style categories, first and most popular being a runabout or "sit down" whe ...

ing. Nearby

Porth Neigwl Porth Neigwl, also known in English as "Hell's Mouth", is a broad bay, about 3 miles (5 km) wide, on the south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales. The bay faces south-west and lies between the headlands of Mynydd Rhiw to the west and ...

is also popular for

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

; it can hold large swells in the winter which can reach ; however, the prevailing south-westerly winds can affect quality. The village has had a lifeboat station since 1869. Central Abersoch has a variety of small shops as well as bars, restaurants, cafes and hotels. Boat trips around St Tudwal's Islands (one of which is owned by the famous survival instructor, Bear Grylls) to see the seals and other wildlife are available from the village. Abersoch is also popular for its close proximity to

Snowdonia National Park Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

, with

Snowdon Snowdon () or (), is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park (') in Gwynedd (historic ...

being visible from Abersoch Bay on clear days. There is an 18-hole golf course. Abersoch was named one of the best places to live in Wales in 2017. Because of Abersoch's popularity with tourists, particularly from northwest England and the western Midlands, there has been an increase in the sale of

holiday homes A holiday cottage, holiday home, vacation home, or vacation property is accommodation used for holiday vacations, corporate travel, and temporary housing often for less than 30 days. Such properties are typically small homes, such as cottage ...

in the area, and of the conversion of old properties into holiday lets. This has led locals, through the

YesCymru YesCymru is a non party-political campaign for an independent Wales. The organisation was formed in the Summer of 2014 and officially launched on 20 February 2016 in Cardiff. In 2022 it became a private company limited by guarantee without sha ...

campaign, to protest against rising house prices which push families away from the coastal towns where they were raised, as a result of high numbers of holiday lets compared with low numbers of families, Abersoch primary school was forced to close.

Gwynedd Council Cyngor Gwynedd ( en, Gwynedd Council) is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language. History The county of Gwynedd was created in 1974 under ...

has called for the

Welsh government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

to step in to limit the number of homes allotted to each area.

Demographics

Country of birth

According to the

2011 UK Census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

, 97.2% of the population was born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Although situated in Wales, the majority of the village's population (51.1%) was born in England, with only 44.7% having been born in Wales.

Identity

The 2011 Census demonstrated that 60.4% of the population had no Welsh identity. 34.0% of the population identified themselves as Welsh only. The surrounding

is considerably less

Anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

Welsh language

Ysgol Gynradd Abersoch Primary School - geograph

43.5% of the population aged 3 and over noted that they could speak Welsh. 52.1% noted that they had one or more skills in the Welsh language. Of those who were born in Wales, 85% of the population aged three and over noted that they could speak Welsh. In June 2021, a Welsh language primary school 'Ysgol Abersoch' was threatened with closure, where the current school-children would be transferred to the closest school at 'Ysgol Sarn bach' which is located 1.4 miles away. In September 2021, despite over 200 objections from the public, the council unanimously voted to shut the school down. It closed at Christmas, 2021. The neighbouring village of Sarn Bach has a Welsh-medium primary school for 3 to 11 year olds. As of 2017, the two schools between them educate 72 pupils. According to the latest Estyn reports conducted in 2017, 39% of pupils in Ysgol Abersoch primary school came from Welsh-speaking homes, with 47% of pupils of Sarn Bach pupils coming from homes where Welsh was spoken. The closest specialist school to Abersoch is Ysgol Hafod Lon in

Penrhyndeudraeth Penrhyndeudraeth (; ) is a small town and community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The town is close to the mouth of the River Dwyryd on the A487 nearly east of Porthmadog, and had a population of 2,150 at the 2011 census, increased from 2,0 ...

. '' Ysgol Botwnnog,'' situated inland from Abersoch, provides Welsh-medium secondary education to pupils from the village. File:Abersoch Post office NLW3362818.jpg, Abersoch Post Office c. 1885 File:Harbwr Abersoch 632038.jpg, Harbwr Abersoch (Harbour) File:Abersoch Beach.jpg, Porth Fawr beach File:Beach Huts on Abersoch Beach.jpg, Bathing huts on Porth Fawr beach.

References

External links

Abersoch website
{{authority control Villages in Gwynedd Tourism in Gwynedd Ports and harbours of Wales Seaside resorts in Wales Llanengan