Bethesda (; ) is a town and

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 ...

on the

River Ogwen ˈ The Afon Ogwen (; ; Welsh, meaning River Ogwen in English) is a river in north-west Wales draining from some of the greatest peaks in Snowdonia before discharging to the sea on the eastern side of Bangor, Gwynedd. Etymology Although the sp ...

and the A5 road on the edge of

Snowdonia 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 ...

, in

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 ...

, north-west

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It is the fifth-largest community in Gwynedd.

History

The settlement's ancient name was Cilfoden, formerly known as Glanogwen. In 1823, the Bethesda Chapel was built and the town subsequently grew around and later named after it. The chapel was rebuilt in 1840. The town grew around the

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

quarrying industries; the largest of the local quarries is the Penrhyn Quarry. At its peak, the town exported purple slate all over the world. Penrhyn Quarry suffered a three-year strike led by the

North Wales Quarrymen's Union The North Wales Quarrymen's Union (NWQU) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded on 27 April 1874 at the Queen's Hotel, Caernarfon after a month of discussions between quarrymen from Dinorwic and other supporters ...

between 1900 and 1903 – the longest industrial dispute in British history. This led to the creation of the nearby village of

Tregarth Tregarth is a village near Thomas Telford's A5 London to Holyhead road between the town of Bethesda and the city of Bangor in Gwynedd, north Wales. It is in Llandygai Community. It had a population of over 1,300 as of the 2011 census. . His ...

, built by the quarry owners, which housed the families of those workers who had not struck. It also led to the formation of three co-operative quarries, the largest of which Pantdreiniog dominated the town for many years. The A5 road runs through Bethesda and marked the border between Lord Penrhyn's land, and the freehold land. Most of the town is to the east and northeast of the road, with housing packed onto the hillside in irregular rows, built on the commons. On the current high street, all the

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s are found on the south side of the road.

Railways

The narrow gauge Penrhyn Quarry Railway opened in 1801 to serve Penrhyn Quarry. It connected the quarry with

Port Penrhyn Port Penrhyn ( cy, Porth Penrhyn) is a harbour located just east of Bangor in north Wales at the confluence of the River Cegin with the Menai Strait. It was formerly of great importance as the main port for the export of slate from the Penrhyn ...

on the coast and operated until 1962. In 1884, a

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk (botany), trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' ...

of the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

's network from Bangor was opened, along with a station for the town. The line closed to passengers in 1951 and to freight in 1963. The trackbed of the Penrhyn Quarry Railway towards

Porth Penrhyn Port Penrhyn ( cy, Porth Penrhyn) is a harbour located just east of Bangor in north Wales at the confluence of the River Cegin with the Menai Strait. It was formerly of great importance as the main port for the export of slate from the Penrhyn ...

is taken over by the

Lôn Las Ogwen Lôn Las Ogwen is a cycle route in the National Cycle Network which runs south from the NCN 5 at Porth Penrhyn on the north coast of Wales to Llyn Ogwen in Snowdonia. Lôn Las is Welsh for "blue lane". From Porth Penrhyn to Penrhyn Quarry it ...

cycle path.

Modern Bethesda

The

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of Bethesda was 4,735 people in 2011. Current opportunities for employment in the town are limited: there are a few manufacturing businesses; most businesses are in the low-paid

service sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

and

hospitality industry The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel and tourism. It includes hotels, tourism agencies, restaurants and bars. Sector ...

. For employment with higher earning potential, residents tend to

commute Commute, commutation or commutative may refer to: * Commuting, the process of travelling between a place of residence and a place of work Mathematics * Commutative property, a property of a mathematical operation whose result is insensitive to th ...

to towns along the North Wales coast.

Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen ("Ogwen Valley School") is a bilingual secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 19 years. It is situated in Bethesda in the Ogwen valley in Gwynedd, Wales. As of 2022, there were 454 pupils on roll at the school. Some of the b ...

("Ogwen Valley School") is a bilingual

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 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 res ...

, with 374 pupils, established in 1951. Zip World Velocity in Penrhyn Quarry is the longest zipline in Europe, at just over long, and brings the town hundreds of visitors.

Governance

At the local level, Bethesda elects thirteen community councillors to Bethesda Community Council, from the community wards of Gerlan, Ogwen and Rachub. Prior to 1996 Bethesda was a county

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 to t ...

to Gwynedd County Council. Since 2004, two county wards have covered Bethesda, namely Gerlan and Ogwen which each elect one county councillor to Gwynedd Council.

Architecture

Bethesda, Jerusalem Chapel (35833213886)

The architecture and layout of the town are largely utilitarian. Most of the buildings are constructed of stone with slate roofs. Some are constructed wholly of slate blocks, although such buildings tend to suffer from damp and structural slippage because the very flat and smooth surfaces of slate do not bind well to mortar. The town has 40 Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s, including three pubs, in addition to the substantial and imposing Grade I listed

Nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

Jerusalem Chapel The upper parts of Carneddi, Cilfodan and Tan y Foel owe more to stone quarrying on the nearby hills rather than slate quarrying that supported the lower end of the town. At the eastern limits, the town is bounded by the rising land of the Carneddau mountains which form some of the more remote landscapes of

. Much of Bethesda once consisted of discrete villages such as Gerlan,

Rachub Rachub () is a village of about 900 people in Dyffryn Ogwen (the Ogwen Valley), Gwynedd, Wales, about north of the town of Bethesda. It forms part of the Llanllechid community, which had a population of 889 in the 2011 census. Origins The n ...

, Llanllechid and Braichmelyn; their names are retained as districts of the town.

Religion

Bethesda is noted for both the number of

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

s (mostly dating from the

1904-1905 Welsh Revival Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

) in the town. The town was named after the Bethesda Chapel, which was recently converted into residential flats.

Commerce and industry

Llanllechid, on the outskirts of Bethesda, is the home of the Popty Bakery, the origins of which date back to the bakery opened by O. J. Williams in the early 1900s. The product range focuses mainly on traditional

Welsh cakes Welsh cakes ( cy, picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacennau cri or '), also bakestones or pics, are a traditional sweet bread in Wales. They have been popular since the late 19th century with the addition of fat, sugar and dried fruit to a longer stan ...

and

Bara Brith Bara brith is a traditional Welsh tea bread flavoured with tea, dried fruits and spices. A decrease in its popularity led to supermarket Morrisons removing it from their shelves in 2006, and a year later a survey showed that 36% of teenagers in ...

and these lines are retailed throughout Wales and parts of England through outlets including

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...

, Asda, Co-Op,

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqua ...

and

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

Public houses

There are ten

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s in the Bethesda area, not including

. The Douglas Arms, on the High Street, was named after the family which owned the nearby Penrhyn Quarry. Other pubs include the Bull, The Kings Head, Y Sior ("The George"), The Victoria Arms, and the Llangollen. The village has its own microbrewery known as Cwrw Ogwen. It currently manufactures one beer named Cwrw Caradog, named after the writer Caradog Prichard.

Language and culture

The dominant language of the town is Welsh and can be seen written and heard spoken in most settings. According to the

United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

, 77.5% of the residents are Welsh-speaking (with some parts being over 80.0%+), higher than the average for both

and Wales as a whole. In successive census returns (1901 and 1911) Bethesda had the highest percentage of Welsh speakers of its respective shire (Caernarfonshire) and of any district in Wales (with 1,500 monolingual Welsh speakers in 1901). The

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

series ''Amdani!'' (a play on words that can mean "go for it!" and "about her") was based on a fictitious

women's rugby Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Rugby was originally a men's sport, and women's rugby has become p ...

team in Bethesda, and many of the location shots were filmed in the area. The series was based on the novel of the same name, by

Bethan Gwanas Bethan Gwanas (real name Bethan Evans; born 16 January 1962) is a popular contemporary Welsh author, who publishes almost exclusively in the Welsh language. A prolific writer, she has had 17 titles published in the last decade. Whilst not just a ...

, who lived in the town. In June 2012 Tabernacl (Bethesda) Cyf., a non-profit co-operative based in the town was awarded a grant of around £1 million to renovate Neuadd Ogwen, a performance venue on the High Street. It was due to reopen as a community arts centre in June 2013. In the 1970s and 1980s, Bethesda developed a reputation as a hub of musical creativity. Jam sessions and small home studios abounded alongside a burgeoning pub rock scene. As well as the now well-established 'Pesda Roc' festival, Bethesda has nurtured the Welsh language bands ''Celt'', ''Maffia Mr Huws'' and experimentalists ''Y Jeycsyn Ffeif''. In more recent years it continues to spring up bands from the local community such as ''Radio Rhydd''.

Gallery

File:The A5 going through Bethesda - geograph.org.uk - 771425.jpg, The A5 going through Bethesda. File:Hardware Shop , Bethesda (6925780090).jpg, Hardware shop File:Cofgolofn Rhyfel a Chapel Jeriwsalem. War memorial and Jerusalem Chapel - geograph.org.uk - 423174.jpg, War memorial and Jerusalem Chapel, the biggest of the many chapels built in Bethesda during the Age of Slate. File:Penrhyn Strike, Memorial - geograph.org.uk - 771432.jpg, A slate memorial to commemorate the Strike at the Penrhyn Slate Quarry, in the grounds of Jerusalem Chapel. File:Bethesda winter.jpg, Bethesda & the Quarry in Winter. File:Slate tips at Mynydd Llandegai - geograph.org.uk - 108983.jpg, Slate tips on outer edges of Penrhyn Quarry at Mynydd Llandegai, the view looks out to Bethesda in the distance File:Flooded pit at the Penrhyn Quarry from the Fronllwyd - geograph.org.uk - 314216.jpg, Flooded pit at the Penrhyn Quarry from

Y Fronllwyd Y Fronllwyd, also known as Carnedd y Filiast North Top, is a top of Carnedd y Filiast in Snowdonia, Wales forming part of the Glyderau. It is the northern end of the Glyder mountain range. The summit has good views of Bethesda, the Penrhyn ...

File:Bethesda-from-South-facing-North.jpg, Bethesda, From the mountains in the South facing North towards Anglesey

Notable people

Bobby Atherton Robert Atherton (29 July 1876 – 19 October 1917) was a Welsh footballer who played as a half back and forward for Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Middlesbrough and Chelsea in the late 1890s and early 1900s. He was capped by Wales at inter ...

(1876–1917), footballer with 135 club caps and 9 for

* Richard Bell (1859–1930), politician and MP; formed North Wales Quarries Ltd. which owned three slate quarries in Bethesda * Ellis Davies (politician) (1871–1939), politician and lawyer. *

Idris Foster Sir Idris Llewelyn Foster (23 July 1911 – 18 June 1984) was a Welsh scholar and Jesus Professor of Celtic at the University of Oxford from 1947 until 1978. He was born in Carneddi, Bethesda, Caernarfonshire, Wales, and studied Latin and Welsh ...

(1911–1984),

Jesus Professor of Celtic The Jesus Chair of Celtic is a professorship in Celtic studies at the University of Oxford within the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages. The holder is also a Professorial Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. Just six people have held the chair ...

Studies at the University of Oxford *

David Ffrangcon-Davies David Ffrangcon-Davies (11 December 1855 – 13 April 1918) was a Welsh operatic baritone. Early life and education David Thomas Davies was born in Bethesda, Gwynedd. He later adopted the name ''Ffrangcon'', an early variant spelling of the ne ...

(1855–1918), a Welsh operatic baritone. *

(born 1962), author with an informal style of writing, lived and worked in Bethesda. *

Esyllt Harker Esyllt Harker (1947 – 31 May 2014) was a Welsh singer, actor and storyteller. She was born in Birkenhead to Welsh parents and grew up speaking Welsh. She moved to Wales in 1981 when she performed as Branwen in '' The Mabinogi'' at Cardiff Cas ...

(1947–2014), singer, actress and storyteller *

Frederick Llewellyn-Jones Frederick Llewellyn-Jones, MP (18 April 1866 – 11 January 1941) was a Welsh solicitor who became Coroner for the county of Flintshire and a Liberal, later Liberal National politician. Family and education Frederick Llewellyn-Jones was born a ...

(1866–1941), politician and MP *

Leila Megàne Leila Megane (5 April 1891 – 2 January 1960) was a Welsh mezzo-soprano opera singer.Obituary The Times, Monday, 4 January 1960 Born Margaret Jones in Bethesda, Wales, she married T. Osborne Roberts (1879–1948), a composer. She spent a car ...

(1891–1960), a mezzo-soprano opera singer. *

John Ogwen John Ogwen (born 25 April 1944) is a Welsh actor. Early life Ogwen was born and raised in Sling near Bethesda in the Ogwen Valley, from which his surname derives. He attended Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen, then studied English and Welsh at the Universit ...

(born 1944), actor, born in nearby Sling, now lives in Bangor *

Gwenlyn Parry William Gwenlyn Parry (8 June 1932 – 5 November 1991) was a Welsh dramatist, the author of several plays in Welsh, including ''Saer Doliau'' (1966), ''Ty ar y Tywod'' (1968), ''Y Ffin (1973), ''Panto'', ''Sal'' and ''Y Tŵr'' (1978). Early life ...

(1932–1991), a dramatist and author of several plays in Welsh *

William John Parry William John Parry (28 March 1842 – 1927) was a Welsh businessman, politician and author. Parry was a leading voice in a range of activities and causes, and was the first general secretary of the North Wales Quarrymen's Union. Born in Bethesd ...

(1842–1927) businessman, politician, author and first general secretary of the

. * Peter Prendergast (1946–2007), Welsh landscape painter * Caradog Prichard (1904–1980), Welsh novelist and poet, author of ''Un Nos Ola' Leuad'' * Margaret Pritchard a former Welsh radio and TV broadcaster *

Goronwy Roberts, Baron Goronwy-Roberts Goronwy Owen Goronwy-Roberts, Baron Goronwy-Roberts, FRSA PC (20 September 1913 – 23 July 1981), was a Welsh Labour Member of Parliament. Early life Roberts was the younger son of Edward and Amelia Roberts from Bethesda, Gwynedd, where his f ...

(1913–1981), politician, MP and peer *

James Edmund Vincent James Edmund Vincent (17 November 1857 – 18 July 1909) was a Welsh barrister, known as a journalist and author. Life Born on 17 November 1857 at St. Anne's, Bethesda, he was eldest son of the cleric James Crawley Vincent, son of James Vincen ...

(1857–1909), barrister, journalist and author

References

External links

*
www.geograph.co.uk : photo of Bethesda and surrounding area

www.ogwen.wales : Bethesda website
{{authority control Towns in Gwynedd Former wards of Wales