The Free Borough of Llanrwst was a special privilege granted to the Welsh town of

Llanrwst Llanrwst ('church or parish of Saint Grwst'; ) is a market town and community on the A470 road and the River Conwy, in Conwy County Borough, Wales, and the historic county of Denbighshire. It developed round the wool trade and became known als ...

by the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

. Llanrwst is now a small

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

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 Conwy , name_etymology = , image = Boats in River Conwy.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = Boats in the river estuary at Conwy , map = , map_size = , map_caption = , push ...

Conwy County Borough Conwy County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) is a county borough in Wales. It borders Gwynedd to the west and south, and Denbighshire to the east. Other settlements in the county borough include Abergele, Betws-y-Coed, Colwyn Bay, Conwy, ...

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 takes its name from the 5th- to 6th-century

Saint Grwst Saint Grwst ''the Confessor''Llanrwst.netHistory of Llanrwst.Retrieved on 2008-12-14. (also known as ''Gwrwst'', ''Gwrst'', ''Gorwst'' or ''Gorst'' ''ap Gwaith Hengaer'') was a 6th and 7th century saint operating in the Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd. F ...

. Llanrwst developed around the

wool trade Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

, partly because of an edict prohibiting any Welshman from trading within of

Conwy Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy on ...

, as Llanrwst was away and well placed to benefit.

Origin

In 1276

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1223 – 11 December 1282), sometimes written as Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, also known as Llywelyn the Last ( cy, Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf, lit=Llywelyn, Our Last Leader), was the native Prince of Wales ( la, Princeps Wall ...

, also known as Llywelyn the Last, seized the town, declaring it a "

free borough Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the Borough Council, council or inhabitants of the district ...

" independent from the

diocese of Llanelwy The Diocese of Saint Asaph is a diocese of the Church in Wales in north-east Wales, named after Saint Asaph, its second bishop. Geography The Anglican Diocese of St Asaph in the north-east corner of Wales stretches from the borders of Chester i ...

.History of Llanrwst
, Llanrwst.net, retrieved 5 October 2014 Although the bishop went as far as to seek the help of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

to overturn this, his attempts failed, Llywelyn pleading a close family tie to the place as a reason for safeguarding it. After the death of Llywelyn in 1282, each further new attempt by the bishop of Llanelwy failed: the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s of

Aberconwy Abbey Aberconwy Abbey was a Cistercian foundation at Conwy, later transferred to Maenan near Llanrwst, and in the 13th century was the most important abbey in the north of Wales. A Cistercian house was founded at Rhedynog Felen near Caernarfon in 118 ...

(where

Llywelyn the Great Llywelyn the Great ( cy, Llywelyn Fawr, ; full name Llywelyn mab Iorwerth; c. 117311 April 1240) was a King of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually " Prince of the Welsh" (in 1228) and "Prince of Wales" (in 1240). By a combination of war and d ...

, Llywelyn's grandfather, had died in 1240) insisted that it be allowed to keep the independence that had belonged to it for 29 years, and ripped down any banners related to the Bishopric or to

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

. A century later, the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

was moved upriver to

Maenan Abbey Maenan Abbey (formally: The Abbey Church of Saint Mary and All Saints; alternatively: Abaty Maenan, or Maynan Abbey; now Maenan Abbey Hotel) was a monastic religious house located in Maenan, Conwy, Wales. It is situated near Llanrwst. History ...

, near Llanrwst.BBC – Gogledd Orllewin – hanes
/ref> The town consequently has its own

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

and flag, and this is the origin of the old local motto ''"Cymru, Lloegr a Llanrwst"'' (Wales, England and Llanrwst). This motto, a testament to this apparent independence, has now become synonymous with the song of that title, by local band

Y Cyrff (1983–1991; The Bodies) was a Welsh language indie band in the 1980s, initially formed at the Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy secondary school in Llanrwst, Conwy. The original line-up consisted of Barry Cawley (bass), Emyr Davies (vocals), Dylan Hughes ...

.Talk of the town
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

'', 28 April 2006

United Nations

In 1947, Llanrwst town council made an unsuccessful submission to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

for a seat on the security council, stating that Llanrwst was an independent state within Wales. The chairman and secretary of the Llanrwst Historical Society have obtained proof of this from the UN in New York.Talk of the town
''

'', 28 April 2006 The Llanrwst Almshouses & Museum Trust recently returned the above-mentioned Llanrwst flag to the community. Dating from the 12th century, this emblem was central to the town's belief that it was independent of the United Kingdom.

References

{{Micronations

Llanrwst

13th-century establishments in Wales