The Afon Dwyfor is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

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 ...

, in total the river is in length. It rises in Cwm Dwyfor at the head of Cwm Pennant, gathers to itself numerous streams which drain the surrounding mountains from

Mynydd Graig Goch Mynydd Graig Goch (Welsh, 'mountain of the red rock') is the western end peak of the Nantlle Ridge, and is a subsidiary summit of Craig Cwm Silyn. It is also the most westerly 2000 ft peak in Wales. For many years it was excluded from lists ...

in the west to

Moel Hebog Moel Hebog (Welsh for ''Bare Hill of the Hawk'') is a mountain in Snowdonia, north Wales which dominates the view west from the village of Beddgelert. It gives name to a whole range of peaks in the north-western corner of Snowdonia, which i ...

in the east, then flows southwest towards Dolbenmaen and out of the

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 ...

. After a brief diversion west, it turns south, then southwest again, heading for the village of Llanystumdwy. Beyond Llanystumdwy it heads for the coast and Tremadog Bay. Its mouth has been diverted eastwards by almost one mile by a shingle spit resulting from

longshore drift Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle incoming wave direction ...

. Its principal tributaries are the Afon Henwy which enters on its left bank above Dolbenmaen, and the Afon Dwyfach which joins it as a right-bank tributary to the west of Llanystumdwy. The Dwyfach itself rises in an area of flat ground to the west of the A487 road between Bryncir and Llanllyfni and flows in a generally southerly direction. 'Afon Dwyfor' signifies the 'big

holy river Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric. T ...

' in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

, with 'for' being a corrupted form of 'fawr' (large), 'Dwyfawr' being a form recorded in 1838, whilst the 'Afon Dwyfach' is the 'little holy river'. The legend of Dwyfan and Dwyfach has been attached to the two rivers. The river is bridged by numerous minor roads and paths but also by the A487, B4411 and A497 roads as well as the railway line between Criccieth and

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 ...

. At Dolbenmaen it is believed the

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

to Segontium forded the river. A motte-and-bailey castle, once the residence of

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 ...

, guarded the ford during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. The

grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

, prime minister from 1916-1922, stands beside the Dwyfor in Llanystumdwy. A boulder marks the grave; there is no inscription; however a monument designed by the architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis was subsequently erected around the grave, bearing an

englyn (; plural ) is a traditional Welsh and Cornish short poem form. It uses quantitative metres, involving the counting of syllables, and rigid patterns of rhyme and half rhyme. Each line contains a repeating pattern of consonants and accent know ...

(strict-metre stanza) engraved on slate in his memory composed by his nephew Dr

W. R. P. George William Richard Philip George (20 October 1912 – 20 November 2006) was a Welsh solicitor, poet, and Archdruid of Wales. He was the nephew of the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. George was born in Criccieth in North Wales. His father, Wil ...

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Afon Dwyfor
{{Authority control

Dwyfor Dwyfor was one of the five local government districts of Gwynedd, Wales from 1974 to 1996, covering the Llŷn peninsula. Its council was based in Pwllheli. History The district was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 ...