Dwygyfylchi () is a village in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is part of the community of Penmaenmawr which has a population of 4,353. The electoral ward of Capelulo which includes Dwygyfylchi had a population of 1,485 in 2011. It was formerly part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire.

Name

The name Dwygyfylchi is derived from the

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 ...

''dwy'', "two", and ''cyfylchi'', a word used almost exclusively in placenames meaning a "circular fortress"; it was first recorded as "Dwykyvelchy" in 1287.Owen, Hywel W. (2015) ''The place-names of Wales'', University of Wales Press There are several old fortifications on the surrounding hills. The origin of the name Capelulo, the original settlement, lies in its association with Saint Ulo.

Geography

Approximately half of Dwygyfylchi forms the most northern tip of the Snowdonia National Park. Half a mile to the south-east of the main village lies Capelulo, which lies at the foot of the picturesque

Sychnant Pass Sychnant Pass (Welsh: ''Bwlch Sychnant'', "Dry-stream Pass") in Conwy County Borough, Wales, links Conwy to Penmaenmawr via Dwygyfylchi. Much of the pass is in Snowdonia National Park, and a large area of land within it has been designated a S ...

, which connects Dwygyfylchi to Conwy. The Pensychnant Conservation Centre and Nature Reserve is nearby. Two headlands separate Dwygyfylchi & Penmaenmawr from its neighbours. Towards the east Penmaenbach divides Dwygyfylchi from the neighbouring town of

Conwy Morfa Morfa Conwy is a spit formed originally of marshy sand, north of the western end of the modern A55 entrance to Conwy in Conwy county borough, north-west Wales. A widely used corruption of the place name is ''Conwy Morfa'', likely to have come ...

and the Conwy Valley leading up to Betws-y-Coed. To the west the larger headland of Penmaenmawr divides them from the town of Llanfairfechan and the wider coastal plain extending to Bangor. To the south an arc of hills and uplands extends east to west from the latter to Penmaen Mawr, beginning with Yr Allt Wen above Dwygyfylchi, Bwlch Sychnant (the old road crosses this pass to Conwy) and Pen-sychnant at Capelulo. The rounded hill of Foel Lys, Gwddw Glas (Green Gorge), Bryn Derwydd and the head of Cwm Graiglwyd and finally Penmaenmawr itself. The coastal plain itself is nearly divided by Trwyn-yr-Wylfa, which also marks the boundary between the "Hen Bentra" or "Old Village" of Dwygyfylchi and Capelulo in the east and Pant-yr-afon and Penmaenan in the west . Finally two small rivers flow through the area. The first and larger, Afon Gyrrach, runs for about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the northern slopes of Tal-y-Fan to the sea near Penmaenbach, passing through Nant Ddaear-y-llwynog ("Fairy Glen") and the old villages of Dwygyfylchi and Capelulo. The second, Afon Pabwyr, runs down from wooded Cwm Graiglwyd then under the town centre, Pant-yr-afon, to the beach.

History

The surrounding landscape is dotted with palaeolithic,

mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

, neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age structures, including cromlechs,

standing stone A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright rock (geology), stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. T ...

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

s and hill forts. Notable Iron Age hill forts in the area are

Caer Seion Castell Caer Seion is an Iron Age hillfort situated at the top of Conwy Mountain, in Conwy County, North Wales. It is unusual for the fact that the main fort contains a smaller, more heavily defended fort, complete with its own distinct defences ...

, at the summit of Conwy mountain, and nearby Braich-y-Dinas, one of the largest Iron Age hill-forts in Europe (and comparable with

Tre'r Ceiri () is a hillfort dating back to the Iron Age. The name means 'town of the giants', from , plural of , 'giant'. The settlement is located above sea level on the slopes of , a mountain on the north coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in , north-western ...

near Trefor on the Llŷn peninsula), at the summit of Penmaenmawr. Nothing remains of Braich-y-Dinas, however, as the last remnants were destroyed in the 1920s. The 1868 National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland notes: "In this neighbourhood are a great number of antiquities, consisting of cromlechs and single upright stones, the remains of a British camp, with ditches and ramparts, &c." Penmaen-mawrmap 1947

About a mile or so north of Dwygyfylchi & Penmaenmawr lies

Llys Helig Llys Helig is the name of a natural rock formation off the coast at Penmaenmawr, north Wales. There may be a fish weir to the south which tradition dates to the beginning of the 6th century. The sea level was low enough around 1600 AD to make the ...

. This has been said to have been the palace of Prince

Helig ap Glanawg Helig ap Glanawg (standard modern Welsh orthography: Helig ap Glannog) is a legendary figure described in various accounts dating to at least as early as the 13th century as a 6th-century prince who lived in North Wales. Post-medieval tradition ...

or Glannog who lived in the 6th century Prince

owned a large area of land between the Great Orme's Head near

Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...

and the

Menai Strait The Menai Strait ( cy, Afon Menai, the "river Menai") is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales. It varies in width from from Fort Belan to Abermenai Point to from ...

off the north coast of Gwynedd. This area was inundated by the sea which has given rise to the legend of the drowned kingdom. The legend states the remains of

, said to be his palace, can be seen at exceptionally low tides, this being near the Conwy channel, about a mile or so off the coast at Penmaenmawr. The earliest known use of the name Llys Helig regarding this rock formation is the

Halliwell Manuscript There are a number of masonic manuscripts that are important in the study of the emergence of Freemasonry. Most numerous are the ''Old Charges'' or ''Constitutions''. These documents outlined a "history" of masonry, tracing its origins to a biblic ...

which is believed to date to around the beginning of the 15th century, nine centuries later. The Llys Helig rock formation is a glacial moraine left behind by previous subsequent ice ages. There is a fish weir south of this which tradition dates to the beginning of the 6th century which was used up until the early 20th century. The sea level was low enough around 1600 AD to make the claims of Sir John Wynne of Gwydir feasible. The Church in Wales parish church, dedicated to

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Gwynin or Gwynan, was built between 1888 and 1889. The pews of the present church were made from the roof timbers of the earlier church building constructed in 1760, the foundation stone of which was preserved and mounted on the vestry wall of the present church, where it can still be seen. St Gwynin's gwyl mabsant (Patronal Festival) is December 31. Dwygyfylchi is also associated with Saint Ulo, Capelulo at the foot of Sychnant reputedly having been the site of an early medieval church. In 1851, in addition to the parish church, with a congregation of 80 and 20 scholars, the village had also a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at Penmaenmawr (erected 1841), a Welsh

Calvinistic Methodist Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...

one at Pen y cae Chappel (erected 1818, rebuilt 1840), and a Horeb

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 ** ...

(Independent) chapel (erected 1813).''Religious census of 1851: A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales'', Vol 11, North Wales. Ieuan Gwynedd Jones (ed), UWP, 1981.

Amenities, clubs and societies

Penmaenmawr Golf Club has a 9-hole course located between Dwygyfylchi and Capelulo. Near to this is Dwygyfylchi Bowling Club. Penmaenmawr Phoenix F.C. plays in the Clwyd Premier League and is located between Dwygyfylchi and Penmaenmawr. This as one of only two roundabouts on the A55 At the top of the Sychnant Pass is Pen Sychnant Nature Reserve, a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

of with mature shrubs and woodland. Dwygyfylchi - geograph

Transport

Bus

Arriva Buses Wales operates services 5 and X5 every 15 minutes between Caernarfon and

; eastbound, service X5 serves

Deganwy Deganwy (Middle Welsh ''Degannwy'', Brythonic *''Decantouion'') is a town and electoral ward in Conwy County Borough in Wales with a population of 3,936 (2011). It lies in the Creuddyn Peninsula alongside Llandudno (to the north) and Rhos-on-Se ...

and Maesdu and service 5 serves St Gwynan's (for Dwygyfylchi) and Craig-y-don; westbound, both services serve Bangor and

Y Felinheli Y Felinheli (), formerly known in English as Port Dinorwic, is a village and community beside the Menai Strait ( cy, Y Fenai or ''Afon Menai'') between Bangor and Caernarfon in Gwynedd, northwest Wales. History Toponymy Etymologically, its ...

(Port Dinorwic). Padarn Bus operate a Saturday service (service X2) that runs direct from Penmaenmawr, eastbound to

and westbound to Llanberis (via Bangor). Llew Jones runs the Conwy Clipa service 75 between Llanfairfechan and

Road

Dwygyfylchi lies on the route of the A55 Expressway providing access at Junction 16 and at 16A to Penmaenmawr to and from the rest of the north coast. Junction 16 is one of just two roundabouts on the A55 between Chester and Holyhead and is due to be replaced by a grade separated interchange. A mountain route through Capelulo links the towns to Conwy via Sychnant.

References

External links

Dwygyfylchi at genuki.org.uk

- links to name pronunciation example
Penmaenmawr and Dwygyfylchi Community Website Penmaenmawr Community Centre Penmaenmawr Golf ClubClwyd Football League
{{authority control Penmaenmawr Villages in Conwy County Borough