Tregarth is a village near Thomas Telford's A5 London to

Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...

road between the town of Bethesda and the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

of Bangor 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 Wales. It is in Llandygai Community. It had a population of over 1,300 as of the 2011 census. .

History

The village grew around the local slate industry, with many houses being built to house quarry workers and their families. The village is renowned for a street of houses that were built by Lord Penrhyn, proprietor of the Penrhyn Quarry and occupier of Penrhyn Castle, to accommodate the workers that refused to strike during the Penrhyn Lockout of 1900–1903. The street, Tanrhiw Road, was known locally as 'Stryd y Gynffon' (Traitor's Row or Tail Terrace) and was one of the first main settlements in the village based alongside the farmsteads of Ty'n Clawdd, Tanrhiw Isaf and Tahrhiw Uchaf. Tregarth has a population of around 1,300 people of which around 80% would consider the Welsh language as their first language. The village is the birthplace of Ifor Williams, Ifor Bowen Griffith, T. Gwynn Jones and actor

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 ...

. Tregarth is also home to sculptor Ann Catrin Evans.

Amenities

Tregarth has its own primary school, chapel (Shiloh), parish church (Santes Fair, St Mary's) and community centre which is the venue for many village activities such as Ysgol Feithrin (nursery school), Youth Club, Clwb yr Henoed (Senior Citizens Club) and

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

Club. The public house, Pant yr Ardd, was closed and put up for sale in June 2014. It was bought by an unknown source and is re-opened in December 2014. Owing to Bethesda's industrial heritage, Tregarth has two railway lines running through its centre, one the

Bethesda Branch Line The Bethesda branch line was a railway branch line between Bangor and Bethesda in Gwynedd, North Wales. Its primary purpose was to bring quarried slate down to the main line for onward transport. It opened in July 1884, and a local passenger ...

(

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 ...

) which was closed in 1963 and the other The Narrow Gauge Penrhyn Quarry Railway Line which was used to transport slate from the Penrhyn Quarries to

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 ...

and was closed in 1962. There was a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

on the Bethesda Branch which opened in 1884 and closed in 1963. These lines have since been converted to 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 A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

as part of Sustrans

Lôn Las Cymru The route passes through the heart of Wales, and is also known by its Welsh name Lôn Las Cymru (''English: Wales' green lane''). It is largely north–south from Holyhead to Cardiff or Chepstow, and in total measures some in length. Some of ...

cycle route 5 and take the cyclist on a journey from the

Nant Ffrancon Pass The Nant Ffrancon Pass in Snowdonia, North Wales, is the long steady climb of the A5 road between Bethesda, Gwynedd, and Llyn Ogwen in Conwy. The summit at is at Pont Wern-gof, about one-third of a mile beyond the eastern end of Llyn Ogwen. Fr ...

winding through Tregarth down along the

River Cegin 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 wat ...

towards Bangor and

. An hourly bus service into the town is provided by Arriva Buses Wales. The Moelyci Environmental Centre (Canolfan Amgylcheddol Moelyci) can also be found on the outskirts of Tregarth; it is a community-based centre which specialises in the practice and teaching of

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

.Moelyci Environmental Centre (Canolfan Amgylcheddol Moelyci)
/ref> The centre runs many open days and activities and welcomes visitors.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Tregarth and surrounding area
{{authority control Villages in Gwynedd Llandygai