Ffestiniog () is a community 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 ...

in Wales, containing several villages, in particular the settlements of

Llan Ffestiniog Llan Ffestiniog, also known as Ffestiniog or simply Llan, is a village in Gwynedd (formerly in the county of Merionethshire), Wales, lying south of Blaenau Ffestiniog. Llan Ffestiniog is the older of the two communities, with its church and othe ...

and

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,00 ...

. It has a population of 4,875.

History

Ffestiniog was a parish in

Cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divided into ''cantrefi'', which were ...

Ardudwy; in 1284, Ardudwy became part of the county of Merionethshire, which became an administrative county in 1888.

Mary Evans Mary Evans (1770–1843), later Mary Todd, is notable as the first love of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and although he failed to profess his feelings to Evans during their early relationship, he held her in affection until 1794 when Evans dissuaded ...

(1735–89) founded a sect in Ffestiniog around 1780, whose believers held that she had married Christ in a ceremony held in Ffestiniog church. The sect soon died out after her death. The parish was created an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

in 1894.A Vision of Britain Through Time : ''Ffestiniog urban District''
Retrieved 12 January 2010 On 1 April 1974, under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, ''Ffestiniog Urban District'' was abolished, becoming merged with other districts to form Meirionnydd District, which was itself abolished in 1996. Ffestiniog became a community with an elected town council. Ffestiniog Golf Club was founded in 1893. The club closed at the end of March 2014."Ffestiniog Golf Club"
"Golf’s Missing Links".

Toponymy

Celtic place-name in ''*-ākon'' "place of", then, "place belonging to, territory of" > Old Welsh ''-auc, -awg'' > Welsh ''-og''. The form ''-iog'' with an additional /i/ can be explained by the preceding element, which is a personal name ending with ''-i-us'' : ''Festinius''. The whole name should be ''*Festiniākon''. Probably same name as Festigny (France, e.g.:

Festigny, Marne Festigny () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 613 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in the following inter ...

, ''Festiniacus'' in 853)

References

External links

* * * {{authority control Communities in Gwynedd The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales cy:Ffestiniog