Ganllwyd is a small village 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, ...

in southern Gwynedd, Wales. It lies in 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 ...

to the north of Dolgellau.

A470 The A470 (also named the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road) is a trunk road in Wales. It is the country's longest road at and links the capital Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. While previously one had to navigat ...

passes through it. The Community population taken at the 2011 Census was 179.

Geography

The village, which lies where the old Roman road used to ford the River Eden just before it joins with the rivers

Mawddach The Afon Mawddach ( en, River Mawddach, italic=yes) is a river in Gwynedd, Wales, which has its source in a wide area north of Dduallt in Snowdonia. It is 28 miles (45 km) in length, and is much branched; many of the significant tribut ...

and River Gamlan has 3 large waterfalls and many smaller ones all within Coed y Brenin (the forest of the king).

Features

The village includes Dolmelynllyn Hall (owned by the National Trust), and the area is also referred to as the

Dolmelynllyn estate Dolmelynllyn Estate is an area of farmland, woodland and parkland near the village of Ganllwyd in southern Gwynedd, Wales. It is owned by the National Trust. The estate was formerly owned by William Madocks, the architect of Porthmadog. Features ...

. One author suggests an Arthurian link to the village but there is no other corroboration. The village is now surrounded by Forestry Commission and National Trust parkland of conifers and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

s. A large area of surrounding ancient oak woodland is a designated SSSI and has a particularly rich temperate maritime

Bryophyte The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in s ...

community. The forest has a group of Wellingtonia planted in the early 20th century and Dolmelynllyn has two trees dating from the 1850s in the meadow, one being the second largest in Wales. The forests are full of wildlife, with deer, red squirrels, pine martens, polecats, otters, and other mammals, and a variety of birds from black grouse to merlins, magpies, buzzards, and red kites. There are many walks from the village into the forest, and several free car parks.

Governance

Ganllwyd has a

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...

, responsible for maintenance of local footpaths, footbridges and, until 2017, public toilets. At 179, the community council has the smallest population of any council in Wales. The small population of residents in Ganllwyd are known locally as Gans. For elections to

Gwynedd County Council Cyngor Gwynedd ( en, Gwynedd Council) is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language. History The county of Gwynedd was created in 1974 under ...

Ganllwyd is part of a combined Brithdir and Llanfachreth/Ganllwyd/Llanelltyd electoral ward.

References

{{Communities of Gwynedd Sites of Special Scientific Interest in East Gwynedd Communities in Gwynedd