Llandderfel is a village and a sparsely populated
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
Gwynedd, Wales, near
Bala, formerly served by the
Llandderfel railway station. The community also includes the settlements of
Glan-yr-afon,
Llanfor
Llanfor is a village in Gwynedd, Wales near the town of Bala, in the community of Llandderfel.
History
There is evidence of an Iron Age Hill Fort in the immediate area and Roman Castrum.
In the 6th century an unknown Monk from Llanfor was re ...
,
Cefnddwysarn and
Frongoch
Frongoch is a village located in Gwynedd, Wales. It lies close to the market town of Bala, on the A4212 road.
It was the home of the Frongoch internment camp, used to hold German prisoners-of-war during First World War, and then Irish Rep ...
. The Community population taken at the
2011 census was 1,095.
Palé Hall
Palé Hall was built in 1871, on the site of an older manor house in Llandderfel. It was designed by
Samuel Pountney Smith
Samuel Pountney Smith JP (2 November 1812Obituary. Date stated to be his birthday. – 5 November 1883) was an English architect who practised in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.
Smith was a native of Munslow, where he was baptised on 17 De ...
of
Shrewsbury for
Henry Robertson
Henry Robertson (11 June 1816 – 22 March 1888) was a Scottish mining engineer and prolific railway builder, industrialist and Liberal Party politician. He was head of Brymbo Steelworks, Wrexham. He was co-founder of Beyer-Peacock, with Char ...
MP, a railway engineer and local landowner. The house was used as a military hospital in World War I and a home for evacuated children in World War II. The Robertson family sold the estate to the
Duke of Westminster
Duke of Westminster is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. It is the most recent dukedom conferred on someone not related to the ...
in the 1950s.
The church of St Derfel
The parish church of Llandderfel (Saint Dervel) is part of the diocese of
St Asaph
St Asaph (; cy, Llanelwy "church on the Elwy") is a city and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2011 Census it had a population of 3,355, making it the second-smallest city in Britain in terms of population and urban ...
and is mentioned in the Papal Registers of the late 15th century. The poet
Dewi Havhesp is buried at Llandderfel church yard. There are sheep that graze in the church yard.
A
Celtic Llan site, founded in the early 6th century by
Saint Derfel, the church was rebuilt probably in the early 16th century. A large wooden image of the saint was sent to London in 1538 and burned with
John Forest
John Forest (1471 – 22 May 1538) was an English Franciscan friar and martyr. Confessor to Queen Catherine of Aragon, Forest was burned to death at Smithfield for heresy, in that he refused to acknowledge the King as head of the church.
Life ...
in
Smithfield, however the now headless carved red stag and staff are still preserved within the porch.
Governance
An
electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches beyond the confines of Llandderfel with a population taken at the 2011 census of 1,511.
Notable people
*
Huw Cae Llwyd (born about 1431 – died after 1505), poet
*
Edward Jones (1752–1824), harpist.
*
Dewi Havhesp (1831–1884), poet, noted especially for his
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 ...
ion.
*
Huw Derfel (1816–1890), author of the first mountain handbook in Welsh.
*
Robert Jones Derfel (1824–1905), patriotic poet and early Socialist.
*
Rees Davies
Sir Robert Rees Davies, (6 August 1938 – 16 May 2005) was a Welsh historian.
Biography
Davies was born in Merionethshire, and educated at Bala Grammar School. He was bilingual in Welsh and English. He received a First in his degree from Un ...
(1938–2005), Chichelle Professor of Medieval History
References
External links
*
Three Saints, Two Wells & a Welsh Parish' by Tristan Gray Hulse, Living Spring Journal, Issue 6 (Summer 1998)
*
St Derfel and the Stag – icon or idol?', by Dr Madeleine Gray, WalesOnline, 2 May 2013
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