Footbridge across Afon Roe in Rowen - geograph

Rowen is a village on the western slopes of the

Conwy valley , name_etymology = , image = Boats in River Conwy.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = Boats in the river estuary at Conwy , map = , map_size = , map_caption = , push ...

in the parish of

Caerhun Caerhun ( cy, Caerhûn) is a scattered rural community, and former civil parish, on the west bank of the River Conwy. It lies to the south of Henryd and the north of Dolgarrog, in Conwy County Borough, Wales, and includes several small villag ...

and the former County of

Caernarfonshire , HQ= County Hall, Caernarfon , Map= , Image= Flag , Motto= Cadernid Gwynedd (The strength of Gwynedd) , year_start= , Arms= ''Coat of arms of Caerna ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It lies off the

B5106 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Gr ...

, between Tal y Bont and the Groes Inn. ''Buildings of Gwynedd'' 2009 refers to the River Roe probably following the Roman route from

Abergwyngregyn Abergwyngregyn () is a village and community of historical note in Gwynedd, a county and principal area in Wales. Under its historic name of Aber Garth Celyn it was the seat of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. It lies in the historic county of Caernarf ...

. Rowen has won tidiest village awards several times. In recent times the name of the village has been variously spelled as "Y Wy-Wen" (white river), "Rowen", "Ro-wen" "Roe Wen" and "Roewen". Although the Religious

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 1851 records the name "Ro-wen", most early 20th-century maps simply use the name "Y Ro",

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 peopl ...

for "gravel" or "

pebble A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predomina ...

s". ''Wen'' means "white", or could mean "holy". The Afon Roe, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the

River Conwy , name_etymology = , image = Boats in River Conwy.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = Boats in the river estuary at Conwy , map = , map_size = , map_caption = , pus ...

, flows through the village. A tributary of Afon Roe is Afon Tafolog, which drains the eastern slopes of

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

, a mountain in the

Carneddau The (lit. 'the cairns'; is a Welsh plural form, and is sometimes anglicised to ''Carnedds'') are a group of mountains in Snowdonia, Wales. They include the largest contiguous areas of high ground (over or high) in Wales and England (although l ...

mountains. In the book ''Crwydro Arfon'' (1959, by Alun Llewelyn-Williams), Rowen is described as "...one of the loveliest villages in Wales" (p. 77). The following poem, called "Llais Afon, Ro" ("Voice of Afon Ro"), was written by G. Gerallt Davies in 1945: And, in 1941 he published "Y Ffynnon": The village has a hotel, Tir y Coed; a pub, Y Tŷ Gwyn; and a memorial hall, but the small

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

closed in 2011. There is a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...

on the slope a mile to the west of the village. Social housing came to the village in the 1960s - Llanerch Estate. In the past, the village had a greater significance; it had three

mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places Uni ...

, and several ale houses and inns. It also had a ''pandy'' or fulling mill, so

woollen Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...

cloth must have been made nearby. The village is identified in the Caerhun common enclosure award maps. The award map refers to the creation of the White Hart Road on the mountain above Fotty Gwyn and the Roman bridge, possibly related to the old royal mail coaching days. There are past associations with cattle droving and fairs. Bulkley Mill (completed 1684) is one of the notable old mills of the village. One historic source refers to a mountain cloudburst happening above the village, with properties being lost (probably in the mid-1800s). Nearby is the

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

route through

Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen ( Welsh: ''Gap/Pass of the Two Stones'') is a mountain pass in Conwy county borough, north Wales, traversable only on foot or horseback, following the former Roman road from Caerhun (Canovium) to Caernarfon (Segontium). The r ...

, with its

cromlech A cromlech (sometimes also spelled "cromleh" or "cromlêh"; cf Welsh ''crom'', "bent"; ''llech'', "slate") is a megalithic construction made of large stone blocks. The word applies to two different megalithic forms in English, the first being an ...

''Maen-y-Bardd''. Part of the ''

A Family at War ''A Family At War'' is a British drama series that aired on ITV from 1970 to 1972. It was created by John Finch and made by Granada Television for ITV. The original producer was Richard Doubleday, and with 13 directors during the series. The ...

'' series (Granada TV) was filmed here.

Interesting local buildings

* Ty Pandy - the original woollen or fulling mill c.1800 and modified in Victorian times; still has a mill race and mill pond fed by the river * Pen-y-Bont 'By the Bridge' - c.16th century, river stone cottage; possibly the oldest building in the village * Seion Methodist Chapel and Vestry - 1841 * Former Seion Chapel - 1819 * Llannerch y Felin - Elizabethan Snowdonia-type house * Bodafon and Fronfa - houses adjacent to the former post office with old Georgian style porches since removed; stables/store below * Llais Afon - large village terrace house (formerly two houses) with original sash windows and a former carpenter's workshop to the side; * Coed Mawr Hall - probably mid-19th-century * Rock House - large house above Coed Mawr Hall * Tan yr Onnen cottage with dated gate stoneFrancis Frith site - post card view from the 1960s
/ref> * Glyn Isa - 17th-century country house * Gilfach - with lovely gardens * Y Swan - old village inn, now a house * The old cobbler's shop facing the road (near Ty Gwyn) * Pandy - the manor (historically, Pandy was Lord of the Manorial ) * Bulkeley Mill - old mill property

Local connections

* G. Gerallt Davies - poet and writer; Pengwern * Huw T. Edwards - politician, poet and writer; Tros fy Tresi; see village plaque * Edward Nefydd Evans - gardener, nurseryman and plantsman; born in Rowen in the 1930s; left in spring 2015, after 85 years * Harriet and Jack Evans - from Llannefydd/Llansannan in the 1930s * Isoline Gee - Gilfach * Arthur Tysilio Johnson - plantsman and garden writer; 1930s; ''A Woodland Garden in Wales'' *

Margaret Lacey Margaret Brackenbury Lacey (26 October 1911 – 4 October 1988) was a British character actress and ballet teacher. She appeared in over 30 films between 1957 and 1985, usually playing a sweet old lady or motherly figure in minor roles. Early ...

- actress, ballet teacher and film star in the 1960s - 70s; ''I'm All Right Jack'' * Kyffin Roberts - Wern; Tyddyn Robin, Llanbedr * Wyn Roberts, Baron Roberts of Conwy * H. G. Williams - writer * Scriven Williams.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk: photos of Rowen and surrounding areaRowen village community website
{{authority control Caerhun Villages in Conwy County Borough Villages in Snowdonia