Arthog () is a village,

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

in the

Meirionnydd is a coastal and mountainous region of Wales. It has been a kingdom, a , a district and, as Merionethshire, a county. It is currently a committee area within the county Gwynedd. Kingdom (Meirion, with as a Welsh suffix of land, literally 'La ...

area in

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, north

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

including the villages of

Fairbourne Fairbourne is a seaside village in Gwynedd, Wales. Located on the coast of Barmouth Bay in Arthog community, to the south of the estuary of the River Mawddach, it is surrounded by Snowdonia National Park. It is in an area that had been listed ...

and

Friog Friog () is a small village in North Wales, near Fairbourne. Its lake and beach are a tourist attraction to over 1,000 visitors a year. Friog is notable for a rockfall-prone section of railway track, scene of two fatal accidents in 1883 and ...

. It is located on the A493, approximately west of

Dolgellau Dolgellau (; ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Merion ...

, and had a population of 1,010 in 2001, increasing slightly to 1,031 at the 2011 census.

Etymology

The village was named after the Welsh ruler ''Arthog ap

Ceredig Ceredig ap Cunedda (died 453), was a possibly fictional or at least not well attested in reliable sources king of Ceredigion in Wales.

History

In 1894, Solomon Andrews, a

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

entrepreneur, bought land overlooking the Mawddach estuary. On the site he completed Mawddach Crescent in 1902. The row of terraced properties was the start of a purpose-built holiday resort he intended for the area. However the planned development went no further because the surrounding land proved unsuitable for urban planning. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

commandeered Mawddach Crescent. It became known as Iceland Camp. The marines also built huts on nearby Fegla Fawr; the foundation bases can still be seen between the trees above the estuary. It is well known for its outdoor activity centres and the nearby Llynnau Cregennen. The
Arthog Outdoor Education Centre
' is owned by

Telford and Wrekin Council Telford and Wrekin Council is the local authority of Telford and Wrekin in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It was founded in 1974 as The Wrekin District Council, and was a lower-tier district council until 1998. The district was r ...

and is primarily used in term-time by schools from the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Local Education Authorities.

Population

According to the 2011 census, 28.3% of the community's residents were able to speak Welsh. Consequently, Arthog had the lowest percentage of Welsh speakers of any community in Gwynedd. 70.6% of the community's residents were born outside Wales.

Transport

The village was served by Arthog railway station (on the Barmouth - Ruabon line) until the complete closure of the line in 1964. The line is now a footpath known as the Mawddach Trail (), and is popular with both walkers and cyclists.

Morfa Mawddach railway station railway station (formerly Barmouth Junction) is an unstaffed station located on the outskirts of the village of Arthog in Gwynedd, Wales, on the Cambrian Line, Cambrian Coast line between and . Built by the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway i ...

is on the western outskirts of the village. The station is situated on the

Cambrian Line The Cambrian Line (), sometimes split into the Cambrian Main Line () and Cambrian Coast Line () for its branches, is a railway line that runs from Shrewsbury in England, westwards to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli in Wales. Passenger train services ...

with direct trains northbound to via and and southbound to via and .

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Arthog and surrounding area
{{Gwynedd-geo-stub