Cwm-y-glo is a small village in

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 ...

, east of

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

, between Llanberis and Llanrug. It is in the Arfon Parliamentary constituency, the

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 ...

of Llanrug, and the Gwynedd Council electoral ward. Cwm-y-glo ward includes Ceunant and Pont-rug and has a population of around 1,000. The focus of the village is on the original roadway, now bypassed by the A4086 road, which follows the approximate line of the former railway. To the east of the village lies the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

Afon Rhythallt The River Rhythallt (Welsh language, Welsh: Afon Rhythallt) is a river in Gwynedd, North Wales whose source is Llyn Padarn. It flows in a northwesterly direction past the village of Brynrefail, Gwynedd and changes its name to Afon Seiont downstre ...

(an extension of the Afon Seiont) and consequently some houses on the eastern side of the old road (which lie below the level of the main road) suffer flooding. The village is mainly residential, but has a number of shops and small businesses. Menter Fachwen is a local charity offering work to adults with disabilities. The community is policed from Llanberis and has a dedicated Community Beat Manager.

History

The origin of the village's name ("Valley of

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

") lies in its connection with the extensive slate industries which thrived in the valley in 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. The area was home to the charcoal sub-industry, which the foundries at the various quarries depended on to fabricate

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

to support the slate industry. On 30 June 1869, two carts carrying nitroglycerine explosive collided in the village; the resulting explosion killed the carters as well as three others and injured a further eight. The explosion was at the time believed to be the loudest manmade explosion ever, and the debris, allegedly including a cart wheel, was thrown as far as the next village, Brynrefail. To this day an X is inscribed on a wall at Clegir along the old road between Bryn Bras Castle and Llanberis, marking the spot where a wheel and harness from one of the carts was flung. In April 2008 a plaque commemorating the tragedy was unveiled on the rock face opposite Y Fricsan, the village pub.''Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald'', 24 April 2008. Between 1865 and 1965 an LNWR branch railway line ran through the village from Llanberis to

, but there are no longer any visible remains of Cwm-y-glo railway station. The line was established by the Caernarvon and Llanberis Railway Act 1864.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Cwm-y-glo and surrounding areaNorth Wales Police
{{authority control Villages in Gwynedd Llanrug