Visit Criccieth Places

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The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Criccieth

  

Criccieth Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Criccieth

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Criccieth history

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The area around Criccieth was settled during the Bronze Age, and a chambered tomb, Cae Dyni, survives on the coast to the east of the town; it consists of seven upright stones, and there are 13 cup marks, arranged in several groups. Evidence from other sites on the Llŷn Peninsula suggests that the area was colonised by a wave of Celtic settlers, who explored the Irish Sea, probably around the 4th century BC. Ptolemy calls the peninsula Ganganorum Promontorium (English: Peninsula of the Gangani); the Gangani were a tribe of Irish Celts, and it is thought there may have been strong and friendly links with Leinster. Although it is thought that Criccieth Castle was built around 1230 by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, who had controlled the area since 1202, the first record of the building was in 1239, when the administrative centre of Eifionydd was moved from Dolbenmaen. In the later years of his life, Llywelyn turned his attention to his successor. Welsh law stipulated that illegitimate sons had equal rights with legitimate sons; Llywelyn sought to ensure that Dafydd ap Llywelyn, his legitimate offspring, would inherit Gwynedd in place of his eldest, but illegitimate, son Gruffydd. On Llywelyn’s death in 1240, Dafydd sought to secure his position. Dafydd was half English and feared that his pure Welsh half-brother would be able to gather support to overthrow him. Gruffydd was held prisoner in Criccieth Castle, until he was handed over to Henry III of England in 1241, and moved to the Tower of London. Dafydd ap Llywelyn died in 1246, without leaving an heir, and was succeeded by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, his nephew. Edward I had inherited the English throne in 1272, and in 1276 declared Llywelyn a rebel. By 1277, Edward’s armies had captured the Isle of Anglesey, and were encamped at Deganwy; the settlement, the Treaty of Aberconwy, forced Llywelyn to acknowledge Edward as his sovereign, and stripped him of much of his territory. Dafydd ap Gruffydd, Llywelyn’s younger brother, attacked the English forces at Hawarden in 1282, setting off a widespread rebellion throughout Wales; Edward responded with a further invasion of Gwynedd, during which Llywelyn was killed on the battlefield at Cilmeri. With the final defeat of Gwynedd, Edward set about consolidating his rule in Wales. Criccieth Castle was extended and reshaped, becoming one of a ring of castles surrounding Edward’s newly conquered territories. A township developed to support the garrison and a charter was granted in 1284; the charter was intended to create a plantation of English burgesses who would provide food for the soldiers from the arable land behind the Dinas and the grazings on the slopes beyond. Weekly markets were held on Thursdays and there were annual fairs on 25 April and 18 October, the evangelical feasts of Saint Mark and Saint Luke. The new administration soon proved unpopular among the native Welsh, and in 1294, Madog ap Llywelyn led a national revolt against English rule. Criccieth was besieged for several months over the winter; 41 residents sought refuge within its walls, joining the garrison of 29 men under William de Leybourne, until supplies were brought in from Ireland the following April. The following year, the castle was again used as a prison, housing captives taken in Edward’s wars against Scotland. Three Welshmen who had settled in the borough, which was supposedly reserved for the English, were evicted in 1337, but times were about to change. Hywel ap Gruffydd was appointed constable of the castle in 1359, the first Welshman to hold the post. The following year came mayor of the town, holding the office for twenty years; in a poem of praise, Iolo Goch described him as “a puissant knight, head of a garrison guarding the land”. By 1374 eight jurymen from the borough had Welsh names. Richard II was deposed and imprisoned in 1399, and died in mysterious circumstances the following year. Opposition to the new king, Henry IV, was particularly strong in Wales and Cheshire, and in 1400 serious civil unrest broke out in Chester. Henry had already declared Owain Glyndŵr, a descendant of the Princes of Powys, a traitor, and on 16 September 1400 Owain launched a revolt. He was proclaimed Prince of Wales, and within days a number of towns in the north east of Wales had been attacked. By 1401 the whole of northern and central Wales had rallied to Owain’s cause, and by 1403 villages throughout the country were rising in support. English castles and manor houses fell and were occupied by Owain’s supporters. Although the garrison at Criccieth Castle had been reinforced, a French fleet in the Irish Sea stopped supplies getting through, and the castle fell in the spring of 1404. The castle was sacked; its walls were torn down; and both the castle and borough were burned. The castle was never to be reoccupied, while the town was to become a small Welsh backwater, no longer involved in affairs of state. The town was described in 1847 as follows, It is a poor straggling place, with houses built without any regard to order, and having nothing worthy of notice save the ruins of the ancient castle, which stand on an eminence jutting into the sea. The population of Criccieth in 1841 was 811. The town expanded in the 19th century with the coming of new transportation links. In 1807 a turnpike road was built from Tremadog to Porthdinllaen, which was intended to be the main port for traffic to Ireland; and with the construction of the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway in 1868, the town began to develop as a Victorian seaside resort. Criccieth solicitor David Lloyd George was elected as Liberal Member of Parliament for the Caernarfon Boroughs in 1890. He was to hold the seat for 55 years, during which he was Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922, winning the First World War (‘the man who won the war’) through brilliant administration, leadership skills and personal energy, and negotiating the ill-fated Versailles peace treaty. Before that he was one of the great welfare reformers of the 20th century, starting pensions and unemployment payments. His position as a leading statesman brought Criccieth national and international prominence that it had never previously enjoyed; the town still has many locations connected with Lloyd George and his family. Disaster struck Criccieth in October 1927; a great storm in the Irish Sea stopped the tidal flow, causing a double high tide. High seas and strong on-shore winds destroyed houses at Abermarchnad, the pressure of the waves punching holes through the back walls; the houses subsequently had to be demolished and the occupants rehoused.

Criccieth culture & places

Memorial Hall, fronting Y Maes, is a venue for concerts, dramas and community events. The Brynhir Arms on Stryd Fawr dates from 1631. The National Eisteddfod was held in Criccieth in 1975, and a new housing estate marks the place where the Gorsedd stones then stood.

Criccieth etymology

The earliest recorded form of the place name Criccieth in Welsh is found in Brut y Tywysogion. The form Cruciaith was used by Iolo Goch in a famous 14th century poem. There are a number of theories as to the meaning, but the most popular is that it comes from Crug Caeth.

Criccieth landmarks

Criccieth Castle dominates the town, standing on a rock overlooking Cardigan Bay. Little survives of the original building, but the outer defences are still prominent. The inner bailey contains the earliest remains, including the inner gatehouse, which has two semi-circular towers. It is thought that the original living quarters were in the south west tower, overlooking the sea, and that the square north tower supported a catapult. To the south of Y Maes stands Caffi Cwrt, an early 18th century detached stone house where the burgesses held court when rain prevented them meeting in their usual location on the bridge. The house has been owned by just two families since 1729. Two medieval strip fields to the rear, Llain Fawr (large strip) and Llain Bella (furthest strip), formed most of the smallholding of Cwrt but were lost when the railway was built. Nearby, where the slate shop now stands, was a smithy. On Penpaled Road is a cottage, Penpaled, built in 1820 on a plot lying between two enclosed meadows. The meadows, Cae’r Beiliaid (bailiff’s field) and Llain y Beiliaid (bailiff’s strip) were subsequently to form part of the route of both the road and the railway. Further uphill stand a 17th-century whitewashed cottage, Ty’r Felin, and Foinavon, a yellow pebble-dashed building once owned by the Bird’s Custard family. Morfin, on Tan-y-Grisiau Terrace was used as an office by David Lloyd George whilst he was practising as a solicitor. Nearby, Ty Newydd, a mid-16th century house, was originally built to house the estate bailiff. Criccieth’s first council houses on the adjacent Henbont Road were built on land donated to rehouse families made homeless by the 1927 storm. Three 600-year-old cottages, originally thatched, make up Wellington Terrace. They are thought to be the oldest in the town. Ffordd Castell is within the original settlement, Yr Hen Dref, though most of the houses are Victorian. Ty Mawr, however, originally a smallholding and later a public house, dates from the 16th century, whilst on the opposite side of the street a long stone building, divided into three cottages, Porth yr Aur, Trefan and Cemlyn, dates from 1700. The Castle Bakery next door features a stained glass insertion above the shop window which depicts bakers at work. In the past nearby residents could bring their own dough to be baked in the ovens. By the castle entrance Gardd y Stocs, a small green, was home to the town’s stocks, whilst the building that houses the castle information centre was part of the town’s guildhall. The heart of the old town is Y Dref. It was here that the weekly market was held, and it was also the venue for numerous political meetings. Edward I granted lands north of the borough to the Bishop of Bangor, and it is thought that Gardd yr Esgob on Lôn Bach formed part of these. In the 19th century one of the town’s abattoirs stood here. Tan y Graig, a house at the end of a long garden, dates from at least 1800. Three 16th century fishermen’s cottages stand in Rock Terrace. Named Sea Winds, Ty Canol and Ty Isaf, they have 14th century foundations. On the green at West Parade stands a shelter donated by Margaret Lloyd George, the wife of the former prime minister. Muriau on Lôn Fel includes a group of partly 17th century farm buildings set around a square, which were converted into houses by Elizabeth Williams Ellis of Chwilog. Muriau Poethion contains an early spiral staircase going round a large inglenook fireplace. North of Ffordd Pwllheli, several mansions are along the lane, now named Lôn Fel Uchaf. Parciau was once owned by Ellis Annwyl Owen, rector of Llanystumdwy from 1837 to 1846, whilst Parciau Mawr has a notable 19th century hay barn. Bryn Awelon was the home of David Lloyd George before the First World War, and later of his daughter Megan. Nearby, on Arfonia Terrace, is Parciau Uchaf, a farmhouse dating from 1829. Y Gorlan on Ffordd Caernarfon formed part of the small estate of Cefniwrch Bach, a hunting lodge for Edward I at the time the castle was being built, and is thought to have been a tannery in medieval times. Ger y Maes, the end house on Holywell Terrace, is close to an ancient well, Ffynnon y Saint, which supplied much of the town’s water. The house had a spring inside a cupboard, and ginger beer was manufactured and sold. The house at the opposite end of the terrace was a dairy, and to the south are the ruins of the former animal pound, where stray animals were held before being sold. The former National Westminster Bank on Stryd Fawr has step gables and is a duplicate of a building at Talgarth in Powys. On the south side of the street are a number of 19th century shops, including the Medical Hall, dating from 1875 and Siop Newydd, built in 1869. At the eastern end of the Esplanade stands the Morannedd Café, built in 1954 by Clough Williams-Ellis. Talhenbont Hall is a Grade II listed manor house. It was built in 1607 was once the home of William Vaughan. In 1642, the owner William Lloyd was arrested as a Royalist sympathiser as Cromwell’s men took over the hall. In 1758 Talhenbont was the largest single owned piece of land in the district of Eifionydd. The estate was occupied by Sir Thomas Mostyn, the sixth baronet, from 1796. In 1884 the estate was split into sections to pay off debts that had crept up during the Napoleonic Wars. It is now operated as a holiday centre.

Criccieth geography / climate

Criccieth is located in Eifionydd on the Cardigan Bay shore of the Llŷn Peninsula. The town is south facing and built around the rocky outcrop containing the rocky castle. The rhyolitic headland on which the castle is built is strong and not easily eroded. The cliffs to each side are less resistant, being made up of glacial drift, layers of boulders, stones, clay and silt which were laid down during the last ice age.

You can visit Criccieth places with Walkfo Criccieth to hear history at Criccieth’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Criccieth has 10 places to visit in our interactive Criccieth map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Criccieth, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Criccieth places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Criccieth & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 10 audio facts unique to Criccieth places in an interactive Criccieth map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Criccieth Places Map
10 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Criccieth historic spots	Criccieth tourist destinations	Criccieth plaques	Criccieth geographic features
Walkfo Criccieth tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Criccieth

  

Best Criccieth places to visit

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Criccieth has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Criccieth’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Criccieth’s information audio spots:

Tŷ Newydd Tŷ Newydd is a historic house in Llanystumdwy, near Criccieth, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It has housed the National Writing Centre of Wales since 1990. It specialises in residential creative writing and retreats.

Grave of David Lloyd George The Grave of David Lloyd George, stands on a bank of the Afon Dwyfor in the village of Llanystumdwy, Gwynedd, Wales. The grave comprises a boulder set in an oval enclosure, the walls of which bear two slate plaques recording Lloyd George’s name and years of his birth and death.

St Cynhaearn’s Church, Ynyscynhaearn St Cynhaearn’s Church is a redundant church standing in an isolated position on Ynyscynhaearna, a former island in Llyn (Lake) Ystumllyn, near Criccieth in Gwynedd, Wales. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade II* listed building.

Visit Criccieth plaques