Unexpected history walk

If there are history events in the area (public lectures, guided walks) I often attend them if I can. I like local history! And there had been one advertised recently, but I hadn't been available. And then on a Saturday I suddenly got an email saying it was actually the day after. It had been cancelled the previous time for reasons of bad weather! So I saw an opportunity, and I appeared on the given time and place. This was not a historian I had already done a walk with. There is quite a supply in the area, apparently!

The walk was going to be about Llanllechid and the surrounding area. It is only a tiny village, but it is very old, and Bethesda, which is only 200 years old, is in its parish. And there must be a lot to say about it! And the historian, called Martin Davies, explain how he would do the walk, and he also warned us against very bad jokes. Would he disappoint? I didn't recognise any of the faces among punters, but that was okay. They must all be like-minded spirits. And I was not surprised to see I was single-handedly lowering the average age. We also had two dogs.

We had started at the playing field in Rachub, and the first thing we did was walk to Llanllechid proper. There he pointed out a residential building had been a pub, and had surprisingly been in the hands of rather strict Protestants, who tend to be quite against drinking. Clearly, these might have been willing to make an exception. And he read out a few articles that had appeared in old newspapers; clearly, a lot of drunken and disorderly behaviour had happened in and near the building.

We then walked through the fields to Bryn Hafod y Wern. Martin didn't know much about it, but he did mention how it had come to an end. This is quite a famous story in the area. As not everyone reading this will know it: it was powered by water wheels, but there was not an awful lot of water in the direct environment, so a sizeable leat had been dug to bring water from quite some distance away to the quarry. Unfortunately, this leat ran over land owned by the Penrhyn estate, and Lord Penrhyn was not keen on competition, so he had a big hole dug that interrupted the water supply. That was the end of the quarry.

The terrain above the quarry, which we reached through a gate by which he made his first terrible joke, had been military exercise terrain during WWII. And above it, we could see a dent in the hill called Twll Pant Hiriol. Martin explained that there are remnants of a single roundhouse in there. And it had a weird rectangular structure in it. He said that must have been the house of a special person. A chieftain? A druid? And what was the angular structure for? Hard to know. 

He also told some tales of unpleasant events that have taken place here. It seems to be called the Field of Robbers, and there had been an Civil War era reason for that. It did not end well for either the robbed or the robbers. And while we were pondering this, one of the punters pointed out that the weather was so beautiful we could see Ireland. That doesn't happen very often!

Through the moorland, there was an old pilgrim's route that came from somewhere in the St Asaph direction and went to Bardsey Island. We followed it for a bit and came across the remnants of a tiny old church that was there for the pilgrims. I had no idea it was there!

We also came past Bwlch ym Mhwll le, a cleft that forms the rear end of Moel Faban. Martin wanted to know what had caused it. I wasn't sure! One of the other punters suggested glacial outburst flood damage. I was thinking of a weakness in the rock; fault line perhaps? And I decided to look at up at home. (There is indeed a fault line there; I think that combined with glacial meltwater created this landscape feature.)

We then came back to Rachub, where there was a defended cluster of round houses that I already knew about. And a few more terrible jokes followed. But we were coming to an end. We went through the gates that lead to the high street (which is not your typical High Street), and then came back to the playing field where we had started via a small public footpath Martin wasn't aware of yet. And we all said goodbye, and I might see these people again! The next walk seems to be in September…

Walking and talking on the outskirts of Bryn Hafod y Wern

Pointing at Twll Pant Hiriol