Dee Valley Guide

Corwen

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 20:44:42 +0100

The Dee Valley down to Corwen is much wider than the section to Llangollen. Corwen had its heyday in Victorian times. It’s still a market town and it has a 6th Century mission established by St. Mael and St. Sulien. Carreg-y-Big, a 6-foot stone monolith, forms part of the East wall. In the South porch there’s a rough cross cut into a lintol, it’s supposed to be an impression of Owain Glyndwr’s dagger which was thrown from Pen-y-Pigyn – a high lookout rock over the town. Look out for low foot stones on some of the graves with kneeling hollows to encourage praying for the departed.

Caer Drewyn, high on the other side of the valley is an early circular stone fort with a large site and high, very thick, walls with inner raised walkways and curved stone entrance gateways with shelter for the guards. There is a well-marked walk to this little known but very significant historical site from an entrance a few yards uphill from the Corwen Leisure Centre. The views are excellent and the situation of the camp is very memorable once you’ve walked around it and imagined how it used to be hundreds of years ago.

The Ruabon to Dolgellau GWR Railway Line and the Ruabon to Denbigh and Rhyl LNR Railway Lines met at Corwen. It was the hub for road and rail access to the North and West coasts of North Wales. The town centre is a conservation area, and an area of special architectural and historical interest. A lot of development stopped at the end of the Victorian era and little progress was made afterwards because improved rail and road facilities meant fewer people stopped in Corwen, it became another small town straddling the main routes.

Carrog

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The old lane used to continue upstream along the bank of the River Dee quite a distance as access to the previous church. This had one of the fords nearby that gave access to the main route along the valley. The church was washed away in a big flood in 1601. The replacement (completed in 1615) is situated in the centre of the village which was originally called Llansantffraid-Glyn-Dyfrdwy until the Railway came in 1860. It was renamed “Carrog”, from the name of a local manor-house to avoid confusion.

The Grouse Inn, a quaint and well spoken of pub has lovely views down onto the river and to the ancient bridge and they make very tasty bar snacks.

There’s a well equipped caravan site at Pen-y-bont, over the bridge and across the road is the terminus of the preserved steam railway. Tasty snacks and a good cup of tea are available in the original station buildings - often used for authenticity by film crews and TV camera men.

Owain Glyndŵr

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 20:49:52 +0100

Lord of Glyndyfrdwy

It was possibly a lookout post on an earlier hill fort. The area used for the raised ancestral house and hunting lodge can be seen in the field below and joined to the mound. Iolo Goch, Owain Glyndŵr’s bard, wrote about the Summer Lodge in 1390. Apparently it was made of timber, surrounded by a moat with an elaborate gateway entrance over a bridge. It was built on an elevated site and there were eighteen apartments. Owain’s brother, Lord of Rhaggatt, lived quite close by at Rhaggatt. The present Rhaggatt Hall is a couple of miles away on the other side of the River Dee. Owain was Lord of Glyndyfrdwy and took the title of Prince of Wales here in 1400 before setting out to right the wrongs of Lord Grey of Ruthin. If Richard II, a friend to Owain Glyndŵr, had not been forced to abdicate then Wales might have achieved an early independence which has since taken 600 years to develop.

Cynwyd

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Park near the Post Office and then wander around behind the “Blue Lion” and opposite the “Prince of Wales”, the two pubs of the village. There are excellent walks from here up hill following the river and there is a thriving Edeyrnion Ramblers Association. Most people in the village will be able to point you in the right direction, try at the Post Office.

Gwyddelwern

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Bryneglwys

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Bwlch y Groes pass, up the valley of the River Twrch and down the valley of the River Dovey goes from Llanuwchllyn to Dinas Mawddwy and is not for faint hearted drivers especially in snow or frost.

Bala Lake Railway has its station, workshops and cafe in Llanuwchllyn with lovely views of the lake from the carriages as the engine steams its way down to the other end of the lake at Bala, 4 miles away. There is a very famous mixed choir here, one of the best in the world, called Côr Godre’r Aran. There’s also a keen amateur football team and one of the Westminster Members of Parliament lives here - he represents the Party of Wales - Plaid Cymru.

There are many Eisteddfodwyr here, the Eisteddfod is a keenly fought annual competitive literary and musical festival, a unique feature of the Welsh culture and tradition.

A mile or so down the main road to Bala, unmarked, is Caer Gai, once the site of a Roman Camp. Tradition has it that it was the home of Sir Hector from the King Arthur legends and the name commemorates his son Cai Hir (Long Kay) – that’s the Sir Kay of the legends.

Llangar

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Rhug

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