Vanished Pubs of Conwy

The Black Lion, originally uploaded by davidrobertsphotography.

Following on from an old post about the vanished Pubs of Conwy, this is an updated list, with thanks to AngieP and Gwynedd Archives:

Conwy's pubs, past and present, vanished and in other uses (those marked * are still running as pubs today):

The Albion Vaults* (6 Uppergate Street)
The Anchor Uppergate Street (Could be same as Crown & Anchor or Hope & Anchor possibly?)
The Black Horse (West side of Castle Street - immediately to left of Aberconwy house) (In existence in 1795)
The Black Lion (Lyon) (now semi-derelict, Castle Street) (In existence in 1795) (Landlord 1895 - David Roberts)
The Blue Bell* (Castle Street) (Landlord in 1856 - Edward Jones)
The Boot Inn (now r/h side of Alfredos, Lancaster Square) (In existence in 1795) (William Lardner - Landlord in 1798)
The Bull (distinct from the Bull's Head, no idea as to location - any ideas?) (In existence in 1795)
The Bull's Head (High Street, by present Bull Cottages)
The Bridge* (Rosehill Street)
The Britannia Castle Street (Chinese Takeaway opposite NatWest Bank)
The Carpenters Arms (No 6 Berry Street)
The Castle Inn/Hotel* (High Street)(Landlady 1856 - Cordelia Owen)
The Castle View (Bangor Road, Old Co-op Building))
The Cockpit (in vicinity of the Cockpit)
The Commercial Inn Mrs Jane Fielding Llanrwst Rd Gyffin (1929)
The Conway Castle (No. 3 Berry Street) (Thomas Jones - Landlord in 1798)
The Conway [Conwy] Ferry (1798)(Landlady - Mary Davies)
The Conway [Conwy] Mariner (In existence in 1795)(Landlord - Thomas Jones)
The Crown and Anchor, Conwy (Landlord - John Jones)
The Crown Vaults Tavern (High Street, same side as Plas Mawr - Edwards Butchers Shop site?) (Miss Mary Annie Davies - Landlady 1910)
The Cross Keys, Conwy (In existence in 1903)
The Eagles Inn (Now Fisherman's Chip Shop, Castle Street) (In existence in 1795)
The Eccles Inn (Could this be a misspelling of Eagles Inn?)
The Feathers (7 Lancaster Square - currently the Post Office) (Richard Lewis - Landlord in 1798)
The Foresters Arms (Gyffin, now a private house)
The George & Dragon* (21 Castle Street)(Formerly the Tal Y Cafn)
The Hall, Conwy (Landlord - John Thomas)
The Harp Hotel (High Street, where Spar (former Woolworths) is now) (Roger Rous - Landlord in 1798)(formerly The Newborough)
The Hope and Anchor, Conwy (Landlord - Robert Jones)
The Joiners Arms (other side of Wing Gate Wall)(now house called Glanrafon)
The Kings Head (now l/h side of Castle Hotel)(Later known as Castle Vaults)
The Liverpool Arms* (on the Quay)
The Mail Coach/Coach & Horses* (High Street)
The Malt Loaf/Erskine Arms Hotel* (Rosehill Street) (Erskine Refreshment Room - on current car park)(Erskine Tap Room - Church Street)
The Mostyn Arms - Castle Street
The New Inn
The Newbridge Arms (Newborough Terrace)
The Old Bull's Head (High Street, in area where Bull Cottages are now)
The Pen y Grisia, Conway [Conwy] (1798)(Landlady - Catherine Jones)
The Plough Inn (site now occupied by Beresford Adams, Lancaster Square)
The Plough Bach (to left of Plough Inn (above))
The Railway Tavern, No.1 York Place, Conwy
The Red Lion (Lyon) (on High Street, opposite Conwy Pantry) (In existence in 1795)
The Rising Gull (Berry Street)
The Royal Oak Tavern (house to right of 'Smallest House' on Quay)
The Ship Tavern (now Pen Y Bryn Tearooms, High Street) (In existence in 1795)
The Ship (Castle Street)(next to the Eagles)
The Soldiers Rest (by Berry Street Arch) (May also have been called Soldiers Arms)
The Sun, Conway (In existence in 1795 - Mary Jones Landlady)
The Swan (Berry Street, 'up entry by old Co-op')
The Union Tavern (Chapel Street - now Hen Dafarn house?)
The White Horse (Uppergate Street - next to the Albion)
The White Lion, Conwy (Landlord - Nathaniel Atkinson)

Bodlondeb Castle

Bodlondeb Castle in June 2006 (Photo Credit)

Bodlondeb Castle (situated next to the Tram Station on Church Walks) is one of Llandudno's more ornate buildings, being a castellated building built in the Scottish Baronial style. Its interior contains several fine stained glass windows, together with many examples of Italian craftsmanship reflecting the baroque period including a baronial hall, translucent marble pillars and a magnificent staircase together with gothic masonry.

Work started on its construction in 1898 (the site formerly housed the Victoria Gardens) but the story behind its construction is somewhat unusual....

In 1897 , a very wealthy guest at the St. George's Hotel (who wished to remain anonymous) was so taken with the delights of Llandudno that he instructed the Hotel's Manager, Mr. Thomas Davies, to build a residence for him in the town. The guest's only wish was that the finest materials be used in its construction. Mr. Davies was happy to comply with this and, besides engaging the local builders, Jones & Son, also arranged for Italian craftsmen to come over to work on the decorative elements such as the marble columns in the main hallway. The stained glass windows in the main rooms represented the coats of arms of the heads of the fifteen tribes of North Wales.

Main Hallway & Lounge after Restoration in 2006 (Photo Credit)

Mr. Davies was very pleased with the standard of the construction and felt that his client would be too. The day came when the wealthy client returned to Llandudno to view his new residence. The client viewed the exterior of the property, then looked around and asked 'where is the land?' Upon being told that there was no land associated with the property other than a very small garden, he declared that he was no longer interested, turned around and left, never to return!

Local rumour once had it that the wealthy guest was none other than Edward the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII).

The property then remained in the Davies family until 1931, when they sold it to the Methodist Holiday Homes Ltd, who opened it as a Methodist hotel and it remained as such for many years. The Chapel building (now cottages) at the rear of the Bodlondeb Castle, Caer Salem, closed in 1934 and was purchased by the Methodist Holiday Homes to form an annexe to the hotel. During World War II, around 30-40 Civil Servants were billeted in the hotel, although it also managed to remain open for guests. In 1954, a set of modern garages were built and a Games Room was added above the garages in 1967.

Sadly, business began to decline sharply during the early years of the 21st century, with the occupancy rate for the 20 bedrooms falling to 32%. It closed in 2005 after being on the market with a firm of specialist commercial agents for 18 months, but no firm offers approaching the £650,000 asking price were received. It was purchased by Norwest Developments/Beck Homes, who announced plans to restore the building and convert it into 8 luxury apartments. Work started in late 2005 and great care was taken to restore the original features of the building, whilst removing later additions, such as the garages and games room.

Renovation work begins - June 2005 (Photo Credit)

Work on the renovation/conversion was complete by Summer 2006 and the first residents began to move in. I imagine they were somewhat happier with their new residence than that original wealthy hotel guest who refused point blank to accept his new home...

August 2006 - Work is complete! (Photo Credit)


Looking up at Bodlondeb Castle - November 2006 (Photo Credit)

The Candle Factory, Gyffin

Candle Factory at Gyffin (Photo Credit)

Although it looks like a traditional mill, this building by the Gyffin stream on the Henryd Road in Conwy was actually a Candle Factory. It was established in the late 19th Century to make tallow candles (they apparently drip significantly less than wax candles), mainly to supply candles to the miners in the numerous local lead mines.

Animal fat was collected from several slaughterhouses in the area by the owner, Owen Owen (and later Llywelyn Evans), melted down and then poured into dipping troughs. The wicks were attached to a rod hanging above the trough and then dipped into the fat until the required thickness was reached. Unfortunately, the early years of the 20th century brought a decline in local mining, the introduction of oil lamps and the onset of electricity - all of which sent the candle business into steep decline. The mill eventually closed around the time of World War I and appears to have been abandoned ever since.

Some stabilisation of the building was carried out by its owner, Daffydd Roberts, a local farmer, in around 2004/5 but there appears to be no plans to bring the building back into use. Without a roof to protect the structure, its long term survival appears uncertain.

I think it would make a great artist's gallery or a set of small craft workshops, maybe even including a candle maker?

Closer look at the building (Photo Credit)

Thanks to Stan Whittaker and Christopher Draper for the information used in this post. Christopher Draper has a great book called 'Walks From Conwy', which combine a series of gentle walks with lots of historical information.

Shimdda Hir/Craigside Inn

Looking down at Craigside Inn/Shimdda Hir in 2006 (Photo Credit)

Situated on the coast road into Llandudno, many people do not realise that the popular Craigside Inn was originally a house called Shimdda Hir (sometimes spelt Simdda Hir or Simdde Hir, which is Welsh for 'Long Chimneys'*), built by an interesting character called Hugh Mulleneux Walmsley, (1826 - 1879) who described himself as a Colonel in the Imperial Ottoman Army. In 1864 he wrote Llandudno As It Is (having earlier written books about soldiering in Algeria). He appears to have been quite a prolific author, with these being a few of the titles he has written:

Branksome Dene: A Sea Tale (1872)
The ruined cities of Zululand (1869)
Ruined cities of Zululand: Volume 2 (1869)
Zulu land;: Its wild sports and savage life (1879)
The Chasseur D'Afrique (1864)
Journal Of A Bashi Bazouk (1857)
The Life Guardsman (1871)
Life Of Sir Joshua Walmsley (1879)

His best known work is probably:
Sketches of Algeria during the Kabyle War (1858)
which, somewhat amazingly, is still in print today:
.../Sketches-Algeria-during-Kabyle-War/dp/1402187548/

There's also a suggestion that his work formed the inspiration for a more famous novel, namely King Solomon's Mines by Rider Haggard.

Before Mulleneux Walmsley bought the Estate, Shimdda Hir was originally a ten acre holding at the eastern farmlands of Bodafon township. It first appeared in written records in 1792 and was occupied by Owen Thomas. In the mid-ninteenth century the property was owned by Llanrwst solicitor William Griffiths and let to Ann Jones who farmed there with her two daughters. In 1843 the elder daughter, Mary, married Eglwysbach sawyer, John Jones and the couple took over the farm lease. Before the main house was built, there was a farmhouse on the site. It appears that the farmhouse was remodelled to give the appearance of a 'Gentleman's Residence'.

Over the years, the estate has varied in size from 10 to 30 acres but all of the land and buildings are now in separate ownership.The Shimdda Hir cottages were originally built in 1880 as staff accommodation, for the coachman and gardener respectively.

In 1907, a metal strapped wooden box was found 30 inches down in scree across the road from Shimdda Hir. In it were 500 Roman coins, dating from 287-293, a period when Mausaeus Carausius was Emperor of Britain.

After Hugh Mulleneux Walmsley died in 1879, I believe the estate passed into the hands of the Holden family, who owned it for several generations. Their ownership came to an end on the 19th March 1970, when the original Shimdda Hir estate is broken up, with the main house & stable block being sold by Enid Margaret Holden to 'The Congregation of the Sisters of St.Mary of Namur' but Miss Holden retains ownership of Nos 1 and 2 Shimdda Hir Cottages.

The nuns renamed the main house St. Mary's Convent and stayed there until 4th September 1984, when they sold the the main house & stable block to a Peter Raymond Smith, who opened the main house as a hotel/restaurant named 'Le Manoir'. This did not appear to have been a great success, as it was only two years later that Mr. Smith sold the property on and it then passed to the brewers/hoteliers Whitbread PLC, who converted it into the Craigside Inn we see today. The 12 acres of limestone grassland across the road from the Craigside Inn were also owned by the Holden family and were donated to the North Wales Wildlife Trust in 1994 upon the death of Miss Holden.

During 2009, the building underwent an extensive refurbishment and extension scheme, with a whole new accommodation wing being built to the right of the existing building.

Craigside Inn during refurbishment in 2009 (Photo Credit)

There's also a mention on the Coflein website of a Formal Garden:

"This garden is depicted on the Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25-inch map of Caernarvonshire II, sheet 14 (1900). The main element shown on that map is a formal garden there is also a possible second formal garden. C.H. Nicholas, RCAHMW, 10th August 2006."

Many people comment upon the massive old withered tree that grows by the side of the driveway, its very old, maybe even dates back to the building of the house. I'm pleased to say that I contributed in a small way to its survival - when work began on the renovation and extension in 2009, I was concerned it was going to be cut down, so I contacted the Tree Officer at Conwy Council and he agreed to serve a Tree Preservation Order upon it.

Shimdda Hir/Craigside Inn in 2010 (Photo Credit)

Looking down at Shimdda Hir/Craigside Inn in 2011 (Photo Credit)

* - In his comment on this post Huw Waters mentions that "the reason for difference in spellings regarding simdda/shimdda is that 's' and 'i' together in Welsh often tend towards an English 'sh' sound. The h was probably introduced into the word simdda to emphasize the sound 'sh' for non Welsh speakers."

Pubs of Conwy

Once the Ship Tavern...

I thought I would compile a list of Conwy's pubs, past and present, vanished and in other uses, (around 30 in total, I believe) as I can't find one on the Internet (those marked * are still running as pubs today):

Ye Olde Mail Coach/Coach & Horses* (High Street)
The Albion Vaults* (Uppergate Street)
The Blue Bell* (Castle Street)
The George & Dragon* (Castle Street)
The Bridge* (Rosehill Street)
The Castle Hotel* (High Street)
The Liverpool Arms* (on the Quay)
The Malt Loaf/Erskine Arms Hotel* (Rosehill Street)
The Cockpit (in vicinity of the Cockpit)
The Black Lion (now semi-derelict, Castle Street)
The Ship Tavern (now Pen Y Bryn Tearooms, High Street)
The Boot Inn (now r/h side of Alfredos, Lancaster Square)
The Royal Oak Tavern (house to right of 'Smallest House' on Quay)
The Joiners Arms (other side of Wing Gate Wall)
The Soldiers Rest (by Berry Street Arch)
The Plough Inn (site now occupied by Beresford Adams, Lancaster Square)
The Plough Bach (to left of Plough Inn (above))
The Red Lion (on High Street, opposite Conwy Pantry)
The Crown Tavern (High Street, same side as Plas Mawr)
The Old Bull's Head (High Street, in area where Bull Cottages are now)
The Swan (Berry Street, now Swan Cottage B&B)
The Eagles Inn (Now Fisherman's Chip Shop, Castle Street)
The Conwy Castle (Berry Street)
The Castle View (Berry Street, now Castle View B&B)
The White Horse (Uppergate Street)
The Kings Head (now l/h side of Castle Hotel)
The Harp Hotel (High Street, where Spar (former Woolworths) is now)
The Newbridge Arms (Newborough Terrace)

Additions to my original list:
The Foresters Arms (Gyffin, now a private house)
The Bull (distinct from the Bull's Head, no idea as to location - any ideas?)
The Feathers (no idea as to location - any ideas?)
The Union Tavern (no idea as to location - any ideas?)
The Black Horse (West side of Castle Street)

I've complied a list from various sources, but any mistakes are mine. If you spot any errors or have information/anecdotes/a photo to add, please leave a message.

Once the Boot Inn...

Llandudno Town Hall

(Photo Credit)

Llandudno Town Hall was designed in 1894 and won a £50 prize for the architect, Mr. T. B. Silcock, of Bath, in a competition judged by a Mr. Lockwood, of Chester (who I presume was another Architect). It had been the wish of Llandudno Urban District Council (1895-1974)and its predecessors the Llandudno Improvement Commissioners (1854-1894), for the town to have a grand Town Hall, but the process of obtaining one was not to be smooth.

The design was intended to be in the English Renaissance style but ended up as a Baroque form of Classicism, based on E. W. Mountford's design for Battersea Town Hall. Construction was of Portland stone, lined by red brick.

The budgeted cost was £10,000 but problems started almost immediately when the lowest tender for construction received was for £13,300, from a Mr. Warburton of Miles Platting (a district in Manchester). This caused consternation amongst the Councillors and the debate about a revised design and cost rumbled on for many months. Eventually, a revised design and budget for £13,023 was accepted and Mr. Warburton was awarded the contract.

The land it was to be built on was a gift from Lord Mostyn to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in June 1897 - he donated 1,798 Square Yards of land on Lloyd Street, valued at £4,044.

But, another dispute arose and work still did not start. Mr. Warburton's contract was terminated and was awarded to a man called Robert Luther Roberts, who managed to actually get construction underway by 1899. Lord Mostyn laid the Foundation Stone on the October 26th 1899 and the building was completed by early 1902. Unfortunately, by now the total cost had soared to £20,000.

Lord Mostyn laying the Foundation Stone on October 26th 1899

The building featured a large Assembly Hall on the Ground Floor designed for public use, together with associated offices and facilities. The central section of the First Floor was devoted to the Council Chamber, with municipal offices. One wing of the building was designed to be let to private businesses and was completely separated from the municipal part, having its own entrance. The front entrance opened into the Main Hall, complete with grand staircase of Devonshire stone, lined by marble columns.

(Photo Credit)

The building was officially opened by Sir Albert Rollitt (Chairman of the Association of Local Government Organisations and one-time Lord Mayor of Hull) on the 10th February 1902. It was a cold Winter's day and snow was falling heavily in Llandudno in the morning for Sir Albert Rollitt's arrival by train. Fortunately, the clouds cleared and the sun came out by late morning. After the official ceremony, several hundred guests attended a luncheon at 2.30pm in the Council Chamber. Catering was provided by a Mr. Alan Sumner of the Grosvenor Restaurant (is he the founder of the much loved Sumners restaurant that stood on Mostyn Street for many years, I wonder?). In the evening, a free concert for members of the public was held in the Assembly Hall, featuring local musicians & performers. The following Sunday, a special concert for the town's children was held.

Ironically enough, one of the first official tasks undertaken in the new Town Hall was a Government inquiry into the cost of the project, which had more than doubled from the original estimate.

Currently, the Town Hall is now owned by Conwy County Borough Council and Llandudno Town Council have to pay rent for their use of it. This seems curious to me - surely it should be owned by Llandudno Town Council, since it was their forerunner organisation that built it?

In terms of design, I think the Town Hall suits its purpose perfectly.

Looks familiar...but it's Battersea Town Hall!

Pwllycrochan Mansion, Colwyn Bay

In Colwyn Bay, Pwllycrochan can mean a few different things. There are the Pwllycrochan Woods stretching along the hillside at the rear of the town, the Pwllycrochan Estate (the sale of which back in September 1865 kick-started the development of Colwyn Bay as a select seaside resort) and, of course, the Pwllycrochan Mansion (now known as Lyndon Preparatory School).

This time, I'm looking at the Pwllycrochan Mansion, the large white building that stands amid the remainder of what was once the Pwllycrochan Estate elevated above Colwyn Bay. Stand on the prom at Rhos, look towards the woods at the back of Colwyn Bay and you can't miss it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/3336385696/

This impressive building was originally called a manor house called Pwllycrochan or Pwllycrochon (the plainer half to the right in this photo is the original building dating back to the 17th Century but much altered) and it was the sale of its large surrounding Estate by the Erskine family in September 1865 that gave birth to the town of Colwyn Bay. The sale included the Pwllycrochan mansion, the demesne, farm buildings and gardens. These, and some adjoining land, were purchased by John Pender, a Manchester and Glasgow business man, who appointed John Porter as his agent.

In 1875, following business difficulties, Pender sold the estate and the bulk of his property at an Auction held at the Colwyn Bay Hotel on the 12th October. The majority of the Estate passed to a Manchester based consortium for £87,500 – they then formed the Colwyn Bay and Pwllycrochan Estate Company – which continued with planning and development of the new seaside resort town. The estate had an office in Colwyn Bay and was managed over the years by a number of prominent and eminent architects or surveyors.

The sale of the estate released a large area of land for building (much of the area of the present central Colwyn Bay) and much of the development we see today took place in a 40 year period between 1875 and the outbreak of the First World War.

The mansion itself (along with 20+ acres of grounds) was leased by Mr. John Porter and it was remodelled into a hotel during 1866 by Booth Chadwick & Porter. Much of the present interior is a result of that remodelling and, of particular interest, are the Library, Dining Room and the original Gent's Lavatories, complete with richly tiled walls, a mosaic tiled flor and original lavatory fittings! By 1911, the hotel advertised itself as having "Ground floor suites, electric light, billiards, bathing, tennis & golf".

On the 12th May 1937, it hosted the Grand Coronation Ball to celebrate the Coronation of King George VI. Tickets (including Supper) were fifteen shillings and sixpence.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/3462512037/

During the Second World War, it was requisitioned by the Government (along with almost all the other larger hotels in Colwyn Bay), which had selected Colwyn Bay to be the new home of the Ministry of Food for the duration of the war. Pwyllcrochan was used as a Staff Canteen for the men from the Ministry.

Pwllycrochan did not reopen as a hotel until July 1948, three years after the war ended. Before it reopened, it received "extensive alterations" and now had 75 bedrooms and a staff of 35. The proprietor was "Mrs L. M. Hesketh (of the Old Hall Hotel, Buxton)". By now, it was boasting "hot & cold water in bathrooms, own garden produce, electric lift, modern private garage, lock-up boxes". In 1949, it advertised weekly Dinner Dances, on Saturday, at a price of twelve shillings & sixpence per head. It was stated that 'Evening Dress was preferred'.

Sadly, things were just not the same after the war and, in 1952, the Pwyllcrochan Hotel closed for good, the victim of changing trends in British holidays. The buildings and grounds were sold to Rydal School, who moved their Preparatory School there from Inglewood in 1953. The Preparatory school was renamed Lyndon Preparatory School following a merger with another local private primary school in 2003.

The Welsh Ffargo Land Train, Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay

I'm just about old enough to remember the Welsh Ffargo (a pun on Wells Fargo) Land Train in Colwyn Bay, that ran from the Eirias Park Arches (seen in first photo) up into Eirias Park by the Boating Lake. Tourists were encouraged to ride the Miniature Steam Railway along from the Pier to the Eirias Park Arches, then take the Welsh Ffargo up into Eirias Park, where it would travel around the Boating Lake and then stop outside the Pavilion (which had cafe/amusements/exhibitions etc).

Here's some 1970s postcards of it in action:








Maybe you're thinking that it all looks good and you'd like to visit?? Sadly, the Welsh Ffargo disappeared many years ago, as did the Miniature Steam Railway, the Pier is currently closed and semi-derelict, the Boating Lake is now an overgrown mess, the Pavilion in Eirias Park was destroyed by fire (vandals) in the 1980s and never replaced...

No idea what year the Welsh Ffargo stopped running though, anyone know?

The Congo Institute, Colwyn Bay

The Congo Institute

The Congo Institute, also known as the African Training Institute, was established in 1890 at Myrtle Villa, Nant y Glyn Road, Colwyn Bay by a returned missionary and pastor in the town, Reverend William Hughes.

Reverend Hughes, who was a friend of Sir Henry M Stanley whom he had met while a missionary in the Congo, returned to Wales in 1885 with two Congolese students and settled at Colwyn Bay, living on charity and money collected at lectures. He believed the African students should be given a Christian education and trained in a craft apprenticeship, such as carpentry, printing, tailoring, blacksmithing etc.

The intention was that they would then return to Africa and act as missionaries in their own country. Students attended Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Chapel, Colwyn Bay and Calfaria Welsh Baptist Chapel, Old Colwyn. In the Old Colwyn cemetery there are gravestones of Congolese students who died in the area. Although well-supported locally, the Institute was not without its troubles and Hughes' ideas were unpalatable to the Baptist Church Missionary Society.

He was financially naïve, and in 1911 faced national scandal at the hands of John Bull magazine - akin to today's tabloids - which suggested the Africans were 'walking in the woods with local ladies' of an evening. In a story which appeared in the magazine, Hughes was also alleged to have fathered an illegitimate child by a Congolese woman. Hughes decided to sue the editor, Horatio Bottomley, but lost his case at Ruthin Assizes. Subscriptions to the Institute dried up immediately, the remaining students were sent home to Africa and, the following year, Hughes was declared bankrupt. He died at Conwy Workhouse on 28 January 1924.

At its peak the institute trained around 60 students. King Leopold II of Belgium was its patron. North Wales explorer, H M Stanley also gave lectures in support of the institute.

The Congo Institute building (Myrtle Villa) survives on Nant Y Glyn Road to this day (albeit greatly altered) as the NHS Clinic at 19 Nant Y Glyn Road - the map below shows the location of the Institute:

A photo of two of the gravestones belonging to the African boys who studied at the Congo Institute but who sadly never made it back to Africa:

(Photo Credit)

Rhos Fynach, Rhos On Sea, Colwyn Bay

Whilst reading an ancient copy of Norman Tucker's excellent book Colwyn Bay: Its Origin & Growth, I found this photo of the Rhos Fynach (now a popular pub on the front at Rhos on Sea) that must date back to the 1870s or maybe even earlier.

Taken across the road from where Ninos is now, it shows the gardens of the Rhos Fynach extending all over the Rhos Point area and reaching down to the beach, with the prom itself being a dead end finishing at the Fynach's gates. Also can be seen a series of stone farm buildings situated where the Rhos Abbey Hotel (now St Trillos Court apartments) was later built.

At extreme left of the photo can be seen what later became the grounds of the Promenade Garage, (home to legendary coach company, Pye's Coaches, before they moved to Prince's Drive) In 1956, the Forte family opened a small shack serving hot and cold drinks and snacks on the site. The present Fortes building, with flats above, dates back to the 1960s. The ground floor was reconfigured and refurbished in 1997 to form the present Fortes Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlour.


Larger version can be seen here:
img222.imageshack.us/img222/3517/zdsc09597.jpg

Same view today:


Interesting to note that most of the buildings on the left-hand side are still around today.

How far back does the Rhos Fynach go into history? Its commonly known that a Charter was granted in 1230 by Llywelyn The Great to Ednyfed Fychan for the property then known as 'Ros Venych' but what's not so well known is that a quantity of Roman coins dating from the reign of Constantine The Great were discovered wrapped in sheets of lead in an old stone drain when a section of the Rhos Fynach's garden was being cleared for the construction of the Rhos Abbey Hotel in 1898. It appears that the earlier history of that particular area still remains to be uncovered.

The low lying land right along Penrhyn Avenue and the whole area of what is now the Golf Club were all originally part of the Afon Ganol stream and marshes. The stream flowed from the direction of Mochdre (it is said boats were once able to reach Mochdre) and split into two, one arm flowing out to sea by Penrhyn Bay (a map of 1720 shows a large lake at its mouth) and the other flowing down what is now Penrhyn Avenue, entering the sea at the bottom of Rhos Road. These days, a now much smaller Afon Ganol now flows through a man made ditch and is pumped out to to sea next to the clubhouse at the golf club.

Obviously, this was a time long before any sea defences were built, so the whole low lying area overflowed during high tide, thus making the higher land around the Rhos Fynach, St Trillos Chapel and Abbey Road a virtual island at times.

I believe there was a track/causeway from the Rhos Fynach to the 'mainland' that follows the route of the present prom towards Colwyn Bay, with a Lodge cottage for Rhos Fynach (later called the 'Rising Gull' ) situated roughly where the little newsagents on the corner of Rhos Road is now. I can just imagine the desolate, half flooded marshes where Penrhyn Avenue is now, with maybe a rough cart track winding its way through them over to the Rhos Fynach.



(Not sure who made the map or where it came from, but if anyone knows, I would be very happy to credit it fully.

More recently, it was unused during the early 1970s when it was very dilapidated. Colwyn Borough Council applied to demolish it in 1972 but failed. By this time, it had become part of the 'Blue Dolphin complex', with an open air swimming pool, cafe and changing rooms.

I think it was then renovated to some degree by the Council and reopened as the 'Cegin Y Mynach' tearooms, which lasted until about 1985/6, when its condition had again deteriorated to a point that it was unsafe to use. By this time, the whole Blue Dolphin complex was closed and abandoned. The Rhos Fynach building was boarded up and left for 5 years.

In 1990, a Llandudno businessman called Ray Gardener signed a 99 year lease with Colwyn Council and, at a cost of £350,00, it was then completely renovated and extended into the pub/restaurant we know today, which opened in November 1992. The Council (now CCBC) own the Freehold and it is now let to Mr Robert Skelley (the current Landlord).

Rhos Fynach in 1954:



Rhos Fynach in 2009:

www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/3203786658/

Just remembered I have another one of the exterior, taken in 1908:



Here's some photos of the miniature golf course that was in the gardens of the Rhos Fynach in the 1970s:





The miniature golf course was removed (amid great local uproar) in 1990 as part of the conversion into the pub/restaurant. The area where it was located is now a lawn and circular outdoor terrace.