Waunfawr

Waunfawr
Caernarfonshire
Moel Eilio from Waunfawr
Location
Grid reference:	SH528592
Location:	53°6’38"N, 4°11’58"W
Data
Local Government
Council:	Gwynedd

Waunfawr is a large village in Caernarfonshire, on the road inland from Caernarfon. It stands on the outskirts of the Snowdonia National Park, a little south of Llanrug. Its population is roughly 1,500.

The village's name is from Waun fawr, which means "Large Moorland" or "Big Heath". The village changed the preferred spelling of its name in 1994, from "Waenfawr".

Waunfawr railway station on the Welsh Highland Railway between Caernarfon and Porthmadog adjoins the pub at the southern end of the village.

The local community enterprise charity, Antur Waunfawr, among its many local initiatives, operates the Bryn Pistyll Site at Waunfawr as a popular attraction for local people and tourists. It includes a nature park, gardens and nursery, museum, shop for crafts and items of local manufacture, café and children's play area.

The Marconi Company built a large high-powered Long Wave Wireless Telegraph transmitting station near the village in 1914 which worked in association with its receiving station at Tywyn. The station initiated commercial transatlantic wireless service from London to New York in 1920. It replaced Marconi's transatlantic wireless service from Clifden, Ireland to Canada, after the Clifden station was destroyed in the Irish Civil War in 1922. The building is now used as a climbing centre.

There are many recreational facilities available in Waunfawr, from playing snooker to playing football on the all-weather pitch. There is also a youth club and a junior football club.

Outside links

• Antur Waunfawr website
• A Short History of the Marconi Long Wave Transmitting Station
• Chamois Mountaineering Club
• Geograph.co.uk photos of Waunfawr and surrounding area

Books

• Marconi and his wireless stations in Wales (Carreg Gwalch, Llanrwst 1999 ISBN 0-86381-536-7 Hari Williams)