Llandygai
| Llandygai | |
| Caernarfonshire | |
|---|---|
 The Ogwen below Llandygai | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SH598709 |
| Location: | 53°13’1"N, 4°6’2"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Gwynedd |
Llandygai or Llandegai is a small village in Caernarfonshire standing on the A5 trunk road between Bangor and Tal-y-Bont. From Llandygai is a fine view of the nearby Carneddau mountain range.
Name of the village
The village’s name means “Church of Saint Tegai (or Tygái).
The village’s name has had alternaive spellings. The correct Welsh spelling is Llandygái, in which the accent signifies that the stress falls on the last syllable and not the last-but-one, which would be the usual pattern in Welsh. The name may also be spelled Llandegai. All forms are in use today though "Llandygai" is the most commonly accepted.
History
Origins
Two large henge monuments and a series of hengiform pit circles from the late Neolithic period were uncovered during excavations in the 1960s at the site of the current Industrial Estate.[1][2] Excavations in 2006 and 2007 at the Bryn Cegin site (extending the industrial estate) found an early Neolithic house and later, possibly Romano-British, settlement[3]
In the fifth century, a church was founded here by Saint Tegai (or Tygái or simply Cai). Remains from Tegai's time include a stone coffin and a cross bearing his name, which are kept at the church.[4]
Modern period
In 1648 during the Civil War the Battle of Llandygai was fought at Y Dalar Hir, near Llandygai. Royalist forces of 150 horse and 120 foot soldiers led by Sir John Owen engaged Parliamentarian forces led by Colonel Carter and Colonel George Twistleton[5][6].
The village of Llandygai is recorded at the beginning of the nineteenth century as consisting of eight or nine houses[7]. The village was later developed by Edward Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn of Llandygai as a ‘model village’ for his estate workers, in which ‘no corrupting alehouse’ was permitted[5]. It lies immediately outside of the walls of the Penrhyn Castle demesne walls, with the entrance to the village being some 100m from the castle's Grand Lodge.
This model village was mostly constructed in the 1840s in a ‘vernacular revival’ style which conformed to the Picturesque ideal[8]. The model village was built within the loop of the road to Conwy from where it branched off Telford’s newly built Holyhead to London road (now designated the A5). Each house was built in a similar style but none was to be identical. They were furnished with ample gardens and the layout was such that no house’s front door faced another.
Llandygai Church
A church was founded by Saint Tegai (or Tygái or simply Cai) in the fifth century. The church contains a stone coffin and a cross bearing the saint’s name.[4]
The present church dates to around 1330[9][10][11] and was much restored and extended by the diocesan architect, Henry Kennedy, in 1853[8]. The church is of cruciform structure with a central tower. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The church has six bells which naturally sound very loud inside the ringing chamber (from where the bells are rung); to combat this the bells are permanently fitted with leather muffles on both sides of the clapper. When ringing the bells they have a strange sound because of this; almost as if they are ringing inside a large tank of water.
In the church is a marble monument to John Williams, Archbishop of York and the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal during the reign of King James I. There is also monument by Richard Westmacott to the first Lord Penrhyn, in which the sarcophagus is flanked by a quarryman and peasant woman.
The ecclesiastical parish of Llandygai follows the Ogwen valley southwards, giving its name also the village of Mynydd Llandygai.
Christopher Bethell, Bishop of Bangor, is buried in the churchyard.
The village today
The model village, within the loop of the former line of the A55 road, retains much of its original character, despite some more recent additions, having been declared a conservation area in 1974[8]. The village is next to the Grand Lodge affording the principal entrance to Penrhyn Castle, the former seat of the Penrhyn family, now a National Trust property open to the public.
Outside the model village are also to be found:
- Llandygai Industrial Estate
- Bangor Cricket Club (Ty Newydd ground)[12]
- The village of Bethesda
- Parc Cegin business park
- Bangor Rugby Football Club
The Holyhead to Chester railway passes by the village through the Llandygai Tunnel, which is 442 yards in length, before emerging onto the Ogwen Viaduct to the east of the village.
Outside links
- www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Llandygai and surrounding area
- Archaeology at Parc Bryn Cegin
- Village School
- Llandygai Church
References
- ↑ Joshua Pollard (2001) The Neolithic in Prys Morgan (ed.) The Tempus History of Wales 25,000 BC – AD 2000, Tempus ISBN 0 7524 1983 8
- ↑ Frances Lynch (1995) A Guide to Ancient and Historic Wales: Gwynedd, CADW ISBN 185760 197 1
- ↑ Heneb. "Archaeology at Parc Bryn Cegin". http://www.heneb.co.uk/llandegaiweblog/llandygaiintro.html. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 T D Breverton, The Book of Welsh Saints (Cyhoeddiadau Glyndŵr, 2001)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 A.H. Dodd (1968) A History of Caernarvonshire , Caernarvonshire Historical Society/Bridge Books ISBN 1 872424 07 4
- ↑ Parry's Railway E&W Publishers 1970 ISBN 085104 013 6
- ↑ Edmund Hyde Hall (1811) A Description of Caernarvonshire (1809-1811) Caernarvonshire Historical Society, 1952
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Gwynedd Council (2006). "Llandygai Conservation Area Character Appraisal". http://www.gwynedd.gov.uk/ADNPwyllgorau/2006/Ardal%20Arfon/Pwyllgor%20Ardal%20Arfon%20-%20Cynllunio/2006-07-05/english/07_03_Appendix%202.pdf. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
- ↑ Ysgol Llandygai. "Eglwys Sant Tegai, Llandygai". http://www.llandygai.gwynedd.sch.uk/llandygai/page11/page28/page28.html. Retrieved 27 June 2009.>
- ↑ Church in Wales. "St. Tegai". http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/parishholding/bangor/b203-en/churches-en. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
- ↑ "St. Tegai's Church". Photos of Churches. http://www.photosofchurches.com/caernarfonshire-llandegai.htm. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
- ↑ "Bangor Cricket Club". http://bangorwales.play-cricket.com/home/aboutUs.asp. Retrieved 27 June 2009.