Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for FESTINIOG

FESTINIOG, a village, a parish, a sub-district, and a district in Merioneth. The village stands in a small but enchanting vale, near the confluence of two rivers, near the Sarn Helen way, at the terminus of a branch railway, 16 miles SW by W of Llanrwst; and has a post office‡ under Carnarvon, a railway station, a banking office, two good inns, a church, a Calvinistic Methodist chapel, and fairs on 7 March, 24 May, 30 June, 15 Aug., 26 Sept., 23 Oct., and 13 Nov. The church stands at the edge of of a cliff, overlooking the vale; and is a modern structure, in the Norman style. Much business is done in connection with extensive neighbouring slate quarries; from which a railway of 14 miles goes to Port Madoc. The town's name signifies "the place of hastening;" and its site is a hill at the head of a vale. The Cynfael. in its vicinity, rushes down a romantic wooded glen, and forms two falls, of no great height, but of much beauty. The upper fall occurs about 300 yards above a rustic bridge, and is formed by three steep rocks; the lower fall occurs about 300 yards below the bridge, and passes broadly down a shelving rock about 40 feet in height; and a tall columnar rock, called Hugh Lloyd's pulpit, stands on the bed of the stream, between the bridge and the lower fall, and is the scene of a legend respecting an enchanter who used it as a rostrum.—The parish comprises 16, 456 acres. Real property, £38, 459; of which £33, 472 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 3, 460; in 1861, 4, 553. Houses, 885. The increase of pop. arose from the extension of slate-quarrying. The property is not much divided. The slate quarries are situated on the side of Yr-Allt-fawr, a bold offshoot of the Moelwyn mountains; and show more brokenness of outline and wildness of scenery than any other Welsh quarries. They belong to Mrs. Oakley, of Plas Madoc; and are worked partly by her, and partly by the Welsh Slate Company. The trains conveying the slates to Port Madoc go down by their own gravity, and are drawn back by horses, which ride in the descending trains to be ready to bring them back. The living is a rectory, united with the p. curacy of Maentwrog, in the diocese of Bangor. Value, £254.* Patron, the Bishop of Bangor. There is also a chapelry, called St. David's, in charge of a p. curate; but no statistics of it, either civil or ecclesiastical, are returned. A new church and a new hospital stand contiguous to the quarries.—The sub-district contains also the parishes of Maentwrog, Llanfrothen, and Trawsfynydd. Acres, 51, 353. Pop., 7, 783. Houses, 1, 547.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Lanfihangel-y-Traethau, containing the parishes of Ilan-fihangel-y-Traethau, Llandanwg, Llandecwyn, Llanbedr, and Llanfair-juxta-Harlech; and the sub-district of Tremadoc, containing the parishes of Beddgelert, Llan-fihangel-y-Pennant, Dolbenmaen, Penmorfa, Ynyscyn-haiarn, and Treflys, -all, except Nantmore hamlet, electorally in Carnarvon. Acres, 138, 714. Poor-rates in 1862, £9, 678. Pop. in 1851, 16, 182; in 1861, 18, 289. Houses, 3, 734. Marriages in 1860, 112; births, 564, - of which 45 were illegitimate; deaths, 386-of which 111 were at ages under 5 years, and 24 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1, 098; births, 5, 612; deaths, 3, 333. The places of worship, in 1851, were 18 of the Church of England, with 4, 370 sittings; 14 of Independents, with 2, 493 s.; 12 of Baptists, with 1, 318 s.; 22 of Calvinistic Methodists, with 6, 369 s.; 9 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1, 302 s.; and 1 undefined, with 171 s. The schools were 15 public day schools, with 1, 010 scholars; 1 private day-school, with 45 s.; and 70 Sunday schools, with 6, 422 s. The workhouse is in Llanfihangel-y-Traethau.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Ffestiniog AP/CP       Ffestiniog SubD       Festiniog RegD/PLU       Merionethshire AncC
Place: Ffestiniog

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