Yr Eglwys Llonnach lle na Llanuwch-llyn – ni welwyd Nac anwylach dyffryn Ei wastad sy’n ymestyn O bont y Gwydd i Bant Gwyn. Felly y canodd y Bardd Glas, neu John Davies, a rhoi iddo ei enw swyddogol, am ardal Llanuwchllyn. Mae’n amlwg o ble daeth yr enw, wrth gwrs – y llan, neu eglwys, uwch ben y llyn, sef Llyn Tegid. Ceir y cyfeiriad cyntaf at eglwys Llanuwchllyn mewn cofnod o dreth a godwyd yn 1291 sy’n awgrymu yn gryf ei bod yma ers llawer iawn cyn hynny. Mae siâp crwn y fynwent yn awgrymu bod y ‘llan’ yma yn un hynafol iawn. Cysegrwyd yr eglwys i Deiniol Sant. Nid yr adeilad a welwn ni heddiw yw’r eglwys wreiddiol, wrth gwrs. Y disgrifiad cyntaf sydd gennym o’r adeilad yw un o 1729 ac fel hyn mae’n darllen: ‘two aisles which are of unequal length and breadth, the first being, as near as I could guess, 30 yards long and 6 broad, the other about 16 yards long and 7 broad. They are separated by five thick pillars of ordinary blew stone, which are quite naked and seem never to have any plastering whatever…to the whole church there are but 3 windows and one pidgeon hole. At the west end stands a gallery…The chancel is divided from the body of the church by a sort of gallery….The whole church is without paving, and the uneven, broken floor lies buried in stale, stinking rushes of near a foot deep. Difyr yw’r sylwadau am y llyfrau defosiynol oedd yno hefyd: The Common Prayer Book is entire. Their Bible is new but wants 8 chapters in Genesis from the 31 to the 39th. They have neither English Bible, nor Common Prayer, neither the Book of Homilies nor Fox’s Martyrs. Go brin bod yma lawer o raen ar y gwasanaethau chwaith. Yn y gyfrol ‘Cofiant J R Jones, Ramoth’, ceir disgrifiad o’r hyn a ddigwyddai y tu allan i’r eglwys yn y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg: Pan oedd fy nhad yn ddyn ifanc, byddent yn chware ar waelod mynwent yr Eglwys, ar ôl gwasanaeth bore Sul, a bydde’r person yn dŵad allan o’r Eglwys atynt i’r chware ac yn deyd – ‘Ho, Ho, mi ddalia i mai Robert Thomas, Ty’n y Fron, ydi’r gore am daflu maen a throsol, a Simon Jones, Nant Hir, y gore am chware pêl ar do’r Eglwys. Ond tua 1870 daeth tro ar fyd ac fe ail-adeiladwyd yr eglwys gyfan.

The Church The explanation for the name Llanuwchllyn (Llan – Church, uwch – above, llyn – lake) is obvious of course, considering the parish’s position at the head of Llyn Tegid. The first reference to the church at Llanuwchllyn can be found in a tax return for 1291, suggesting that the church was here long before that date. The basic circular shape of the ‘llan’ or area around the church suggests an early date. The church was consecrated to Saint Deiniol. The church we see on the site today is not the original building, of course. The first description we have of the building is dated 1729 and reads as follows: ‘two aisles which are of unequal length and breadth, the first being, as near as I could guess, 30 yards long and 6 broad, the other about 16 yards long and 7 broad. They are separated by five thick pillars of ordinary blew stone, which are quite naked and seem never to have any plastering whatever…to the whole church there are but 3 windows and one pidgeon hole. At the west end stands a gallery…The chancel is divided from the body of the church by a sort of gallery….The whole church is without paving, and the uneven, broken floor lies buried in stale, stinking rushes of near a foot deep. The description of the devotional texts available is interesting: The Common Prayer Book is entire. Their Bible is new but wants 8 chapters in Genesis from the 31 to the 39th. They have neither English Bible, nor Common Prayer, neither the Book of Homilies nor Fox’s Martyrs. We can surmise that the services would not have been of the highest order either. In a volume written by David Williams, he describes the scene outside the church in the early nineteenth century: When my father was a young man, they would play at the bottom of the churchyard, after the service on a Sunday, and the curate would come out of the Church and join them and he used to say – ‘Ho, Ho, I believe that Robert Thomas, Ty’n y Fron, is best at throwing a stone and bar, and Simon Jones, Nanthir, is best at throwing a ball on the Church roof. But in 1870 everything changed when the whole church was rebuilt.

O fewn yr eglwys mae nifer o bethau sy’n haeddu sylw, y pennaf ohonynt ydi’r ‘dyn carreg’ sef cerflun carreg o filwr yn ei lurig a’i draed yn gorwedd ar lew. Gwelir y blaidd yma ac acw ar ei gorff, un o symbolau teulu Glan-llyn. Dan y cerflun mae’r arysgrif: HIC IACET JOHANES AP GRUFUT AP MADOC AP IORVETH CUIUS ANIME P(PI/C)ITUR DEUS AMEN ANNO DNI M CCC L XXXXVIII Yn ôl arbenigwyr fu’n edrych ar y cerflun yn ddiweddar mae’n debyg iddo gael ei lunio tua 1370 ond i ddyddiad marw Ieuan ap Gruffudd ap Madog ap Iorwerth gael ei ychwanegu ar ôl ei farw. Un o hynafiaid teulu Glan-llyn oedd Ieuan ac yn ddisgynnydd hefyd i Ririd Flaidd, a dyna pam bod y blaidd mor amlwg ar y cerflun. Un o nodweddion amlycaf yr Eglwys erbyn hyn yw’r ffenestr liw drawiadol sydd uwch yr allor. Arni mae’r geiriau: In Affectionate Rememberance of John Williams for 27 years Agent to Sir WWW at Glanllyn. This Window is Erected by His Friends and Neighbours… Diddorol yw nodi bod stori am Syr Watkin Williams Wynn yn galw heibio pan oedd y seiri yn gosod y ffenestr a’i fod wedi awgrymu yr hoffai roi carreg trwyddi, awgrym nad oedd ei feistr, fel ei denantiaid, yn rhy hoff o’r gŵr yma a fu’n gyfrifol am lawer o’r tensiynau mawr fu yn yr ardal rhwng Stad Glan-llyn a’i thenantiaid, yn grefyddol, addysgol a gwleidyddol. Mae ei fedd yn y fynwent ond bu’n rhaid i’r gweision lusgo ei arch yno ar hyd y ffordd o Weirglodd Wen gan i’r ceffylau wrthod llusgo’r elor o’r fan honno ymlaen. Dyna’r tyddyn yr oedd John Williams wedi troi mam Michael D Jones ohono am fod ei mab yn Rhyddfrydwr mor amlwg. Yn yr eglwys hefyd mae’r bedyddfaen yn un hynafol a cherfiedig. Ar y muriau wedyn coffeir aelodau’r Eglwys a gollwyd yn y Rhyfel Mawr, Rowland Vaughan, y cyfieithydd, [gweler tudalen Caer-gai] a chyfieithydd arall, Ellis Lewis oedd yn byw yn yr un cyfnod â Rowland Vaughan ym mhlasty bychan Llwyn-gwern. Ar y wal ger yr organ mae plac difyr sy’n hawlio mai teulu Tomos Prys o Blas Iolyn oedd ymfeddianwyr lleyg yr Eglwys. Bu’r honiad hwnnw yn destun dadlau hir a chostus rhwng y teulu ac Esgobion Llanelwy am flynyddoedd lawer.

Within the church there are several items worthy of note, the foremost amongst them being the stone effigy of a soldier dressed in his tunic with his feet resting on a lion. The shape of a wolf’s head has also been carved in various places which is one of the symbols of the old Glan-llyn family. Underneath the effigy the following inscription can be found: HIC IACET JOHANES AP GRUFUT AP MADOC AP IORVETH CUIUS ANIME P(PI/C)ITUR DEUS AMEN ANNO DNI M CCC L XXXXVIII Experts who looked at the effigy recently came to the conclusion that it was created around 1370 but that the date of the death of Ieuan ap Gruffudd ap Madog ap Iorwerth was added afterwards. Ieuan was one of the forebears of the Glan-llyn family and was descended from Rhirid Flaidd, (Blaidd in Welsh meaning wolf) which explains the prominence of the wolf. One of the most prominent features of the church is the striking stained-glass window above the altar. Inscribed on it are the words: In Affectionate Remembrance of John Williams for 27 years Agent to Sir WWW at Glanllyn. This Window is Erected by His Friends and Neighbours… It is interesting to note that according to local tradition Sir Watkin Williams Wynn happened to pass when the craftsmen were installing the window and suggested he would like to throw a stone through it. He, therefore, confirmed that his master, in the same way as his tenants, was not too fond of this man who was responsible for many of the tensions in the area between the estate and the tenants, in religious, educational and political terms. John Williams’s grave is in the churchyard, but servants had to drag his hearse to the church from Weirglodd Wen as the horses refused to move at that spot. Weirglodd Wen was the cottage from which John Williams had evicted Michael D Jones’s mother because her son was a prominent Liberal. The font in the church is an ancient one. On the walls there are many plaques to commemorate various members of the Church: those killed in the Great War; Rowland Vaughan, the translator [see the Caer-gai section]; and another translator, Ellis Lewis, who lived in the same period as Rowland Vaughan on a small estate called Llwyn- gwern. On the wall next to the organ there is an interesting plaque claiming that the family of Thomas Price of Plas Iolyn were the lay impropriators of the Church. That claim led to protracted legal cases between the family and the Bishops of St Asaph.

Pentref Llanuwchllyn Rhennir pentref Llanuwchllyn yn ddwy ran amlwg, un ran tua’r gorllewin o gwmpas yr Eglwys, y Llan, a’r rhan tua’r dwyrain a gododd yn wreiddiol o gwmpas y felin a’r pandai oedd yno, dyna sut cafodd ei enw, Y Pandy, rhwng y ddwy ran mae Afon Dyfrdwy yn llifo. O sylwi ar y galwedigaethau yn y pentref yng nghyfrifiad 1851 mae’n amlwg bod y diwydiant gwlân yn bwysig iawn yn yr ardal, roedd yma ddau bannwr, lliwiwr, tri chrwynwr, gwehydd, dau gardiwr heblaw am y 4 gwniadwraig a’r wyth oedd yn gwau yn y pentref. Roedd y crefftau gwledig yn amlwg hefyd, 6 chrydd, 1 gwneuthurwr basgedi, cowper, tri gof, dau saer, gwneuthurwr clociau, melinydd a saer melinau. Ychydig iawn o siopau a gofnodwyd yn y cyfnod hwn, dim ond dau groser a dau werthwr menyn. O edrych ar gyfrifiad 1881 daw’n amlwg bod newid mawr wedi digwydd yn y pentref a’i fod wedi cynyddu’n sylweddol. Erbyn hynny mae nifer y bobl sy’n gysylltiedig â masnach wedi cynyddu’n sylweddol, saith i gyd. Gwahaniaeth amlwg arall yw bod swyddi yn gysylltiedig â’r rheilffordd wedi cyrraedd yn ‘platelayers’, llafurwyr ar y Rheilffordd a’r Gorsaf Feistr ei hun, wrth gwrs. Ceir darlun byw iawn o’r pentref pan oedd y siopau yma yn eu bri yn nhraethawd Ifan Roberts, Hen Fasnachwyr Llanuwchllyn yn Llên y Llannau 1975. Erbyn heddiw mae patrwm bywyd wedi newid ond mae’r Orsaf, yr Ysgol, y Modurdy, Bro Aran a’r Eagles yn ganolfannau pwysig i bobl yr ardal.

The Village The village is divided into two, one part towards the west around the Church, called Llan, and the other part towards the east, that developed originally around the mill and fulling mill that stood there which gave it its name, Pandy. Afon Dyfrdwy (the Dee) runs between them. From the census returns in 1851 it becomes obvious that the woollen industry was especially important in the area, there were two fullers, a dyer, three tanners, a weaver, two carders in addition to 4 seamstresses and 8 knitters in the village. Country crafts were also prominent, with 6 cobblers, 1 basket maker, a cooper, three blacksmiths, two carpenters, a clockmaker, a miller and a millwright. There were very few shops, only two grocers and two butter merchants. By the 1881 census it is obvious the village had gone through a substantial change and that it had grown significantly. The number of people associated with commerce has increased, seven in all. The other obvious change is that occupations linked to the railway have appeared such as ‘platelayers’, railway labourers, and the Station Master, of course. Ifan Roberts in an essay in Llên y Llannau depicts the village when the different merchants were at their busiest. Today life has changed and most of the small shops have disappeared but the Station, the school, the Garage, the Agricultural Merchants at Bro Aran, and the Eagles are busy and very important hubs for the area.

Trydan Pentref Llanuwchllyn oedd y cyntaf yng Ngogledd Cymru i gael golau stryd trydan a hynny diolch i ddyfeisgarwch a gallu Richard Edwards. Yn ei draethawd amdano yn Llên y Llannau 1965 mae gan Ifan Roberts ddisgrifiad byw iawn o’i allu arbennig. Fel hyn mae’n disgrifio dechrau’r busnes olwynion dŵr a thrin melinau gan y ddau frawd o Ddrws Nant: Roedd hen danws Glandŵr yn y pentref wedi mynd yn segur, a rhentu yr hen danws oedd y cam cyntaf. Roedd iddo amryw o fanteision. Hen ffos y ffatri yn rhoi cyflenwad o ddŵr at droi y gêr… Yr oedd y stesion yn ymyl, a hynny o bwysigrwydd mawr yn y cyfnod hwnnw. Ac wedyn Daeth galw mawr am wasanaeth y brodyr. Ar wahân i drin melinau, byddent yn gwneud ac yn gosod peiriannau pŵer ar y ffermydd, yn olwynion dŵr, polion corddi ac yn atgyweirio peiriannau ceffylau ac yn y blaen. Ond datblygodd y busnes i gyfeiriad arall yn 1910, dyma Ifan Roberts eto: Penderfynodd y Cyngor Plwy yn y flwyddyn 1910 oleuo stryd y pentref. Hysbysebwyd am brisiau am wneud y gwaith. Syndod mawr i’r Cyngor Plwy oedd derbyn cynnig Richard Edwards i oleuo y stryd gyda thrydan, a hynny yn rhatach na allai neb gynnig am oleuo gydag olew na dim. Penderfynwyd derbyn y cynnig ac hefyd rhoddi caniatâd i osod y polion a’r wifrau ar hyd stryd y pentref. Roedd y gwaith yng Nglynllifon yn cyflogi o ddwsin i bymtheg o ddynion wedi hynny a’r cwmni fu’n gyfrifol am oleuo Llwyngwril, Llanfair Caereinion, Llangwm, Penybont Fawr, Talybont ger Aberystwyth, a Llanfachreth, Tre’r Ddôl a Meifod. Roedd Richard Edwards yn drawiadol, heblaw am ei allu peirianyddol, am ei fod wedi gorfod ymdopi ar un goes, ond ei fod wedi creu coes iddo ei hun o bren ’sgawen a lledr. Wrth i’r galw am drydan gynyddu yn y pentref bu’n rhaid i’r cwmni fuddsoddi mewn pwerdy bach mewn rhan o’r pentref a elwid yn Singrug gan ddefnyddio nerth naturiol afon Twrch wrth iddi ruthro am y pentref, y pwerdy bach fu’n goleuo’r pentref hyd 1963 pan ddaeth MANWEB i gymryd ei le.

Electricity Llanuwchllyn was the first village in North Wales to install electric streetlights thanks to the ability of a local man, Richard Edwards. Ifan Roberts, in his essay about him, outlines his exceptional skills. He describes how Richard and his brother John started their engineering works as millwrights initially: The old fulling mill at Glandŵr in the village was unoccupied, and the first step was to rent the old fulling mill. It had many advantages. The old millrace supplying water to turn the gears... The station was close, and that was very important at the time. And then The services of the brothers were in great demand. In addition to their work as millwrights, they engineered and installed power mechanisms on farms, being water wheels, milk churning poles, and repaired horse-driven machines etc. But in 1910 the business developed in another direction, as Ifan Roberts describes: The Parish Council decided in 1910 that they would install street lighting in the village. They advertised and asked for estimates for the work. The Parish Council was very surprised to receive Richard Edwards’ price for lighting the street with electricity, and that at a lower price than anyone could offer for oil or anything else. It was resolved to accept the proposal and also to give permission for poles and wires to be installed along the village street. The workshop at Glynllifon employed between twelve and fifteen men from then on and the company was responsible for lighting, Llwyngwril, Llanfair Caereinion, Llangwm, Penybont Fawr, Talybont by Aberystwyth, and Llanfachreth, Tre’r Ddôl and Meifod. Richard Edwards was not only an exceptional engineer, he was also exceptional in that he had to cope after losing a leg by accident, but he, of course, had created a prosthetic leg from elder wood and leather. As the demand for electricity in the village increased, the company invested in a small powerhouse using the power of Afon Twrch as it rushes into the village; this powerhouse generated electricity for the village until 1963 when MANWEB replaced it.

Rhai o enwogion yr ardal Mae nifer o enwogion yr ardal yn cael sylw ar y gwahanol fyrddau gwybodaeth, ond mae llawer iawn mwy y gellid eu henwi: • Owen Morgan Edwards • Owen Morgan Edwards • Ifan ap Owen Edwards • Michael Daniel Jones • Michael Jones • John Castell Evans • Ap Vychan • Rowland Vaughan • Tudur Penllyn • J R Jones, Ramoth • J R Jones, Hong Kong • Ifor Owen • Syr David Hughes Parry • John Meirion Morris • Henry Parry Natur ar ei orau Mae ardal Llanuwchllyn yn cynnig digonedd o gyfleoedd i fwynhau yr amgylchedd a’r golygfeydd. Ceir dewis helaeth o lwybrau o bob math yma, crwydro mynyddoedd i’r rhai mwyaf mentrus neu lwybrau gwastad yn nes at y pentref fel y gwelwch ar y panel. Daw nifer o deithiau o ardaloedd eraill trwy’r ardal hefyd o daith Mary Jones, i amryw o deithiau sy’n amgylchynu Llyn Tegid. Cewch fwy o fanylion yma: • Taith Mary Jones • Cylchdaith y Llyn • Mynyddoedd • Ceir

A concise list of noteworthy people linked to the area Many of these prominent people feature on the various information boards, but we can list many more: • Owen Morgan Edwards • Owen Morgan Edwards • Ifan ap Owen Edwards • Michael Daniel Jones • Michael Jones • John Castell Evans • Ap Vychan • Rowland Vaughan • Tudur Penllyn • J R Jones, Ramoth • J R Jones, Hong Kong • Ifor Owen • Sir David Hughes Parry • John Meirion Morris • Henry Parry The Countryside at its best Llanuwchllyn offers a plentiful supply of opportunities to enjoy the natural environment and scenery. You will find a wide selection of paths of every type, from hiking in the mountains to leisurely walks closer to the village as you can see on the panel. Numerous routes from other areas also come through the area such as the Mary Jones Walk, and many routes around Llyn Tegid. You will find more details here: • Mary Jones Walk • Routes around Llyn Tegid • Mountains • By Car