Llandegai

 Schools/Colleges in Llandygai:
 Ysgol Llandygai (Primary)
       Llandygai
       Bangor
       Gwynedd
       LL57 4HU
 01248 352163

Llandegai (Llan-Degai) - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
LLANDEGAI (LLAN-DEGAI), a parish, in the union of Bangor and Beaumaris, hundred of Llêchwedd-Uchâv, county of Carnarvon, North Wales, 1 mile (E.) from Bangor, on the Holyhead road; containing 3010 inhabitants. This parish derives its name from the dedication of its church to St. Tegai, an ecclesiastic of the fifth century, who is said to have come over from Armorica with Cadvan, to revive the Christian faith in Britain, then in a declining state. The only historical event peculiarly relating to it is the battle which was fought within its limits, in 1648, between the royalists under Sir John Owen, and the parliamentarian forces under Colonels Carter and Twisleton. The former, whose number was by much the smaller, had raised the siege of Carnarvon to meet the latter, who were advancing to its relief; and a furious encounter ensued on the banks of the Ogwen, near the church of Llandegai, in which Sir John was defeated and made prisoner. This was the last battle fought in the principality.

The parish is situated on the river Ogwen, and on the great London and Holyhead road. It is bounded on the north by the Menai strait, on the south by part of the parish of Llanrwst, on the east by that of Llanllêchid, and on the west by the parishes of Bangor, Llandeiniolen, Llanberis, and Bethgelart. It extends in length about fifteen miles from the shore of the Menai strait far into the mountainous regions of Snowdon, and in average breadth about a mile and a half, including a district abounding with almost every species of mineral treasure. The aggregate number of acres is 15,400, of which 2000 are arable, 10,600 pasture and meadow, 300 woodland, and 2500 common, sands, and waste. The scenery in general is impressively grand or beautifully picturesque, comprehending on one side a vast amphitheatre of mountains, and on the other a fine view of the Menai strait. One of the most striking and sublime portions is the Vale of Nant Francon, one side of which is in the parish: at one extremity of this romantic spot are situated the lakes of Ogwen and Idwal, the beds of which are supposed, with great probability, to have been the craters of ancient volcanoes; and the latter, the scene of Prince Idwal's murder by Nevydd Hardd, a chieftain of the twelfth century, is nearly surrounded by lofty and precipitous rocks. Besides the Ogwen, which in some places displays very fine waterfalls, the rivers Cegin and Lligwy, with numerous rivulets, run through the parish; and there are several small lakes, all abounding with excellent trout. The valleys of the Ogwen and Cegin are crossed by the Chester and Holyhead railway on extensive viaducts. The soil in the high lands is in general peaty and wet; in the low grounds it consists principally of two kinds, being a light hazel loam in those parts which are dry, and in other places a heavy earth with a clayey subsoil. The chief produce is barley, oats, a small portion of wheat, and potatoes; and the livestock, cattle and sheep.

Penrhyn Castle, the residence of the Hon. Col. Douglas Pennant, who is the present proprietor, in right of his late lady, the daughter and heiress of the late G. H. Dawkins Pennant, Esq., is beautifully situated between the rivers Ogwen and Cegin, which flow through its extensive demesne, and commands an unbounded prospect over the Menai strait, the bay of Beaumaris, and the Isle of Anglesey. This mansion was originally a royal palace, and the residence of Roderic Molwynog, who began his reign about the year 720; and subsequently of several Princes of North Wales, till the year 1230. In 987 it was destroyed by Meredydd ab Owen, who in that year invaded North Wales, and slew Cadwallon ab Ievav, the reigning prince. In the reign of Elizabeth it was occupied by the celebrated Piers Grufydd, who, at his own expense, fitted out a ship of war, and, sailing from Beaumaris, joined the fleet under Sir Francis Drake, in its South American expeditions, and afterwards aided in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It became the property of the Lord-Keeper Williams in 1622, and passed from him into the possession of his nephew, by whose descendants it was sold to an ancestor of the late proprietor, who was descended through the female line from the ancient family of Penrhyn. The castle, which is situated in the centre of an extensive park, surrounded by a wall from ten to thirteen feet high and seven miles in circuit, was rebuilt in the Norman style of architecture, by the late owner, G. H. Dawkins Pennant, Esq. The exterior is of Mona marble, and displays a magnificent range of building, crowned with lofty towers, of which five are circular; the keep, and another of the principal towers, are square, with light and beautiful angular turrets: the whole forms one of the most spacious and elegant structures in the principality. The internal decorations correspond in every respect with the magnificence of the exterior: the mantel-pieces and other ornaments are of the same marble, which is susceptible of a high degree of polish; and the furniture has been chosen with an especial regard to appropriateness of character. There are several lodges forming entrances into the park, all elegant in their design, and lofty in their elevation; the principal lodge, near the junction of the London and the Chester roads, is a stately specimen of the architecture of the whole. The owner of the castle is lord of the manor, and proprietor of the entire parish.

Copper-ore is found in most of the mountains in this district; and iron of excellent quality, lead, zinc, manganese, molubdena, and pyrites, in greater or less abundance throughout the parish. Beautifully transparent crystals, both white and of a red colour, are obtained on the Glyder-Vâch, varying in their form, some having five, and others six, eight, and ten faces; they are of the largest kind, and sometimes single crystals have been discovered weighing more than six pounds. But the most important and distinguishing feature in the mineralogy of the parish, and the principal source of its wealth, are the slatequarries of Dôlawen, or Cae Braich-y-Cavn, which were originally opened by Lord Penrhyn, in 1782, and which, by a regular series of improvements, have now become the most extensive and the most valuable in the island. Prior to the year 1785, the annual export of slates from these quarries did not exceed 1000 tons; and owing to the ruggedness of the road, they were conveyed from the quarries to the creek of Abercegin, since called Port-Penrhyn, close to the city of Bangor, in panniers on the backs of horses. This amount, however, was shortly increased by the facilities afforded by a good road formed from the quarries to the port by Lord Penrhyn, who likewise continued the same line of communication from the quarries a further distance of nine miles, through Nant Francon and the romantic interior of Snowdon, to Capel-Curig, the whole tract being his own property. It is probable that his lordship, from the commencement of his improvement of these roads, had in view the substitution of this nearer route for the Irish mails, to be brought through Shrewsbury, for the old route through Chester and Conway, a change which afterwards took place, the former joining the latter near the church of this parish, after running a course of twenty miles through the most mountainous and rugged parts of North Wales: by this means the distance between Pentre-Voelas and Bangor is shortened upwards of ten miles. The demand for the slates at the same time augmenting in an enormous degree, caused his lordship to construct an iron tramway from Dôlawen to Port-Penrhyn, a distance of six miles, and to increase the number of men employed in the quarries at the former place from 60 to between 400 and 500. In 1794, the annual exportation of slates from the quarries amounted to 15,000 tons; but in the following year, the imposition of the tax on slates carried coastwise reduced it to 8000, and the number of men employed in quarrying and carrying them in proportion. In a few years, however, it amounted to 20,000 tons, the duties having been taken off; and the works continued gradually to increase in importance, until, in the year 1844, the produce amounted to about 120,000 tons. At present, the annual produce is not so large.

The quarries are on the north side of the LlyderVâch, in the romantic Vale of Nant Francon, and afford employment to upwards of 2000 men, who raise in them several hundred tons of slate daily. On the adjoining river a large mill was erected in 1801, for sawing the blocks of slate into slabs for mantel-pieces, tombstones, and other purposes, and for dividing them into laminæ for roofing for the American, as well as the British and Irish, markets. The roofing-slates are of all the various sizes described in the article on the county of Carnarvon. Lord Penrhyn also established, near Bangor, a manufactory in which the finest slates are planed and framed for writing, of different sizes, to the number of from 15,000 to 20,000 dozens annually; these are forwarded to London and various other British ports, and some of them, without frames, to different parts of the Continent. The schist of the Dôlawen quarries is likewise converted into casing for the outside of buildings, as a defence against the weather, being painted and sanded to imitate freestone; into dados and plinths for stables and passages; dairy-tables; billiard-tables; side-boards; chimney-pieces; panels for doors, shutters, &c.; ink-stands, washball-stands, &c. The produce is wholly exported from PortPenrhyn, where is a commodious wharf, projected by Lord Penrhyn, and subsequently enlarged, having extensive quays accessible at every rise of the tide, and spacious warehouses provided with every requisite accommodation. Port-Penrhyn was originally only an insignificant inlet, formed by the mouth of the small river Cegin, but these and other improvements have rendered it a commodious harbour, capable of admitting vessels of 300 tons' burthen. About 200 men are employed at the port, making the total number connected with the slate-works about 2400.

Ochre is dug out of a mine near the slate-quarries, and, having been separated from the sand with which it is intermixed, by grinding and successive filtrations, is collected in a sediment, and dried by the sun and air in summer, and upon kilns in winter. The general colour of this earth is yellow, but others of various hues, with which, in their natural state, the Snowdonian shepherds mark their sheep, are ground in the same manufactory, also for the use of painters. Quartz and chert from neighbouring quarries of these materials at the base of Carnedd Llewelyn, together with flint brought in ballast by ships conveying slates hence to London and to Ireland, were formerly ground for the use of the English porcelain and delft-ware potteries, at a mill erected on the stream of the Ogwen, in the parish, by Lord Penrhyn. An ore of manganese was also prepared here for the purposes of bleaching, and an ore of zincy as a substitute for white lead in the composition of paints.

The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £800 royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant; net income, £114; patron, the Bishop of Bangor, whose tithes here have been commuted for a rentcharge of £340. The church is a cruciform structure, with a low square central tower, containing six bells, the gift of Lady Penrhyn; and comprises 170 sittings. It is elegantly fitted up, and has some interesting sepulchral memorials, namely, a mural monument to Archbishop John Williams, with his effigy in an episcopal habit, kneeling at an altar; an altar-tomb with two recumbent figures, probably of the ancient family inhabiting Penrhyn Castle; and a splendid monument to Lord and Lady Penrhyn, exquisitely sculptured by Westmacott, and universally admired. The church is approached by an avenue of fine yew-trees: it is beautifully situated on an eminence overlooking the river Ogwen, and commanding an extensive and richly varied view; and forms a picturesque object in the scenery of the grounds of Penrhyn Castle, within which it is situated. A chapel, dedicated to St. Anne, was erected near the slate-quarries, by Lord Penrhyn, at an expense of £2000, for the accommodation of persons engaged in the works; it was consecrated in 1813, and endowed in 1815 by Lady Penrhyn, and is a neat, well-built edifice, accommodating about 500 persons. The living is a perpetual curacy, endowed with lands and £400 private benefaction, and £2200 parliamentary grant; net income, £222; patron and impropriator, the Hon. Col. Douglas Pennant. The chapel of Capel-Curig is noticed under its appropriate head. There are places of worship in the parish for Calvinistic Methodists, Wesleyans, and Independents. In the village of Llandegai, at the northern extremity of the parish, are Church schools for boys and girls, taught by a master and mistress, respectively; and at Ty'ntwr, in the immediate neighbourhood of the quarries, is a Church school for boys and girls, taught together by a master: these three schools are supported by the Penrhyn family, with the exception of a small weekly payment from each child whose parents can afford it. There is also a Church school at Capel-Curig; and the parish contains eight Sunday schools, belonging to the dissenters. Several donations and bequests by various benefactors, amounting in the whole to £4. 8., together with munificent additions from the family at the castle, are distributed chiefly in bread among the most necessitous poor at the festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide.

Archbishop Williams, whose monument in the church has been noticed above, was a resident at Penrhyn Castle during the reign of James I., who, in 1610, made him dean of Salisbury, and, in 1620, dean of Westminster. In the following year he was appointed lord-keeper of the great seal, in which office he succeeded the illustrious Lord Bacon; and in less than a month was promoted to the see of Lincoln. On the accession of Charles I. he was dismissed, through the influence of Buckingham; he was moreover censured by the court of star-chamber, and imprisoned from 1637 till 1640, but soon after his release, he was promoted to the archiepiscopal see of York. He was subsequently, with several other bishops, impeached of high treason, and imprisoned for a year and a half, but was ultimately released on bail, on the express condition of not entering his diocese during the disturbances which then prevailed in the city of York. Disobeying the injunction, however, he was enthroned in the cathedral; but he was immediately driven away by the Hothams, and retired into his native country, where he ended his life on the anniversary of his birth, March 25th, 1650: he died at Gloddaeth, the seat of Sir Roger Mostyn, an eminent loyalist; having completed his sixty-eighth year. The drinking-horn of Piers Grufydd, a large bugle formed from the horn of an ox, enriched with chased silver, and suspended by a silver chain, is still preserved in Penrhyn Castle: at one end are the initials P. G., together with R. G. K., those of his father and mother, Rhŷs and Katherine Grufydd.