Llysfaen

infobox UK place
country = Wales
welsh_name=Llysfaen
constituency_welsh_assembly=Clwyd West
latitude=53.283
longitude=-3.666
official_name= Llysfaen
unitary_wales= Conwy
population= 2,652 - 2001 Census
lieutenancy_wales= Clwyd
constituency_westminster= Clwyd West
post_town= COLWYN BAY
postcode_district = LL29
postcode_area= LL
dial_code= 01492
os_grid_reference= SH888771

Llysfaen is a village in Conwy county borough on the coast of north Wales. For local government purposes, it is also a community and Conwy County Borough Council ward.

Introduction

Llysfaen is located one kilometre (0.6 miles) inland, halfway between the coastal towns of Abergele and Colwyn Bay. Neighbouring villages include Old Colwyn, Llanddulas, Dolwyn and Betws-yn-Rhos. It is also immediately west of Mynydd Marian, a mountain known for its limestone grassland and the rare dwarf sub-species of the Silver-studded Blue butterfly.

The council ward, including the village centre and surrounding precincts, occupies 5.11 square kilometres (1,260 acres, 511 hectares). The community's population has remained relatively static in recent times, estimated to be, as of 2005, 2,680. [http://www.conwy.gov.uk/doc.asp?cat=1863&doc=1345]

The community is currently part of Conwy county borough. However, it historically formed an exclave of Caernarfonshire assumed by the surrounding Denbighshire in 1923; subsequent local government reorganisation saw it administered as part of Clwyd (1974–1996).

The name, "Llysfaen" is Welsh for "stone court" (i.e. a court built of stone).

Throughout much of Llysfaen's recent history, many of its villagers worked at the nearby Llysfaen and Llanddulas Limestone Quarry from where lime was shipped to Liverpool or Fleetwood using Rayne's Jetty in Llanddulas Bay.

Facilities

The village has a small number of facilities including a primary school, Ysgol Cynfran, accepting pupils from nursery age to 11; a SPAR convenience store ; the mediæval St. Cynfran's parish church (see below); the village hall ; a playgroup; three parks, and two telephone boxes, and post boxes.

Llysfaen currently has a number of youth football teams catering for ages from 7 to 18. A majority of the teams' games are played on the village's Banana Pitch, so called because it dips heavily in the middle. The names of the teams are themed on big cats (e.g. the Snow Leopards, the Bobcats). Llysfaen has a bowling green which is home to a locally well-known lawn bowls team.

History

The patron saint of Llysfaen is Saint Cynfran, who is traditionally believed to have, in 777, founded the eponymous church in the village, above whose entrance is a carving in rock of the saint. The primary school is also named after Cynfran.

In the 1254 Norwich Taxation, Llysfaen was recorded as "Ecc'a de Llesvaen", and in the 1291 taxation as "Rectoria di Lisnaen" and taxed at £4.

St. Cynfran's church has been rebuilt a number of times; the current twin-naved building is said to date from 1377 but is believed to incorporate stones from the original church. In 1870, the building was the subject of an extensive £1,950 internal restoration with only a few panels remaining from the Middle Ages, although the mediæval stone walls remain. The rectilinear churchyard contains memorials going back as far as the 17th century. The churchyard is surrounded by a stone wall with yew trees both in and outside the walls, and there is a holy well, the Ffynnon Gynfran, about 100 metres to the north.

The ancient parish of Llysfaen was an exclave of the cwmwd (equivalent to a hundred) of Creuddyn within the county of Caernarvonshire, and comprised the townships of Isallt, Isyffordd, Pant (or "Tre'r Pant"), Penmaen and Rhwngyddwyffordd. According to the Royal Commission of the Welsh Church, the then parish had a population of 585 in 1831 rising to 1,489 in 1901.

The parish was originally slightly larger than today with an area of 1,772 acres (7.17 square kilometres) in the 1840s. In 1872, part of the parish was lost to Colwyn but the township of Twynnan was gained from Llanelian-yn-Rhos. Around 1910 the parish had increased to 1,879 acres (7.6 square kilometres).

In 1873, the local lime quarrying firm, Raynes & Co. Ltd, was established by James Trevelyan Raynes II to make sodium carbonate and limestone dust for use in glass manufacture. [http://www.raynesandco.com/about/ahistory.htm]

20th Century

In 1923, the parish of Llysfaen was moved from Caernarvonshire (of which it had been an enclave) to the surrounding Denbighshire.

In 1927, United Alkali Co. Ltd took over Raynes & Co. and were then purchased themselves in the same year by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).

In 1931, Llysfaen Railway Station closed, but the signal box was not removed until 1983 as it served sidings used by the ICI lime works. [http://www.signalbox.org/gallery/lm/llysfaen.htm]

On 23 November, 1964, the last cargo of limestone from the quarry was shipped on the "M.V. Calcium".

In 1972, the church was subject to another restoration.

In 1974, the vast majority of the county of Denbighshire including Llysfaen was assumed by the larger Clwyd with Llysfaen also becoming part of the borough of Colwyn.

In 1996, as part of the reorganisation of Wales into unitary authorities, Llysfaen became part of the county borough of Conwy.

External links

* [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/DEN/Llysfaen/ GENUKI page]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3488827 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Llysfaen and surrounding area]
* [http://www.cpat.demon.co.uk/projects/longer/churches/conwy/16901.htm Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust: Church of St Cynfran, Llysfaen]
* [http://www.clwydfhs.org.uk/churches/Llysfaen/ Clwyd Family History Society: Church photographs] (picture of St Cynfan's)