Mochdre, Conwy

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Mochdre is a village to the west of Colwyn Bay in North Wales. Originally part of the Municipal Borough of Colwyn Bay prior to local government reorganisation in April 1974, it is now a separate parish (known as a community in Wales), whose population at the 2001 census was 1,862.

The name of the village comes from Welsh words meaning Pig (Moch) and Town (Dref). The origin of the name is explained in the mythological Welsh tales "The Mabinogion", which were first written down in the early middle ages, but which actually go much further back into the history of oral Welsh storytelling. One of the tales in The Mabinogion concerns the theft of a herd of sacred pigs. One of the places where the stolen animals were kept overnight became known as Pigtown or Mochdre as a result.

The village of Mochdre is also famed for its parish church, which is actually the church of the parish of Llangwstennin (Cystennin being the Welsh version of Constantine Constantine I, the Roman Emperor who is reputed to have been born at the Roman settlement of Segontium in Caernarfon, north Wales), as it allegedly sits on the site of the oldest christian church in Wales.

Mochdre also has a place in railway history. Sited on the North Wales Main Line from Chester to Holyhead, it was the site of experimental trackside water troughs, from which passing steam locomotives could scoop up fresh water supplies without having to stop. These devices became commonplace around the world, but Mochdre was the first place they were ever used. Ironically the exact spot is now a stretch of the A55 dual carriageway, the railway line having been realigned slightly to the north when this section of the road was built in the mid-1980s. Here too was Mochdre & Pabo station, closed originally in January 1917 as a World War I economy measure, reopened in May 1919, and finally closed for good in January 1931. There is still a "Station Road."