| Porthdinllaen | |
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Porthdinllaen
Porthdinllaen shown within Gwynedd |
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| OS grid reference | SH276416 |
|---|---|
| Principal area | Gwynedd |
| Ceremonial county | Gwynedd |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Pwllheli |
| Postcode district | LL53 |
| Dialling code | 01758 |
| Police | North Wales |
| Fire | North Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | Caernarfon |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Gwynedd | |
Porthdinllaen (English Porth Dinllaen), is a small coastal village in the Dwyfor locality on the Llŷn Peninsula within Gwynedd, North Wales, previously in Caernarfonshire. It is near the larger village of Morfa Nefyn.
It has been owned by the National Trust since 1994. With views across to Yr Eifl and Snowdonia, Porthdinllaen, with Nefyn and Morfa Nefyn, form a magnificent two miles (3 km) of sweeping bay. There are only about two dozen buildings at Porthdinllaen, with the Ty Coch pub the centre of the village.
Vehicular access to the village is restricted to residents with a car permit; visitors must walk across the beach from Morfa Nefyn or across the golf course on top of the headland, past the Iron Age hillfort.
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Porthdinllaen was originally a fishing port, based around a natural harbour at the west end of a bay over a mile and a quarter (2 km) across, and with over one hundred acres (40 ha) of safe anchorage. The harbour is sheltered by a headland jutting out to the north from all but a north-easterly wind, and as the only such haven on the Llŷn Peninsula, it has been used for many centuries of trading, and as a place to run to for shelter in a storm.[1]
In May 1806, a parliamentary bill approved new buildings when it seemed that Porthdinllaen would be chosen over Holyhead, Anglesey, as the route to Ireland. The location was almost as far west as, but less accessible than Holyhead with Thomas Telford's road developments. Porthdinllaen Harbour Company was formed in 1808 in preparation by the Jones Parry family of the Madryn estate (the company's assets included the village and the harbour), but the bill before Parliament to constitute Porthdinllaen as a harbour for Irish trade was rejected in 1810.[2]
Pig farming was important to the economy of the Llŷn Peninsula, and Porthdinllaen was the main point of export to Liverpool. In 1830, the farmers and merchants asked the Madryn estate to build a bigger pier, but the estate refused. The first steamer, the "Vale of Clwyd", did not therefore enter service until 1832. Apart from goods intended for the local population and the farmers, Porthdinllaen imported large quantities of salt to create the Nefyn herring.[1]
Various proposals were made to build railways to serve the harbour at Porthdinllaen, although none were eventually constructed:[2]
In the 19th century, North Wales lacked good roads, and so the sea was the easiest way to access many places. Porthdinllaen, on the northern coast of the Llŷn peninsula, with its sheltered north facing bay, became important as a harbour of refuge and a busy port, with over 700 ships passing through the port in 1861. After storms in 1863, the local parish priest wrote to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to request that a lifeboat be positioned in the harbour.
The boat shed and slip were commissioned in 1864. Manned constantly since, Porthdinllaen lifeboat station is the only lifeboat station where Welsh is the normally spoken language of the crew. The current coxswain is Mike Davies, who has served as coxswain since 2004. The current Tyne class lifeboat is called "Hetty Rampton," and she has been in service since April 27, 1987.[3]
Due to its highly preserved and yet maintained status, Porthdinllaen regularly acts as a film and television shooting location. In September 2004 it posed as a Scottish fishing village for the Demi Moore romantic thriller Half Light.[4]