| Pwllheli | |
Housing near Pwllheli town centre. |
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Pwllheli
Pwllheli shown within Gwynedd |
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| Population | 3,861 (2001) |
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| OS grid reference | SH374350 |
| Community | Pwllheli |
| 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 | Dwyfor Meirionnydd |
| Welsh Assembly | Dwyfor Meirionnydd |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Gwynedd | |
Pwllheli (Welsh pronunciation: [pʊɬˈhɛlɪ]) is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula (Welsh: Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861,[1] of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking.[2] Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones - Cynan - the Welsh poet.
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The town's name means salt water basin. The pronunciation of Pwllheli includes a sound not found in the English language, the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [ɬ], but is approximately pu-HLEL-ee or puth-HEL-ee.
The town was given its charter as a borough by Edward, the Black Prince in 1355,[3] and a market is still held each Wednesday in the centre of the town on the 'Maes' (=field in English).
The town grew around the shipbuilding and fishing industries, and the granite quarry at Gimlet Rock (Welsh: Carreg yr Imbill).[4]
During the 1890s, the town was developed by Solomon Andrews, a Cardiff businessman. This work included the Promenade, roads and houses at West End. A tramway was built linking the town to Llanbedrog. The trams ran until 1927 when the section of track between Carreg-y-Defaid and Tyddyn-Caled was seriously damaged by a storm. Andrews ran the Cardiff Road section in 1928, and offered to sell the tramway to Pwllheli Corporation at the end of the season, but they did not take up his offer. He then sold the assets, and the Corporation removed the tracks during the winter of 1928/29.[5]
For many years a holiday camp run by Butlins operated a couple of miles from Pwllheli. The camp, renamed Hafan-Y-Mor, has been redeveloped and is now run by the Haven group.[6]
The town contains numerous retail shops and many smaller shops.
Ysgol Glan y Môr was formed by the merger of the former Pwllheli Grammar school and the Frondeg Secondary Modern Schools. These occupied sites at Penrallt and Upper Ala Road, respectively. The two schools merged in mid-1969 to form a comprehensive school based at two separated sites within the town.
The junior pupils (year 1 and year 2) were located at the Penrallt site (former grammar school site) and the senior pupils (year 3 and upwards) were located at a new complex constructed at Cardiff Road. This new school was subsequently expanded to accommodate all pupils under the Ysgol Glan y Môr name.
The Penrallt site was later redeveloped to form the Pwllheli campus of Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor. The facade of the main building of the old grammar school was retained and incorporated into the design of the current college buildings. Thus the 'old school' is readily seen from the town square (Y Maes) in much the same way as it has been since the former Pwllheli County School moved to Penrallt in the early 20th century.
Pwllheli railway station is the terminus of the Cambrian Coast Railway running to Machynlleth with services continuing to Shrewsbury and Birmingham. The station is operated and served by Arriva Trains Wales.
Bus services in the town are operated by Arriva Buses Wales and Nefyn Coaches and serve most of the town as well as the rest of the wider Llŷn Peninsula area. Clynnog & Trefor run services to Caernarfon where connections can be made to Bangor and the wider North Wales area. Pwllheli bus station is situated in the town centre.
Pwllheli hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1925 and 1955, as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1875.
According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, 80% of the population speak Welsh, with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in the 10-14 age bracket, 94%.
Pwllheli is home to association football team Pwllheli F.C. and rugby union team Pwllheli RFC.
The town has two beaches, South Beach and Glan-y-Môr. South Beach stretches from Gimblet Rock, across the Promenade and West End, towards Penrhos and Llanbedrog. Glan-y-Môr Beach is located on the eastern side of the river mouth and runs for 3 miles from behind the marina workshops and out towards Penychain (holiday camp).