HLW (Gw) 17

Dysynni Valley  

2001  

Special  

Designated  

The lower and middle reaches of the River Dysynni and its tributary the River Cader occupy a distinctively straight, glaciated valley that cuts across southern Gwynedd in a neat line from the higher flanks of the Cader Idris ridge in the north east to the shores of Cardigan Bay in the south west. As it approaches the sea, the valley dramatically opens out into a broad, flat coastal haven and estuary which are barred by extensive sand dunes and shingle banks along the coast. The south side of the haven is, in fact, geomorphologically part of the Bala Cleft, a major geological fault cutting across North Wales. The fault continues outside the area as a parallel valley to the south east, in which the Dysynni rises in Tal-yllyn Lake. The Dysynni flows into the main part of the valley described here through a narrow ice-breached col that connects the two valleys at Ystumanner. The haven and main valley floor lie at less than 10m above OD for a considerable distance inland, the slopes rising steeply on either side to hills and ridges that gradually rise from about 200m above OD in the south west to almost 900m above OD at the summit of Cader Idris in the north east. This picturesque valley bears diverse evidence of human occupation and activity from the prehistoric period to the recent past and is particularly notable for the reclaimed landscape created by pioneering agricultural improvements on the post-medieval gentry estate of Ynysmaengwyn during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A number of prehistoric finds, largely Bronze Age artefacts, indicate that the low-lying coastal area currently occupied by the town of Tywyn was settled from a very early period. A large complex of enclosures and other features, visible only as crop-marks from the air, which lie near Bryncrug, might relate to the settlement of the area during the prehistoric period. The valley also boasts three Iron Age hillforts, two of which are sited close together on Tal y Garreg, a prominent spur overlooking the entrance to the estuary and the safe haven of Broad Water. Despite the infringement of their settings by a large quarry, it is still possible to appreciate the advantages of the commanding position of these two forts over the estuary. The higher fort contains a small fortified stronghold which may be early medieval or medieval in date. The third fort is sited about 8km inland of Tal y Garreg and occupies the crown of a spectacular, cone-shaped rocky eminence, Craig yr Aderyn (Bird’s Rock), which is cordoned by precipitous cliffs overlooking the Dysynni valley. Before later land reclamation and drainage schemes, the River Dysynni might well have been tidal as far as Craig yr Aderyn, thus allowing easier access to the fort from the sea. The medieval history and settlement of the area is better documented. In the 12th century, the cantref of Meirionnydd came under the sphere of influence of Powys, but in 1123 the sons of Gruffydd ap Cynan of Gwynedd acquired the cantref, and a motte, Castell Cynfal, was established at Cynfal by Cadwaladr Owain in 1137. In the pre-Conquest period, however, the old cantref of Meirionnydd was divided into the two commotes of Tal-y-bont and Ystumanner, with the border lying at least partially along the River Dysynni. The llys and maerdref of Ystumanner was at Pennal, which is outside the area, whereas the equivalent administrative institutions for the commote of Tal-y-bont, to the north of the river, were probably situated on or near the motte at Domen Ddreiniog near the mouth of the River Dysynni, with the maerdref located in the vicinity of the farm still known as Tal-y-bont. It appears that the bond townships were all situated on low-lying valley sites or close to river estuaries. There was a free township at Gwyddelfynydd, and a very extensive township at Cynfal. When Llywelyn ab Iorwerth took over the cantref from his son Gruffudd in 1221, he established the masonry castle at Castell y Bere. The castle was captured by the forces of Edward I on 25 April 1283 after a siege involving over 3,000 men. In 1284, Edward granted the new town of Bere free borough status. The castle and borough subsequently went into decline following the revolt of Madog in 1295. Bere also had a rival in Tywyn, lying down the valley on the coast. The ecclesiastical origins of Tywyn date back to the mid- 6th century when Cadfan, a monk from Bardsey, is said to have founded a monastery here, which eventually emerged as the clas or mother church of the surrounding district and had become a centre of religious pilgrimage by the medieval period. In AD 963, when it was presumably already surrounded by a small native settlement, it was attacked by the Danes, but recovered. The sources mention the name of an abbot in 1147. Gerald of Wales visited the monastery 30 years later. Parts of the present church of St Cadfan, notably the nave, aisles, and a section of the north transept, date from the 12th century, and it may well occupy the site of the original structure. There are records of two early funerary stones here. One, formerly in the graveyard, had a Latin inscription, but has now disappeared; the other, St Cadfan’s Stone, has had a varied history, but is now within the church, and is particularly interesting. The inscription is in Welsh and is the earliest known writing in that language, dating perhaps from the 7th century, which makes it of enormous linguistic importance. There is no real date for the establishment of Tywyn, which existed by 1283 and thus was not a planned town, unlike Bala (p. 68), and Harlech in Ardudwy. The ‘villa de Tewyn in Merennyth’ is recorded in 1283, and the Extent of Merioneth in 1284 mentions the existence of small burgesses at Tywyn, probably Welshmen. At this time, Tywyn had 209 taxpayers, the highest number of any parish in the new shire, although ten years later this appears to have dropped to only nine. The town had a viable economic existence, however, with a market every Friday, and tolls in the late 13th century amounted to 13s 4d a year. Throughout the Middle Ages, however, it is unlikely that Tywyn was more than a cluster of cottages around the church. Indeed, as late as 1820, Tywyn was described as ‘so dull and secluded a place as to be very rarely honoured by foreign visitors’, and it had no streets, ‘merely lanes, adorned with wide and dirty ditches meandering placidly along their centre.’ It took the opening of the Cambrian Railways in 1863 and the consequent development of the tourist industry for the town to start transforming itself into what it has become today. There was much Crown and monastic land within the area in the medieval period, and this was eventually incorporated into the private gentry estates of Peniarth and Ynysmaengwyn. Perhaps chiefly famous for its huge and important library, now in the National Library of Wales, Peniarth is an ancient seat of the Wynne family, dating back to the 15th century. Ynysmaengwyn, similarly, had a history dating back to the 15th century and beyond, although the original house was burnt down following the Civil War in 1656. It was subsequently restored and passed by marriage to a Corbet (of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire), with whose descendants it remained until 1874, when it was sold to John Corbett, MP for Droitwich and later Worcester, who was responsible for many of the buildings in Tywyn. In 1964, after a long period of neglect and decay, the owners at the time, Tywyn Urban District Council, unfortunately decided that the central mansion should be used as a fire practice, a method of destruction that was, ironically, in keeping with tradition. Now only a few outbuildings remain and the site is a caravan park. Of the two estates, it was Ynysmaengwyn that had the greater impact on the landscape of the area. Edward Corbet of Ynysmaengwyn was a leading light in the agrarian revolution in North Wales, and was seen as the embodiment of a progressive landowner in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. When he inherited the estate, the home farm consisted of 240ha, 105ha of which were turbary. In 1788, he began draining and building embankments, and within six years the whole estate was under cultivation. Corbet transformed inland wastes and coastal marshes in the valley into productive land. By mixing in lime and dung and regular ploughing, he turned the soil into a black loam which yielded three times as much hay as previously. He was also foremost in North Wales in the practice of irrigation on his property; he could produce early spring fodder for cattle and provide pasture until June by ‘flooding’ about 160ha to 200ha every year. Corbet also introduced principles of a scientific crop sequence into the county, and experimented with improving his animal stocks by selective breeding. His horses were widely renowned. The Talyllyn Railway starts outside the area and runs to the coast from above Abergynolwyn in the upper Dysynni valley to connect with the Cambrian Railways at Tywyn. Opened in 1866, the line is of considerable historical importance in that it was both the first publicly operated, purpose-built, steam-powered narrow gauge railway in Gwynedd, and also the first example of a successful volunteer railway preservation movement, formed when the railway was faced with closure in 1950–01. It was built by Lancashire cotton magnates anxious to find alternative outlets for their capital during the American Civil War, and as well as passengers, it carried slate from the Bryneglwys quarry to Tywyn, from where it was moved on by the standard gauge railway. The original passenger rolling stock from the 1860s survives, as do both its original locomotives and very many other original features. Today, it contributes to the area’s thriving tourist economy which has taken its place alongside the more traditional agricultural activities that at one stage so radically altered the valley’s landscape.