Aberdaron, Carnarvonshire

Historical Description

Aberdaron, a village and a parish in Carnarvonshire. The village stands on the sea coast in a vale overhang by lofty cliffs, at the head of a small bay of its own name, near the extremity of the peninsula of Lleyn, 7 miles N of Bardsey Island, and 16 SW of Pwllheli. It is a primitive little fishing village. It has a post office under Pwllheli; money order and telegraph office, Nevio. The parish comprises 7236 acres of land and 142 of foreshore and water; population of the civil parish, 1170; of the ecclesiastical, 1353. Bodwrdda, a large, well-constructed mansion, dating from the time of Charles I., now a farmhouse, stands about a mile from the village. There is a large circular ancient camp at Castell Odo, U mile NE. At Braich-y-PwIl, the extremity of the promontory, is the site of an ancient chapel, Eglwys Fair; in a cave below the cliff, and only accessible at low water, is Ffynnon Fair, Our Lady's Well. The scenery here, and at other parts of the coast, is wild and grand; at Parwyd, opposite Bardsey Island, the cliffs make a sheer descent of 600 feet to the sea. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bangor, and includes the vicarage of Llanvaelrhys; net value, e£143 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Bangor. The old church is an ancient structure of different styles, with a beautiful Norman door and a good Perpendicular east window; it has been restored through the liberality of Lord Penrhyn and Col. Wynne Finch, and services are now regularly held in it. The church is dedicated to St Hywyn, a British saint of the 5th century. The new church is a recent tasteless structure. Richard Robert Jones, called Dick of Aberdaron, a carpenter's son with an extraordinary genius for the acquisition of languages, was born here in 1788. He was patronized by Mr William Roscoe of Liverpool, and was buried in St Asaph.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

For births, marriages, and deaths in Aberdaron from 1837 to 1937 you should search for the Pwllheli Registration District.
For births, marriages, and deaths in Aberdaron from 1937 to 1974 you should search for the Pwllheli & Portmadoc Registration District.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Aberdaron from the following:

• Slater's Directory of North & Mid Wales, 1895

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Carnarvonshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Aberdaron are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers online:

• Western Mail