Criccieth, Carnarvonshire

Historical Description

Criccieth, a small town and a parish in Carnarvonshire. The town stands on the N coast of Cardigan Bay, 4 miles W by S of Tremadoc, and 8 E of Pwllheli; was once a market-town, is now a rising watering-place, with a station on the Cambrian railway, and is governed by a local board. It unites with Carnarvon and other boroughs in sending a member to Parliament. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.) The parish church is Later English; it was restored about 1873. For the accommodation of summer visitors, a new church has been built (nave in 1887, chancel added 1889), containing sittings for 700. It is dedicated to St Deiniol (first Bishop of Bangor, A.D. 550). It has a fine east window of seven lights. It is used for English services, the parish church (dedicated to St Catherine) for Welsh. The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the sea; is said to have been built by Edward I. on the site of an ancient encampment; consists now chiefly of the entrance flanked by two lofty circular towers and some fragments of walls, and is highly picturesque. There are Congregational, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Calvinistic Methodist chapels. The parish comprises 1724 acres, of which 101 are water and foreshore; population of the civil parish, 1507; of the ecclesiastical, 1580. The living is a rectory, united with the perpetual curacy of Treflys, in the diocese of Bangor; joint net value, £60 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Bangor.

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

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Criccieth 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