Llandudno
|
|
| Llandudno | |
  |
Llandudno_coat_of_arms.jpeg
The town council's coat of arms
Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in the county borough of Conwy in North Wales. It is on the north coast of Wales, between Bangor and Colwyn Bay, and has a population of about 20,000. The town is just off the main rail line between Chester and Holyhead, the latter being the main ferry port for travel to Ireland. Llandudno was specifically built as a mid-Victorian era holiday destination.
Llandudno lies on a flat area between the Welsh mainland and the Great Orme peninsula. The town's main beach (in the photo below) is the North Shore, and this lies below a wide curving Victorian promenade that runs between the headlands of the Great Orme and Little Orme. The town's elegant pier is on the North Shore; it was built in 1878, and is 1,234 feet in length and a Grade II listed building. Looking back towards the town from the end of the peir, on a clear day one can see the mountains of Snowdonia rising over the town.
The town has two beaches; the North Shore, and the unspoiled West Shore. Llandudno is unique within the UK in that its lifeboat station is located inland, allowing it to launch from either the West Shore or the North Shore.
GreatOrmePanorama.jpg
Famous people with links to Llandudno include multi-capped Welsh international footballers Neville Southall and Joey Jones. Australian ex-PM the late Billy Hughes attended school in Llandudno.
Cultural connections
Llandudno hosted the Welsh National Eisteddfod in 1864, 1896 and 1963.
Matthew Arnold gives a vivid and lengthy description of 1860s Llandudno - and of the ancient tales of Taliesin and Maelgwn that are associated with the local landscape - in the first sections of the preface (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/scl/scl02.htm) to On the Study of Celtic Literature (1867).
Llandudno claims a passing link with Lewis Carroll; because the family of the 'real Alice' regularly spent holidays at their holiday-home Penmorfa, now the Gogarth Abbey Hotel on the wild West Shore of Llandudno. Contrary to local myth, Alice Liddell did not meet Carroll in the town, and was not told the Alice stories in the town. It is, however, just possible that she may have first read the Alice books in print while on holiday in the town. There is no evidence that Carroll ever visited Penmorfa, and he probably would have been unwelcome if he had. Indeed, there is contrary evidence; a letter exists, written by one of Alice Liddell's sisters when grown-up, saying she had no memory of Carroll ever visiting the girls in Llandudno.
Currently, the town is home to the international art gallery, Oriel Mostyn, and The North Wales Theatre.
External links
- Llandudno Town Council (http://www.llandudno.gov.uk/) (official WWW site)
- BBC Wales' Llandudno site (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/sites/llandudno/)
- Open Directory Project: Llandudno (http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Wales/Conwy_County_Borough/Llandudno/) (list of links)
- The Oriel Mostyn art gallery in Llandudno (http://www.mostyn.org/)
- Useful Llandudno Visitors Information (http://www.visitllandudno.com/)
- The North Wales Theatre in Llandudno (http://www.nwtheatre.co.uk)
- Llandudno Queen of Welsh Resorts (http://www.greatorme.org.uk/)cy:Llandudno