Groeslon

Groeslon (Welsh: Y Groeslon, "the crossroads") is a small village in Gwynedd, north Wales.

Nearby villages are Pen-y-Groes, Carmel and Dinas. The village lies approximately five miles south of Caernarfon. It has one primary school in the centre of the village and no secondary schools. Most secondary school age pupils go to either Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Pen-y-Groes or other schools near Caernarfon. Y Groeslon was by-passed in 2002 by the A487 road, a trunk road which cost around £12 million to complete.

Formerly an agricultural and slate mining village, Y Groeslon is now expanding as a commuter village for the surrounding towns, especially Caernarfon and Bangor. Its initial growth came as a result of the construction of the LMS railway in 1867. Groeslon railway station closed in December 1964.

In the village there is one post office, newsagents, plus a pub called the Penionyn across the road to the post office.

At the bottom of the village, bordering the A487, a huge wall becomes visible. This is the wall to the Glynllifon estate, formerly the seat of Lord Newborough, which is now a country park and college ( [http://www.meirion-dwyfor.ac.uk Meirion Dwyfor] ) specialising in land based industries, eg agriculture, equine studies and arboriculture.

Interestingly, according to the North Wales Racial Equality Network or NWREN the village of Groeslon does not have a single person of neither Welsh (80%) nor Irish (20%) ancestry, and also has the highest proportion of Welsh people of any parish in north Wales. [http://www.nwren.org.uk/english/info-population-gwynedd.htm/]

Notable residents

*Welsh author Eirug Wyn until his death in 2004.
*The dramatist John Gwilym Jones (1904 - 1988)
*Poet Tom Huws.
*Llion Iwan, Welsh documentary journalist/producer and author.

References

Llyfr / Book "Hanes Y Groeslon" (History of Y Groeslon) available from public libraries:
[http://talisprism.talnet.gov.uk/TalisPrism/doSearch.do;jsessionid=A1C9B092A2F68C9C05209B5A79FDF86E.worker1]

External links

"Y safle we dwyieithog" Dyffryn Nantlle bilingual website (with section on Y Groeslon, including postcards and photos):

English version [http://www.nantlle.com/y-groeslon-english.htm] Fersiwn Cymraeg [http://www.nantlle.com/y-groeslon-cymraeg.htm]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3498446 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Groeslon and surrounding area]