Tanygrisiau

Tanygrisiau is a village in the upper end of the Vale of Ffestiniog in the county of Gwynedd, north-west Wales (coord|52|59|12|N|3|57|25|W |region:GB-GWN_type:city |display=title,inline). It can be found along the southern side of the Moelwyn mountain range and dates to around 1750. It joins on to the semi-urban area of Blaenau Ffestiniog and is located between 650 and 750 feet above sea level.

Geography

The Moelwyns protect the village from much of the wind from northerly gales in the winter and give the village a pleasant southerly aspect with relatively mild weather considering its location high in Snowdonia. However rainfall in the upper end of the Ffestiniog valley can be very high all year around.

Industrial Past and Present

Tanygrisiau, or more properly 'Tan y grisiau', is Welsh for "below the steps", referring to steps, which have long since disappeared, leading up to the original slate mine above the village. Tanygrisiau was famous for its slate mining, producing a high quality black slate that was used across the world.

Tanygrisiau railway station is on the famous Ffestiniog Railway, a narrow gauge railway built to carry slate from the mines down to the sea at Porthmadog where it was shipped all around the world, mostly for use in roofing.

The village was the site of a near disaster on Christmas Day 1918. At the time when all the inhabitants of the village were in chapel the mine workings collapsed. Had this collapse taken place a few hours earlier, many hundreds of miners, newly returned from the First World War, would have died crushed under millions of tons of rock. Many of the inhabitants put this down to divine intervention Fact|date=April 2007.

The nearby Ffestiniog power station, the high Stwlan Dam and Llyn Ystradau, colloquially known as Tanygrisiau Reservoir, are part of a pumped storage hydroelectricity installation. Much nearer the railway station is a waterfall on the Afon Cwmorthin and below the falls, and powered by a different water source, is a very small hydro-electric power station.

The closure of the slate mines during the late 1970s led to massive depopulation of the area from which it has only recently (2005) begun to recover.

Tanygrisiau has close links with the regiment of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Language

Welsh is the predominant language of the area and the medium of instruction in all local schools.

Leisure

The village is a starting point for walks into the Moelwyns, especially if the intention is to climb Moelwyn itself. Care should be taken as there are numerous mine shafts in the area.

As a result of the slate mining, when the Snowdonia National Park was created, Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog and Llan Ffestiniog were left outside, thus creating a doughnut-shaped area excluded from the National Park.

Noted former residents

* Gwyn Thomas, Welsh poet, academic and the present National Poet for Wales, was born in Tanygrisiau in 1936. As a boy, his family then moved to Blaenau Ffestiniog.
* Meredydd Evans (born Llanegryn, Wales 1919) is a collector, editor, historian and notable performer of folk music of Wales.

External links

* [http://www.stiniog.com/ Tanygrisiau village website]
* [http://www.caeclyd.com/ Landscape photographs in and around Blaenau Ffestiniog]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3491642 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Tanygrisiau and surrounding area]