Merionethshire

Towns & Parishes

Contents

TYWYN

"TYWYN, (or Towyn), a parish, post, and market town in the hundred of Estimaner, county Merioneth, 12 miles N. of Aberystwith, and 10 from Barmouth Ferry, with which it is connected by a short branch of the Aberystwith and Welsh coast railway. It is a bathing-place situated under the hills, near Cardigan Bay, opposite Sarn-y-Buch shoal. The parish includes Aberdovey, Cefnrhos, Cynfalfach, Faenol, and 7 other townships The town is much resorted to for bathing. In the parish is a small harbour easy of access. The herring fishery is carried on to some extent, and lead, copper, and slate are productive. The soil is rocky. Much of the marshes have been reclaimed, and are now rich meadow and pasture. The ruins of Trebeni Castle are seen on the hills. The river abounds in salmon." [From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]

• Bibliography
• Business and Commerce Records
• Church History
• Church Records
• Description and Travel
• Gazetteers
• Genealogy
• History
• Maps
• Merchant Marine
• Occupations  
• Social Life and Customs

Bibliography

Aberdovey & Tywyn pocket companion. Tywyn : Aberdovey & Tywyn Tourism Council, 1993. 48p

Aberdovey : a glimpse of the past : a collection of photographs. [Aberdovey] : [Hugh M. Lewis], [1975] 64p

Beech, Michael J. My childhood in Tywyn, Meirionydd : 1942-1951. Montpon-Ménestérol : Les Presses de la Double, 2002. 69 leaves

Leigh, Leslie A. Tenant farmer family in-migration and stability in the parishes of Pennal and Tywyn, 1838-1910. Journal of the Merioneth Historical and Record Society 12 (1996), p. 277-88

Lewis, Hugh M. Aberdovey official guide. Aberdovey : Aberdovey Advertising Association, [195-?] 42p

Morgan, Thomas O. New guide to Aberdovey and its neighbourhood : with some account of Towyn, Machynlleth, and the vales of Dovey and Dysynwy. Aberystwyth : J. Cox, 1854. 118p

Official guide Tywyn Meirionnydd, Gwynedd : home of the Talyllyn Railway. 5th ed. Tywyn : Tywyn and District Publicity Bureau, [1985]. 114p

Thomas, Henry. Some features and episodes in the history of St. Cadvan's Church, Towyn. 1964?

Towyn, Merioneth : the official guide. Gloucester : British Publishing Co., [195-?] 56p

Business and Commerce Records

Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

• Towyn Friendly Society and Aberllefenni Slate and Slab Quarries Co. records 1832-1953
  "Towyn Friendly Society was established in c.1830 in Tywyn, Merionethshire............. Aberllefenni Slate and Slab Quarries Co., Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire, managed the Aberllefenni Quarry, close to Corris, Montgomeryshire, during the 19th and 20th centuries; its records became incorporated in those of Towyn Friendly Society."

Church History

St Peter's Church, Aberdyfi

Rees, Thomas & John Thomas. Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru (History of the Welsh Independent Churches), 4 volumes (published 1871+). Here is the entry from this book for Saron, Bryncrug   chapel (in Welsh ) - with translation by Eleri Rowlands            And Towyn chapel (No translation)    And Aberdyfi chapel  (No translation)

Church Records

Joyce Hinde has supplied a list of Parish Registers held at Merioneth Record Office.

Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

• Eglwys Bethel (MC), Tywyn, casgliad (collection) 1879-1971  ".....established in 1815, with a new chapel being built in 1871......"
• Eglwys Gynulleidfaol Bethesda (Bethesda Congregational Church), Tywyn, cofnodion (records) 1809-1957    
  "The cause at Bethesda Congregational Church, Tywyn, Merionethshire, was begun in 1804. ......."

Description and Travel

Tywyn Today - a Cambrian News site

Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Tywyn Wharf

Tywyn - on BBC Wales

Tywyn - on Wikipedia

Aberdovey - on Wikipedia

Aberdovey - on the Aberdyfi.org site

Gazetteers

• The transcription of the section for Tywyn from The National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.
• A Topographical Dictionary of Wales   by Samuel Lewis, 1833 (inc Aberdovey)

Genealogy

Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

• Owens brothers of Rhoslefain, Tywyn, archives.  20th century    "Hugh W. and Haydn Owens were brothers from Rhoslefain, Tywyn, Merionethshire, who moved to the USA. ...... "
• Williams, W. Pryce, of Tywyn, papers    "papers of W. Pryce Williams, 1863-1958, comprising printed flyers of local interests, 1887-1958, including lists of pupils at Towyn Council School, 1927-1936; family papers, 1894-1939; letters, 1894-1907; note books, 1863-1935; and miscellaneous papers, 1891-1955"

History

Tywyn enamel works group c 1885 - on the Gathering the Jewels site

Maps

Merchant Marine

Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

• Aberdovey Port (Aberdyfi) trading letters and accounts     "Xerox copies of Aberdovey Port, Aberdyfi, trading letters and accounts, 1787-1794 [20th century]."
• Aberdyfi crew lists 1863-1913   "Crew lists, merchant ships' agreements and official logbooks of ships connected to Aberdyfi, registered at Aberystwyth, 1863-1913"
• T. Wynne Thomas of Aberdovey Archives  "Papers ..... relating to Aberdyfi, comprising Cambrian Railways-Port Aberdovey account books, 1882-1888; newspaper cuttings on shipping at Aberdovey and the Second World War, 1882-1944; manuscripts, 1925-1926; printed booklet, 1946; and photograph of the Aberdovey Lifeboat, [undated]."
• Wynne-Williams, R. A., Cambrian Railways port papers    "Cambrian Railways Company, rgister of vessels, Port of Aberdovey, 1895-1932; and notes of ships using Aberdovey Port, 1934-1959."

Occupations

The manganese mines of Merionethshire

Social Life and Customs

Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

• Towyn Golf Club Records 1904-1946
• Tywyn and District War Memorial Cottage Hospital records 1919-1964    "...... comprising minute books, 1919-1947; programmes, 1932-1964; newspaper cuttings, [undated]-1964; and miscellaneous papers, [undated]-1948."

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