Abergele - History

History

A settlement of some kind continued to exist at Abergele into the thirteenth century; Edward I is known to have briefly stayed there in December 1294 during his invasion of Wales to suppress the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn.

Sites of historical interest include two Iron Age hillforts; Castell Cawr at Tan y Gopa and Fort Dinorben (now virtually disappeared owing to limestone quarrying) at St George. On Gallt y Felin Wynt, a hill above the town popularly known as Tower Hill or Bryn Tŵr is a 17th century watchtower, partially restored in 1930. There is another Iron Age fort at Pen y Corddyn Mawr hill above Rhyd y Foel. There is also another watchtower, the Lady Emilys Tower which is located near Cefn yr Ogof.

Gwrych Castle was built between 1819-1825 at the behest of Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh. From 1894 until 1946 it was the residence of the Dundonald family. Gwrych Castle's present owner, Californian businessman Nick Tavaglione, who bought the landmark in December 1989 put Gwrych up for auction on 2 June 2006, but it failed to sell. The condition of the property is being monitored by the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust. It is undergoing renovation.

The boxers Bruce Woodcock (in the late 1940s) and Randolph Turpin (in 1952) trained at Gwrych Castle and the film Prince Valiant starring Edward Fox and Katherine Heigl, star of Knocked Up, was filmed there in 1996.

A curious undated inscription can be found on a tombstone in St Michael's parish church (built on the site of a 'class' or Celtic monastery). It states "Here lieth in St Michael's churchyard a man who had his dwelling three miles to the north." As the sea is little more than half a mile away at this point, this suggests that the sea has made some considerable advance over the centuries.

Outside the church is a penitential stone where sinners had to do penance by standing, dressed in white, by the stone and bessech the congregation for mercy as they entered and left the church.

In 1868 the Abergele Train Disaster was, up to that time, the worst railway disaster in Britain. The 33 people who died are buried in a mass grave in the local churchyard.

A sanatorium was built just outside Abergele in 1910. In 1914 this was acquired by Manchester City Council. A children's sanatorium was built on the same site. The sanatorium was taken over by the newly formed NHS in 1948 and was closed later, when the introduction of antibiotics made the building redundant.

On 30 June 1969, the evening before the investiture of Prince Charles in Caernarfon, two members of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Welsh Defence Movement), Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, were killed when the bomb they were planting outside government offices exploded prematurely.