Llysfaen - History

History

The patron saint of Llysfaen is Saint Cynfran, who is traditionally believed to have, in 777, founded the eponymous church in the village, above whose entrance is a carving in rock of the saint. The primary school is also named after Cynfran.

In the 1254 Norwich Taxation, Llysfaen was recorded as Ecc'a de Llesvaen, and in the 1291 taxation as Rectoria di Lisnaen and taxed at £4.

St. Cynfran's church has been rebuilt a number of times; the current twin-naved building is said to date from 1377 but is believed to incorporate stones from the original church. In 1870, the building was the subject of an extensive £1,950 internal restoration with only a few panels remaining from the Middle Ages, although the mediæval stone walls remain. The rectilinear churchyard contains memorials going back as far as the 17th century. The churchyard is surrounded by a stone wall with yew trees both in and outside the walls, and there is a holy well, the Ffynnon Gynfran, about 100 metres to the north.

The ancient parish of Llysfaen was an exclave of the cwmwd (equivalent to a hundred) of Creuddyn within the county of Caernarvonshire, and comprised the townships of Isallt, Isyffordd, Pant (or Tre'r Pant), Penmaen and Rhwngyddwyffordd. According to the Royal Commission of the Welsh Church, the then parish had a population of 585 in 1831 rising to 1,489 in 1901.

The parish was originally slightly larger than today with an area of 1,772 acres (7.17 square kilometres) in the 1840s. In 1872, part of the parish was lost to Colwyn but the township of Twynnan was gained from Llanelian-yn-Rhos. Around 1910 the parish had increased to 1,879 acres (7.6 square kilometres).

In 1873, the local lime quarrying firm, Raynes & Co. Ltd, was established by James Trevelyan Raynes II to make sodium carbonate and limestone dust for use in glass manufacture.