My Adventures 3: Llandudno

On the 28th July 2016 my family,Connor and I set off we drove along Colwyn Bay first in the drizzle, not much to see. We then drove through Rhos-On-Sea where we stopped to play a round of crazy golf.
Rhos-on-Sea (Welsh: Llandrillo-yn-Rhos), also known as Rhos or Llandrillo. It is named after the Welsh kingdom of Rhos established there in late Roman times as a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd, and later became a cantref (hundred).

We paid for the golf in Rhos Fynach.

In 1186 Llywelyn the Great permitted the establishment of the Cistercian Aberconwy Abbey, and the monks built a fishing weir on the sea shore below Bryn Euryn. The place became known as Rhos Fynach, heath of the monks. In a charter of 1230, Llywelyn sanctioned the purchase by Ednyfed Fychan of land at Rhos Fynach and in 1289, the abbey moved to Maenan (becoming Maenan Abbey), and the weir was ceded to Ednyfed's estate.Eventually Rhos Fynach and the weir came into the hands of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who in 1575 granted it to a Captain Morgan ap John ap David, a privateer, for services rendered against the enemies of Queen Elizabeth I at sea. (This is not the famous pirate of the Caribbean Captain Henry Morgan who lived in the century following).
The weir continued to provide a prosperous livelihood through to the early 20th century: during a single night in 1850, 35,000 herring were caught, and 10 tons of mackerel were removed in one tide as late as 1907. Because such weirs decimated inshore fish stocks, Parliament banned them in 1861 unless it could be shown they pre-dated the Magna Carta, which the then owners, the Parry Evans family, were able to prove. Their estate included Rhos Fynach house, also known as Rhos Farm, on the Promenade near St Trillo's Chapel. The house is now a pub and restaurant. Its date of construction is not known for sure, but it is considered to have been started by the Cistercians before the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The fishing weir fell into disuse during World War I and most traces have disappeared.Trial excavation of the site in 1993 recorded constructions carbon 14-dated between 1500 and 1660.

We now drove onto Llandudno and parked up to visit this fantastic seaside resort.
Llandudno, "Queen of the Welsh Resorts", a title first applied as early as 1864,is now the largest seaside resort in Wales.

It was soon obvious there was a link to Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carrol here and there are wooden carvings everywhere and you can download an app and follow the trail.

Explore Alice in Wonderland and the history of Llandudno.
Follow the real Alice in Wonderland (Alice Liddell) in a new digital adventure into Wonderland – Llandudno, voted in the top ten best places to visit in the UK.
Alice stayed in Llandudno and shared her many adventures in the resort with the famous book author Lewis Carrol, a family friend. As well as immortalising Alice as the main character in his stories, it is believed that Lewis Carroll also incorporated some of the interesting features of Llandudno later depicted by Sir John Tenniel.
Alice returns to her holiday resort as a young 8 year old with a big imagination. Narrated by the Author and with help from the Mad Hatter, some of Alice’s real past is recounted as she follows the White Rabbit around the town and to a Game of Croquet.
Where does she go? Who does she meet? Who delights in saying ‘trick’ and who prefers a treat?
The White Rabbit App will guide you around the town of Llandudno and take you to places you may not have experienced before. The route will take you to some fantastic beauty spots and provides the opportunity to see some of the town’s iconic sites.

Alice Liddell, the inspiration for the 'Alice' character in the books, stayed in Llandudno in 1861. She was eight years old, and on holiday with her family when Charles Lutwidge Dodson (Lewis Carroll) visited the family. The census for that year (population 318) shows the Liddell family residing at what is now the St Tudno Hotel - and it is the only remaining Llandudno property with such an illustrious connection.
Alice Liddell's father was the dean of Christ Church, Oxford. He and his new bride honeymooned in Llandudno, and after several other family holidays, they decided to build a family home just below the Great Orme; it was named Penmorfa.

We however did not follow the trail but maybe next time we're here we may.

The town of Llandudno developed from Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements over many hundreds of years on the slopes of the limestone headland, known to seafarers as the Great Orme and to landsmen as the Creuddyn Peninsula. The origins in recorded history are with the Manor of Gogarth conveyed by King Edward I to Annan, Bishop of Bangor in 1284.

No trip to Llandudno is complete without a visit to the pier.

The award-winning pier is on the North Shore. Built in 1878, it is a Grade II listed building.
The pier was extended in 1884 in a landward direction along the side of what was the Baths Hotel (where the Grand Hotel now stands) to provide a new entrance with the Llandudno Pier Pavilion Theatre, thus increasing the pier's length to 2,295 feet (700 m): it is the longest pier in Wales. Attractions on the pier include a bar, a cafe, amusement arcades, children's fairground rides and an assortment of shops & kiosks.