Wales Llandudno, North Wales

An attractive Victorian sea side resort which is still popular today.

Set on the North Coast of North Wales, Llandudno is often described as the Queen of Holiday resorts. It is dominated by the massive limestone bulk of the Great Orme and still retains much of its Victorian grandeur.

It was beginning to feel run down and neglected twenty years ago, but now the buildings are all freshly painted and the town is thriving. There is something for all ages from the traditional Punch and Judy shows on the North Bay to a vintage bus ride along Marine Drive.

Although the town only dates from the mid C19th, the Great Orme has been inhabited since prehistoric times and copper was mined there in the Bronze Age. Much of the surrounding area was low lying and marshy, and ignored by settlers.

In the C6th, St Tudno built a small church on the Great Orme. Nothing remains of the original church which was replaced by a stone building in the C12th, and gave its name to the small village that grew up at the base of the Great Orme. The church was a long walk from the town and poorly attended, so when the roof was badly damaged by a storm in 1839, it was decided to build a new church, St George’s, in the centre of the village.

St Tudno’s has since been restored and is now open daily in the summer, with open air services. It is open weekends during the winter.

By the mid C19th, the population of Llandudno was around 1000, with men being employed in the copper mines, fishing and subsistence agriculture. In 1848, proposals were put forward to develop the town as a holiday resort, for visitors from Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe and the West Midlands. The first visitors arrive by boat, but the town grew rapidly with the arrival of the railway in 1848. Holy Trinity Church was built to serve the increasing population.

North Bay with its promenade and grand hotels became the main pleasure beach.

A pier opened in 1878 and for a time was used by steamers to the Isle of Man. There were grand plans for a service to Ireland, but these fell through with the development of Holyhead. The pier survives with its attractions, amusement arcades and cafes.

Shops along Mostyn Street still have their splendid cast iron arcades.

The Town Hall was built in 1902, replacing an earlier building.

As visitor numbers increased, so did the attractions.

A traditional Punch and Judy show opened here in 1860, after the horse of travelling showman Richard Codman died, leaving him stranded here. He gathered drift wood to carve the puppets which are still delighting children and adults today.

The four mile Marine Drive was constructed round the base of the Great Orme between 1872-9, following what was originally a footpath. This is a toll road but the £3 toll also includes parking at the summit complex. It is an exciting drive carved out of the side of the hill. A self guided audio tour explains the archaeology, environment and attractions along the route. For those not wanting to drive, there is also a Vintage Bus service.

Happy Valley Gardens were developed from a quarry site below the Great Orme, to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.

A cable hauled tramway up the Great Orme opened in 1902 and still carries visitors to the Summit complex.

A cable car up the Great Orme opened in 1969, taking visitors up the 679’ from Happy Valley to the Summit Complex. This is very much subject to winds and may be closed if winds make it unsafe to run. This also takes visitors to the Artificial Ski Slope and Snowboard Centre.

The Great Orme is now a country park and is designated as a site of scientific interest. It is popular with visitors. There is always a cool breeze, a welcome change from the baking temperatures on the beach in the summer. There is good easy walking along the many footpaths and there are three way marked trails covering the history and nature.

The Kashmiri goats seen wandering round the Great Orme are descended from goats given to Lord Mostyn by Queen Victoria.

The small Visitor Centre is open Easter-October with interactive displays and films. The Summit Complex building contains a cafe, bar and gift shop.

The Bronze Age copper mines (#4) have reopened as a tourist attraction.

Alice Liddell (of Alice in Wonderland fame) and her family were regular visitors to Llandudno in the 1860s, stopping at the now demolished Penmorfa Hotel on West Bay. This is now celebrated by the Alice in Wonderland Town Tail and sculptures around the town.

There is an open top Hop on Hop Off bus which takes visitors to Conwy as well as all the sights around the town. There is also a land train which runs a regular service from the promenade on North Bay to the much quieter West Bay.

If it is raining, there is the Mostyn Art Gallery, described as the foremost contemporary gallery and visual arts centre in Wales

The Llandudno Museum covers the history of the area from pre-historic times, while the Home Front Experience concentrates on civilian life during World War Two.

There is also the annual Victorian Extravaganza held every May Day Bank holiday.

Llandudno is definitely worth adding to the list. The delightful medieval walled town on Conwy with its ruined castle is only a short drive away and then there is Snowdonia....

 

[Mom83]

We were there in July, 2016...while visiting my family who live in Southern Wales. Beautiful Victorian town with a lovely waterfront. We visited northern Wales for 4 days before heading south to near Cardiff for a week. While in northern Wales, we stayed in a cute little house in a small town nearby to Llandudno...Capelulo.

 

[Eleanor]

Great pictures Mom83. I love North Wales and have spent many happy holidays there, although we usually based ourselves further down the peninsula.

 

[Mom83]

Great pictures Mom83. I love North Wales and have spent many happy holidays there, although we usually based ourselves further down the peninsula.

We found all of Wales so lovely! I had been there only once before...1970 while attending college in Italy. My husband had never been and he was impressed with the diversity and the beauty of the country...and the golf course at Porthcawl!

 

[Eleanor]

Llandudno Churches

I have always enjoyed visiting churches and am fascinated by church architecture. I usually head to the church when visiting somewhere for the first time. There is always a sense of expectation as I push open the door. Some are more interesting than others, but I usually find something to catch my interest.

The first church in Llandudno was that of the C6th Celtic Saint Tudno, who established a cell in a sheltered hollow on the Great Orme and began preaching. Llandudno is named after him.

There is nothing left of his church. The present St Tudno's Church, surrounded by its large graveyard, dates from the C12th although only part of the north wall and the font survives. The rest of the fabric is C15th. The roof blew off during a bad storm in 1839 As the church was a long way to walk for the congregation, it was decided to build a new church, St George’s on Church Walks in Llandudno. This served the mainly Welsh speaking congregation. Later, Holy Trinity Church on Mostyn Street was built for the increasing numbers of English speaking visitors.

In 1855, an appeal was made to repair the roof of St Tudno’s Church and reopen the church for public worship. It is still used for monthly services during the winter and the very popular open air services in the summer months.

St George’s Church closed in 2002 and is now office accommodation. Holy Trinity became the parish church.

Holy Trinity Church

At the beginning of the C19th Llandudno was a small settlement with a population of around 1000. The main employment was in the copper mines on the Great Orme, fishing or subsistence agriculture. In 1848, proposals were put forward to develop the town as a holiday resort, for visitors from Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe and the West Midlands. The first visitors arrive by boat, but the town grew rapidly with the arrival of the railway in 1848. Holy Trinity Church was built to serve the increasing number of visitors.

Building began in 1872 and the church was consecrated two years later. The bell tower was added in 1892 with a peal of eight bells. It is an impressive Neo-gothic building capable of seating over 1000 worshippers.

It is equally as impressive inside with polished marble pillars with carved capitals and a row of black stone picking out the arches.

The chancel was extended in 1932 and has a boat shaped wooden roof.

There is wood panelling around the base of the chancel and a lovely carved reredos behind the altar with God the Father holding the crucified Christ. The five stained glass windows depict the birth and boyhood of Christ.

The small chapel to left of the chancel is a memorial chapel to the 219 men of the town who lost their lives in the First World War. Their names are are recorded on plaques on the wall. Standards of the Welsh Regiments and ex servicemen’s associations hang from the roof.

In the north transept is the Chapel of Christ the King with a small altar. The lovely stained glass window above has Christ at the centre holding an open book with the symbols alpha and omega. He is surrounded by Angles, apostles, saints and martyrs. St Catherine holding her wheel can be seen at the bottom left corner.

In the south aisle is the Mary and Martha window with Mary listening to Christ while Martha is busy preparing a meal.

The carved wood pulpit has the symbols of the four evangelists.

The stone font has symbols of Christ’s passion. Above it is the Baptistry window with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist on the left and Jesus blessing children on the right.

At the back of the north aisle is the carved angel which was carved by Handel Edwards of South Glamorgan in the 1970s and took him five years. He was a plasterer by trade and took up woodcarving as a hobby. It has been in Holy Trinity Church since the 1980s.

From a distance I didn’t like the angel but it does need to be seen close to as the individual carvings are exquisite. The wings and body of the angel are carved with 31 discrete scenes of the life of Christ from his nativity to the empty tomb.

This is a very attractive church and well worth visiting. In pre-covid times, it was open most days from 9-5.There is plenty of pay and display parking in the grounds.

 

[Eleanor]

St John's Methodist Church

The tall steeple of St John’s Methodist Church dominates Mostyn Street. It was built in 1866 when Llandudno was rapidly developing as a tourist resort. It was the first Methodist church to be built in the area.

The nave was originally built with a hammer beam roof but this was replaced by the present ‘flat roof’ after ten years as the Minister couldn’t cope with the echoes.

The church had a major restoration in the 1980s after the adjacent car park was sold off. The town council were planning to pedestrianise Mostyn Street and had warned the church they would no longer have access to the car park for weddings and funerals unless they gave three months notice. Mostyn Street was never pedestrianised but the money was well spent, although the church no lomger has any parking.

The walls were repointed and plastered. The old dark varnished pews were sold and replaced by the modern light wood pews. The east window which had been blocked off since the 1950s because of damp was replaced with three new stained glass windows. The organ is in the chancel which has an attractive pale blue ceiling.

New windows were put in the transepts. That in the north transept depicts John Wesley, the Father of Methodism, preaching.

That in the south transept shows Jesus with the fishermen.

This is a very attractive church with a modern feel. It is open for the six week summer holiday and on Friday mornings when there is a coffee morning in the church hall. This serves very good homemade cakes.

They also have a Thursday lunch club but places do have to be booked. There are also male voice choir concerts during the summer months

 

[Eleanor]

Catholic Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea

Christianity has always been strong in Wales and many place names are derived from local saints. After the Reformation the law was rigorously enforced and Catholicism was strongly forbidden. Previously Catholic families wanted to show their loyalty the the crown and safeguard their estates by adopting the Protestant religion.

In 1867, Father James Jenkins was sent to Llandudno to set up a mission for the few surviving Catholics in the area. Services were held in the former Turkish Baths which had been adapted to serve as a residence for a Priest and a chapel. There were only about 20 practicing Catholics and these were chiefly servants in lodging houses around the town.

With the rapid growth of Llandudno as a tourist resort, the numbers of Catholics also increased. A plot of land was bought on Lloyd Street and funds raised to build a new church capable of holding 500 worshippers. Building began and the church was dedicated to Our Lady, Star of the Sea in 1893.

It is a simple Gothic building with lower side aisles. Original plans included a tower, but this was never built. The lovely white statue of Our Lady above the door was added a few years later.

Originally the new church was only used during the summer months with the congregation continuing to use the original chapel during the winter.

The interior is very attractive with arcades of polished marble pillars and pointed arches.

The chancel and clerestory windows are painted a beautiful sea blue. The high altar has a wonderful gleaming white reredos behind it. In front is a modern mass altar.

At the ends of the side aisles are altars dedicated to Our Lady and St Joseph.

The church is a short walk from the town centre and is not signed. I was told about it by the welcomers in St John’s Methodist Church who explained the church would open as there was a midday mass. People were beginning to arrive for mass, so I was very careful where I went and what I was photographing.

There is little information about the church on the internet but it is definitely worth finding.

 

[Eleanor]

Llandudno Sightseeing Bus and the Marine Drive

The massive limestone bulk of the Great Orme towers above the town - you can't miss it! The four mile Marine Drive was constructed round the base of the Great Orme between 1872-9 by wealthy land owners, the Mostyn family, following what was originally a footpath. The road is still a privately owned toll road with splendid stone gateways at either end. The road is narrow and the first three and a half miles are one way traffic only, with vehicles only travelling anticlockwise along it. There is access to the summit complex from the toll road, although there is also free access from the town along Old Road or Ty Gwyn road. (The toll ticket includes free parking at the summit).

Access is past the pier on the North Shore and it is a wonderful drive cut out of the hillside above the sea, with spectacular views to Anglesey and Snowdonia.

St Tudno’s Church, the original church which gave its name to the town, is high on the hillside above the Marine Drive and reached up a steep side road which also gives access to the Copper Mines and Summit Complex. It is surrounded by a very large graveyard. Most of the church is C15th although parts of the walls date back to the C12th. It is still used for services, particularly outdoor services in the summer months. Unfortunately, it isn't the easiest of places to photogrpah from a moving bus!

Continuing past the church leads to the Bronze Age Copper mines and the summit complex. On the way down, it returns by the more direct Old Road, following the line of the Victorian Tramway

A vintage bus has three services a day around the Marine Drive, with a trip taking about an hour.

I chose the modern sight seeing tour instead. There are two routes. The longer red route includes Conwy. I chose the shorter blue route which covers part of the Marine Drive, before heading up past St Tudno’s Church. . It is a half hourly service which drops visitors off at the Bronze Age mines complex.

I was wanting to visit the mines. I had originally planned on catching the hourly service bus to the mine complex but missed it. The sightseeing bus was more expensive, but was definitely worth it as the section along the Marine Drive was superb, even if it was a dull and drear day! The ticket also gave me reduced entry to the mines. A win win situation.