Llanfairfechan

Llanfairfechan
A view over Llanfairfechan
Population	3,637 (2011)
OS grid reference	SH683747
Community	Llanfairfechan
Principal area	Conwy
Preserved county	Clwyd
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LLANFAIRFECHAN
Postcode district	LL33
Dialling code	01248
Police	North Wales
Fire	North Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
UK Parliament	Aberconwy
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament	Aberconwy

Llanfairfechan ("Little St Mary's Parish") is a town and community in the Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is known as a seaside resort and had a population at the 2001 Census of 3,755, reducing to 3,637 at the 2011 Census. The history of the area dates back to at least Roman times, as demonstrated by the discovery of a large second century milestone, that is now preserved in the British Museum.

Political boundary

It was in Gwynedd from 1972 to 1996, and prior to that was in Caernarfonshire. For ceremonial and electoral boundary purposes it was transferred from the preserved county of Gwynedd to that of Clwyd in 2003. For electoral purposes, the community of Llanfairfechan consists of three electoral wards, Bryn, Lafan and Pandy.

Transport connections

The town lies on the north coast on the route of the A55 road, between Penmaenmawr and Bangor. It has a railway station on the North Wales Coast Line.

Local interest and trivia

Morfa Madryn, the salt marsh area immediately west of the town on the shore of Traeth Lafan, is a local authority-managed nature reserve of outstanding beauty and a favourite haunt of bird watchers. The site is home to cormorants and shags. The rare little egret can also be spotted. It is also not far from Aber Falls.

Llanfairfechan is also home to Bryn y Neuadd, a learning disability hospital, a mental health unit (Carreg Fawr) and a medium-secure unit (Tŷ Llywelyn). The site, Bryn Y Neuadd, is also home to the control centres for both the Emergency and Non-Emergency Ambulance services for the north.

Llanfairfechan was judged North Wales Calor Village of the Year for 2009 in the competition run by Calor Gas UK

The earlier Llanfairfechan Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1909. This club continued until the early 1950s.

The town is also referred to as 'The Double LA' or the 'TDLA' for short.

Welsh language

According to the 2001 Census, 50.4% of the population of the town can speak the Welsh language. This is far above the national average of 20.8%. The age group with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers is the 10–14 year olds, where 70% can speak the language fluently, with more having some knowledge of the language. Llanfairfechan has two schools, in both of which the language of instruction is English.

Town twinning

Over the weekend of 2–4 June 2011, the process of town twinning between Llanfairfechan and Pleumeleuc was completed. A number of events were held over the weekend, including trips to local attractions and guided tours around Llanfairfechan itself.

Twenty-five Llanfairfechan youngsters visited Pleumeleuc in Brittany between the 7–9 April 2012, following the visit to Llanfairfechan of Les Pleumeleucoises in 2011. The party of 13- to 17-year-olds represented the town's young football teams, with their coaches and other adults making a party of 49 in total, they were welcomed on 7 April 2012 by Pleumeleuc families.

• 
  Colourised Photochrom print (circa the late 19th century) of seafront and Penmaenmawr mountain
• 
  A similar view in 1989 during more overcast weather
• 
  The town in 2007
• 
  The beach

External links

• A Vision of Britain Through Time
• British Listed Buildings
• Genuki
• Geograph
• Llanfairfechan Town Council website
• Llanfairfechan's Community Web Portal
• Office for National Statistics