Waunfawr

Waunfawr (English: large moorland/heathland) is a large village on the outskirts of the Snowdonia National Park, Gwynedd, in North Wales, south of Llanrug. Its population is roughly 1,500

Waunfawr railway station on the Welsh Highland Railway between Caernarfon and Porthmadog adjoins the Snowdonia Park Brewpub and Inn at the southern end of the village.

The local community enterprise charity, Antur Waunfawr, among its many local initiatives, operates the Bryn Pistyll Site at Waunfawr as a popular attraction for local people and tourists. It includes a nature park, gardens and nursery, museum, crafts and local products shop, cafe and children’s play area.

The Marconi Company built a large high-powered Long Wave Wireless Telegraph transmitting station near the village in 1914 which worked in association with its receiving station at Tywyn. The station initiated commercial transatlantic wireless service from London to New York in 1920. It replaced Marconi's transatlantic wireless service from Clifden, Ireland to Canada, after the Clifden station was destroyed in the Irish Civil War in 1922. The building is now used as a climbing centre.

There are many recreational facilities available in Waunfawr, from playing snooker to playing football on the all-weather pitch. There is also a youth club and a junior football club.

The village changed its name from "Waenfawr" to "Waunfawr" in 1994.

John Evans (explorer) (April 1770 - May 1799) was born in Waunfawr and produced an early map of the Missouri River in North America.

Another Waunfawr is a former village which now forms a northern suburb of Aberystwyth.

External links

• Antur Waunfawr website
• A Short History of the Marconi Long Wave Transmitting Station
• Chamois Mountaineering Club
• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Waunfawr and surrounding area
• Map sources for Waunfawr

Books

• Marconi and his wireless stations in Wales (Carreg Gwalch, Llanrwst 1999 ISBN 0-86381-536-7 Hari Williams)