Local Area

 

 

Dolgellau is a market town in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the Mawddach. It was the county town of Merionethshire (Welsh: Meirionnydd).

 

The name of the town is of uncertain origin, although dol is Welsh for "meadow", and gelli is common locally in names for farms in sheltered nooks, and this seems the most likely derivation. There is also a word celli (pl. cellïau), which means "grove" or "spinney", while cell means "cell", and it has been suggested that the name translates as "Meadow of Groves" or "Meadow of [monks'] cells", but this seems less likely considering the history of the name.

 

The area upon which Dolgellau stands was, in the pre-Roman period, part of the tribal lands of the Ordovices, who were conquered by the Romans in AD 77/78. Although a few Roman coins from the reigns of Emperors Hadrian and Trajan have been found near Dolgellau, the area is marshy and there is no evidence that it was settled during the Roman period. There are, however, three hill forts in the vicinity of Dolgellau, of uncertain origin.

 

After the Romans left, the area came under the control of a series of Welsh chieftains, although Dolgellau was probably not inhabited until the late-11th or 12th century, when it was established as a "serf village" (or maerdref), possibly by Cadwgan ap Bleddyn - it remained a serf village until the reign of Henry Tudor (1485-1509).

 

The Mawddach Estuary	Snowdonia