Pen-y-Gwryd

Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel in 2005

Pen-y-Gwrydis apassat the head ofNantygwrydandNant Cynnydrivers close to the foot ofSnowdoninGwynedd,Wales. The area is located at the junction of theA4086fromCapel CurigtoLlanberisandCaernarfonand theA498fromBeddgelertandNant Gwynantabout a mile from the head of theLlanberis Pass.It is close to the boundary withConwy county boroughin northernSnowdonia.The famous mountaineering hostelry,Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel,is located in the pass. It is also a mountain rescue post with links to the other rescue posts atOgwen CottageandPlas y Brenin.

The Old Miners' Track from the Snowdon copper mines are now part of the modernA4086 roadbetween Pen-y-Gwryd andPen-y-Pass.It continues northwards beyond Pen-y-Gwryd skirtingGlyder Fachto Bwlch Tryfan andDyffryn Ogwen.From Pen-y-Pass is the "PYG track", one of the many routes leading to the summit of Snowdon, its name is believed be derived from the initials ( "P-y-G" ). However, older maps show it as the "Pig track", a name derived fromBwlch y Moch(the Pigs' Gap).

Roman camp

Surveying of the site prior to excavation of the Roman Camp in 1960

DuringRoman Britain,theRoman Armybuilt a marching camp at the head ofDyffryn Mymbyrat the strategic intersection of three major routes through the Snowdonian mountains. This type of fortifiedcantonmentwas the kind built each evening by Roman legionaries when out in the field or on campaign. The camp, which has a rhomboid shape, covers about 4 ha (9.9 acres) providing accommodation for up to 2000 soldiers and their baggage trains.Its defences included a ditch approximately 5 ft (1.5 m) wide and 2 ft (0.61 m) deep below the turf-line and anearthworkrampart 8 ft (2.4 m) to 9 ft (2.7 m) wide. The northern rampart runs through the current location of the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel.

The camp was probably first built during the Roman GeneralGnaeus Julius Agricola's conquest of theOrdovicesin the late AD 70's. As it is unusual for temporary camps to survive, its existence suggests it was periodically reoccupied. Although the camp had no permanent garrison or buildings, it may have been a waypoint for Roman units travelling betweenDeva Victrix(Chester) andSegontium(Caernarfon). The site was first occupied prior to the construction ofCaer Llugwy,ac. 90CERoman auxiliary fort about 5.5 mi (8.9 km) to the east in theAfon Llugwyvalley.

The site is difficult to observe due to erosion and local land usage as nothing remains except grass and bramble-covered mounds. It was first excavated in 1960 by early surveying courses fromPlas-y-Breninunder the auspices of DrJosephine Flood(née Scarr).

Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel

The Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel was originally a farmhouse dating from 1811. It was converted to wayside inn by a John Roberts fromLlanberis,who eventually sold the Inn in 1840 beforeemigrating to America.A Mrs Hughes, who was the widow of the first landlord (a Joseph Griffith) of the Capel Curig Inn (which became The Royal Hotel, nowPlas-y-Brenin), and later the widow of Reverend Robert Hughes ofCapel Curig,took over the Inn in 1843.

In 1847 Henry Owen acquired the Inn.He was born inBeddgelert,Caernarvonshire on 2 April 1822, the son of a farmer, Owen Owen. He married Ann Pritchard from the parish of Llanbeblig near Caernarvon. Initially Henry combined his hostelry work with a position of Agent at the nearby Snowdonian copper mine and later with farming. But by 1858, the inn business was sufficiently successful to allow him to purchase the freehold.

During the Owens' tenure running the inn, it became renowned for its status for comfort and hospitality.The original building was considerably extended transforming it from a farmhouse Inn to a well-known and popular hotel. Ann's excellent cookery was apparently to play no small part in the hotel's success. Eventually it became an integral part of the blossoming mountaineering industry that was developing in North Wales.In May 1898The Climbers Cluboriginated at Pen-y-Gwryd, as it is recorded in its first journal "....its natural birth at Pen-y-Gwryd" and "...its congenial atmosphere...... (The Climbers Club) first struck its roots ". TheClimbers Clubis now based atHelygon the A5 betweenCapel CurigandOgwen Cottage.

In 1870 theSociety of Welsh Rabbits(c.1865) was founded with the objective of exploring Snowdonia in winter (and as close to Christmas as possible). Ann Owen said in 1895 that the society had written an article "praising Pen-y-Gwryd as an excellent resort at Christmas". She noted "....we rarely, if ever, had a guest at Christmas and since then we have hardly been without guests during the period". Henry continued to run the hotel until his death in 1891. Ann then took over the management until her death in 1896.

After the owner ofThe Royal Hotel,Capel Curigtook over, the business saw an indifferent ten years. However, this changed when William Hampton, along with Arthur and Florence Lockwood, took ownership. The hotel and its mountaineering traditions soon picked up again and the building was redeveloped. In the 1920s they created Llyn Lockwood – the small trout lake opposite the hotel. During the Second World War the hotel was taken over by Lake House School fromBexhill-on-Sea.

The subsequent owners have improved the hotel and enhanced its mountaineering links by becoming a Mountain rescue post (the plaque is still attached to the main entrance), whilst maintaining the hotel's history. Guest bedrooms are named after each of Snowdonia's 13 peaks over 3,000 ft (910 m).

In 2016, the book,The Pen y Gwryd Hotel: Tales from the Smoke Roomwas published by Gomer Press. (With photography by Nicola Maysmor.) The work features a notable introduction by Jan Morris as well as contributions by: (amongst others) Chris Bonnnington, Peter Hillary, Rebecca Stephens, Jim, Perrin, Joe Brown, Anna Lawford, Ed Webster, Caradoc 'Crag' Jones, Doug Scott, John Disley, H.P.S Ahluwalia, Norbu Tenzing Norgay, Margaret Clennett, Hugh Brasher and Julian Freeman-Attwood as well as William 'Bill' Roache of Coronation Street fame.

Himalayan connections

The hotel's most notable mountaineering link is to the first successfulEverest expedition in 1953and the first successfulKangchenjunga expedition in 1955,when training and testing of oxygen equipment for those expeditions took place at Helyg, near Capel Curig. On the right, at the hotel entrance, there is a Tyrolean-style Stüberl (dining room) with the signatures, written on the ceiling, of the teams that did the first ascent of Everest in 1953 and of the first ascent of Kangchenjunga in 1955 – these include SirEdmund Hillary,Tenzing Norgay,SirJohn Hunt,Charles Evans,George Band,Joe Brown,John Angelo Jackson,Wilfred Noyce,Tony Streather,Tom Mackinnon,Norman Hardie,Neil Mather, John Clegg and others, includingNoel OdellfromMallory's 1924 expeditionandChris Boningtonof later successes. There are many photographs and exhibits provided by the original team members in the main bar and guest lounge. In the past each year, now every five years, Pen-y-Gwryd hosts theEverestandKangchenjungareunions.

Caradog Jones,the first Welshman to conquer Everest, has stated that it was this Welsh connection with the mountain which inspired him.

Everest reunion at Pen-y-Gwryd, 1963

Kangchenjunga reunion at Pen-y-Gwryd, 1990

Other notable visitors include:Charles KingsleyandHenry Kingsley,William Ewart Gladstone(Gladstones),Augustine Birrell,Walter Parry Haskett Smith,Thomas Huxley,Lord Coleridge – past and present (at the time of writing), John Henry Cliffe who wroteNotes and Recollections of an Angler(1860),Andrew Ramsay,George Malloryin 1914, and actorJack Hawkinsduring the filming ofThe Long Armon location in Snowdonia.

References

• Snowdonia, National Park Guide Number 2, edited Edmund Vale, HMSO 1958/1960
• "A Scrapbook of Snowdonia", Vernon Hall, Arthur H. Stockwell Ltd., 1982,ISBN0-7223-1622-4
• Goodfellow, R. Copeland J. and O'Neill, P. 2018,The Pen y Gwryd Hotel: Tales from the Smoke Room,Gomer Press, Ceredigion. ISBN 9781795621499.

External links

• OS Map of location - A simpler route to the location of the site
• Map sourcesfor Pen-y-Gwryd