Tonfanau
| Tonfanau | |
|---|---|
 The Station Master's old house andTonfanau quarry | |
  Tonfanau Location withinGwynedd | |
| OS grid reference | SH 56154 03798 |
| Community | |
| Principal area | |
| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | TYWYN |
| Postcode district | LL36 |
| Dialling code | 01654 |
| Police | North Wales |
| Fire | North Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Tonfanauis a coastal village in thecommunityofLlangelynnin,inGwynedd(formerlyMerionethshire), Wales. It is 2.4 miles (3.9 km) north ofTywyn.The village is served byTonfanau railway station.
During theSecond World Waran army base was created near the village. Around 600 men were stationed at the camp, which specialised in training personnel in anti-aircraft artillery.
Until 1992,a granite quarryexisted to the north of the village.
All Arms Junior Leaders' Regiment
[edit]From May 1959 until August 1966 the camp was the home of theAll Arms Junior Leaders' Regiment(A.A.J.L.R.).[1]
PYTHON site
[edit]From 1968 the camp was one of the designated sites for planPYTHON,the plan forcontinuity of governmentin the event of nuclear war. It was only the temporary PYTHON site for Wales andAberystwyth Universitybecame the designated site soon after.
Refugee Camp
[edit]![[icon]](/translate/en.wikipedia.org?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3AWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg&t=vi){kind=small} | This sectionneeds expansion.You can help byadding to it.(January 2020) |
In 1972, six years after closing in 1966, the base was reopened and used as arefugeecentre. Over 3,000Ugandan Asians,fleeing from persecution byIdi Amin,were housed there for six months before being settled elsewhere.[2][3]
Motor Racing
[edit] | This sectionneeds expansion.You can help byadding to it.(January 2020) |
There is a one mile longracing circuitnamed after the village which has been used 4 times per year formotorbikeracing since 1993
Racing is now organised by TRAC (Tonfanau Racing Association ClubTonfanau Road Racing) which took over when the existing team from Crewe and South Cheshire Motorcycle Club retired
Rallying was held once in 1990 but it has been exclusively motorcycles since
.[4]
Transport
[edit]Tonfanau Railway Station is located on the Transport For WalesCambrian Line.It has close connections toBirmingham (New St),Shrewsbury,Llandudno,andAberystwyth.The next station south isTywyn,and the next station north isLlwyngwril.
Granite Quarry
[edit] | This sectionneeds expansion.You can help byadding to it.(January 2020) |
In 1892, a group of local miners opened agranitequarryto the north of the village. Among them wasWilliam Williams Jones,who was adraperfromTywynand attempted to open many quarries in the district – among them wereDolgoch quarry,Melinllynpair quarry,andNantcynog quarry(which were all unsuccessful[5]– Tonfanau quarry was his only enduring mining venture).[6]
During theFirst World War,several Germanprisoners of war(who were being housed inTywynworked at the quarry between June 1918 and November 1919 (after which they were transferred toFrongoch internment campnearBala); one of them experienced a fatal accident – they died from the injuries in Machynlleth Cottage Hospital.[7]
The quarry closed in 1998, 106 years after opening.[6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^The Tonfanau Camp
- ^Brief mention of the centre on the BBC website
- ^"40th Anniversary for Ugandan Asian refugees in Wales".itv. 1 August 2012.Retrieved14 October2012.
- ^Circuit website
- ^"TOWYN – Obituary".The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard.John Askew Roberts, Edward Woodall & Richard Henry Venables. 18 September 1903.hdl:10107/3320029.Retrieved22 December2020– viaWelsh Newspapers Online.
- ^abCastellan, Eddie (December 2018). "Slates in the Shadows: The Talyllyn's lost quarries".Talyllyn News(The quarterly newsletter of theTalyllyn Railway Preservation Society). No. 260. pp. 39–42.
- ^"TOWYN – German Prisoners".The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard.John Askew Roberts, Edward Woodall & Richard Henry Venables. 7 November 1919.hdl:10107/3414942.Retrieved22 December2020– viaWelsh Newspapers Online.
External links
[edit]- Tonfanau quarry's entryon theNational Monuments Record of Wales(NMRW)'swebsite
- The tramway to Tonfanau quarry,on the NMRW's website
- The engine shed and worksfor the Tonfanau quarry tramway, on the NMRW's website
- Tonfanau army camp,on the NMRW's website
- Tonfanau farm,on the NMRW's website