The town is celebrated for a manufacture of coarse woollen cloths and flannels, called webs. The old town-hall is used for various purposes; English church service is performed there every other Sunday; it is also used as a national school, and children are there taught to sing the church psalms. It is likewise known as the theatre.
Those fond of fine scenery should ascend the mountain from the north side of the vale, to obtain the best view of the town, as it lies sheltered at the foot of the majestic Cader Idris, which rears its lofty shoulders in the clouds.
Clustering woods adorn the opposite range of mountains, as they slope in irregular masses westward to the ocean. The river beautifully meandering through the green meadows, the solemn quietude that prevails around, disturbed only by the sound of the church clock, marking the progress of the fleeting hours with lengthened tone, which, like the music of another world, sweeps through the enchanting vale, combine to render this a place where those not wedded to routs, masquerades, gambling, and licentiousness, might wish to live and die.
Dolgelley contains several good inns, of which the most frequented are the Golden Lion, the Angel, and the Ship. Comfortable lodgings may likewise be obtained, at a cheap rate, by those who desire to remain in the neighbourhood for the purpose of making excursions to the Falls, Kymmer Abbey, and Nannau Park, the fishing stations, Dol y Gamedd on the Aran, Llyn-tri-Graienyn, Llyn y Gader, Llyn Geirw, Tal y Llyn, &c.
The tourist should not quit Dolgelley without visiting the Waterfalls, which, after heavy rains, are very magnificent. As I was still suffering from the severe sprain, I was accommodated by my friend, who also obliged me with his company, with a very fine horse to carry me to the falls; and, bold and sure-footed, he performed his duty nobly, in spite of crags, cliffs, hills, and hollows.
THE RHAIADR DU
is situated in the grounds belonging to Miss Madock, called Dôl Melynllyn. Here the torrent leaps from a height of sixty feet over precipitous rocks, and plunges with a violence that seems to shake the crags and trees around, into a deep pool, from which it proceeds down the dingle, over black and broken fragments, to the river Mawddach. A footpath conducts the tourist to the bottom of the falls, from which, stepping upon some loose stones in the middle of the stream, he will obtain the best view of the cataract. A walk of about three miles brings him to the falls of the Mawddach and Pistyll y Cain, returning from which, he may visit Y Vanner, or Kymmer Abbey, founded in 1198, by Meredith and Gruffydd, lords of Merioneth, dedicated to St. Mary, and inhabited by monks of the Cistercian order. It is not now, however, worthy of the tourist’s attention. But Nannau Park, the seat of Sir Robert William Vaughan, will afford much pleasure to those who visit it. The grounds are thickly wooded, and the mansion is supposed to occupy the highest ground of any residence in Britain. The approach to it is five miles in length; it stands 702 feet above the level of the sea, and the park is celebrated for its venison. Previously to the year 1814, there stood an oak in this park which bore a name terrible to the ears of the peasantry; it was called
DERWEN CEUBREN YR ELLYLL,
which translated, means, “the hollow oak, the haunt of demons.” In this oak, it is said, Owen Glyndwr immured the body of Howell Sele, the proprietor of this estate, who, while they were walking together, treacherously shot an arrow at the breast of Glyndwr, who, however, having armour beneath his doublet, fortunately received no hurt. The cause of this treachery is said to have been the indignation expressed by Owen at his kinsman’s refusal to join his cause to redress his country’s wrongs. Glyndwr forced his body into the hollow of this oak, most likely after having slain him, where, forty years after this event, a skeleton was discovered. The chieftain, after laying waste the mansion and domain of Sele, hastened to join his friends. Sir W. Scott has written a very beautiful poem upon this legend, which will be found in the fifth note to his sixth canto of Marmion, and is called the “spirit’s blasted tree.” In 1813, this monarch of the wood fell to the ground.