Ffestiniog is a small but increasing village, standing on eminence at the head of the beautiful vale of Maentwrog. The population amounts to 1648, principally employed in the slate quarries, about four miles from the village. The church is built in the ancient style of English architecture, and dedicated to St. Michael. A gallery has recently been erected at the west end, containing seventy-two free sittings. There are also several dissenting places of worship, with Sunday schools attached. A national school for the parishes of Ffestiniog and Maentwrog, was opened in 1830, in a neat building erected a short distance from the village on the Maentwrog road. Mrs. Oakeley, of Tan-y-Bwlch, has lately built and endowed a chapel of ease near the quarries. It is intended for the convenience of the inhabitants of the houses that have been built in the vicinity of the quarries, which are upwards of four miles distant from the parish church.
There are two good inns, the Pengwern Arms, and the Newborough Arms; at the former, cars and post horses may be obtained; there is likewise attached to it a very comfortable boarding-house, kept by Miss Owen. There is a branch of the North and South Wales bank here. The roads in this neighbourhood have, of late, been much improved. A rail road it now completed for the conveyance of slates to Port Madoc, a distance of about fourteen miles.
The scenery of Ffestiniog closely resembles that of St. Helena, and particularly Sandy Hook Cove. The vale which gives celebrity to this village has been eulogized by many distinguished travellers. Mr. Pennant calls it the “Tempê of the country.” Mr. Warner observes, “that it comprehends every object that can enrich or diversify a landscape.” Mr. Wyndham affirms, that “it affords as rich studies for the painter, as the neighbourhood of Tivoli or Frascati.” And Lord Lyttelton, who visited the place about the year 1756, is still more lavish in his encomiums. More recent travellers have been equally enthusiastic in their admiration of this pleasant locality.—About half a mile from Ffestiniog are the
Falls of the Cynvael.
One of these is about three hundred yards above, and the other three hundred yards below a rustic stone bridge, three quarters of a mile distant. The upper fall consists of three steep rocks, over which the water foams into a deep black basin, overshadowed by the adjoining rocks. The other is formed by a broad sheet of water, precipitated down a slightly shelving rock, about 40 feet high. After the water has reached the bottom of the deep concavity, it rushes along a narrow rocky chasm, where rolling amid the shaggy rocks, it glistens among the scattered fragments, and falling from slope to slope, gains a smoother bed, and steals among the mazes of the vale. In the pools below these falls, there is excellent fishing, the trout and salmon being very numerous. Between the lower cataract and the bridge is a tall columnar rock, which stands in the bed of the river, called Pulpit Hugh Llwyd Cynvael (or Hugh Lloyd’s Pulpit.)
There are few vales which afford such delightful prospects. Many of the high mountains bounding its sides, are shaded by oaks, and the serpentine Dwyryd steals placidly along the bottom through rich cultivated fields. This river, at the bottom of the valley, receives the tide, and expands into a wide lake-like channel, called Traeth Bychan, where it flows through the sandy estuary of Traeth Bach, and into Cardigan bay, the sea at a distance closing the view.
The village of Maentwrog is delightfully situated near the middle of the vale.—About four miles distant, among the hills, is
Cwm-orddin Lake.
This and several other lakes are notable for the excellent sport they afford for angling. Of these, a gentleman who is fond of this diversion, and who has visited those parts, has kindly furnished us with the following information:—“The fish in Cwm-orddin Lake (says he) rise more eagerly to flies than any I ever saw. The fish are rather small, and not good for the table. The two best stations for angling, are, first, where the boat is kept; second, the head of the lake. Throw among the weeds, fearlessly, as they always come away with a pull.