Near the church is the well of St. Peris, formerly famed for its miraculous efficacy in the cure of diseases, and therefore a place of resort with pilgrims and devotees.
The parish of Llanberis is very large in extent, and is divided into two districts or townships, viz. Nant-ucha’, alias Nant-Peris, and Nant-isa’, alias Nant-Padarn, and comprises several of the loftiest mountains in the Principality, besides numerous natural objects worthy the research of the curious.
The village of Llanberis is romantic in the extreme. It lies in a narrow grassy glen, surrounded by immense rocks, whose cloud-capped summits are seldom visible to the inhabitants below. All the parts immediately surrounding the village were formerly covered with wood; but, except some saplings from the old roots, there are at present very few trees left. In the memory of persons lately living, there were great woods of oak in several parts of these mountains. In the tenth century the whole country must have been nearly covered with wood, for one of the laws of Howel Dda (Howel the Good) directs that “whoever cleared away timber from any land, even without the consent of the owner, he should, for five years, have a right to the land so cleared; and after that time it should again revert to the owner.”
The Pass of Llanberis presents a scene of wild grandeur and fearful sublimity, of the most impressive and majestic character.
Amidst the vast ranges of these British Alps, are two beautiful lakes. The upper one at Llanberis, called also Llyn Peris, is about a mile in length, and nearly half of one in breadth; the depth is said, in places, to be one hundred and forty yards. The other, called Llyn Padarn, is about a mile and a half long, but so narrow as to assume rather the appearance of a river than a lake. Between these, a communication is formed by a stream, and out of the lower issues the river Seiont, which, after flowing in an irregular diffused manner, discharges itself into the Menai at Caernarvon. At the foot of the lower lake is a rural and picturesque stone bridge, leading to a most perfect Roman station, called Dinas Dinorwic, partly natural and partly artificial. It is in fine preservation.
Dolbadarn,
(Or Padarn’s Meadow), so called from Padarn, a British saint of obscure note. Since the opening of the new line of road from Caernarvon to Capel Curig, Llanberis has become the principal resort of parties visiting Snowdon. In addition to the spacious and comfortable inn at Dolbadarn, a new and more commodious house, the Royal Victoria Hotel, has been erected at the expense of T. A. Smith, Esq., near Dolbadarn castle, for the accommodation of the increased number of visitors whom this truly interesting district draws together in the summer months. The hotel is in a most eligible situation, at the junction of the two lakes, and within a few hundred yards of Dolbadarn castle, about two miles from the village of Llanberis, on the road from Caernarvon. Every facility for ascending Snowdon is here provided.
The castle, standing near the junction of the two lakes of Llanberis, is the only one that remains in the narrow passes of North Wales. As it was impossible for an enemy to climb the chain of mountains, which are a guard to Caernarvonshire and Anglesea, and as there were five narrow passes, the British secured each with a castle: this was the central one. Owen Gôch was here confined upwards of twenty years, for having joined in a rebellion against his brother Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last prince of Wales. It seems to have been long in ruins, for in Leland’s time there was only part of a tower left. The key of the castle is kept at the Victoria Hotel, and may be had by tourists on application.
The view hence is remarkably splendid, embracing the lakes, which extend nearly three miles, the various interesting objects by which they are surrounded, and the immense chains of rugged mountains that bound the vale. The view from the lake is also finely picturesque.
About half a mile south of the castle, at the end of a deep glen, there is a tremendous cataract, called