52°54′48″N 4°19′20″W / 52.9133°N 4.3221°W / 52.9133; -4.3221 Lôn Goed (Welsh for 'Tree Lane'), also known as Y Lôn Goed, is a rural lane in Eifionydd, Gwynedd, Wales. The lane is lined with trees, mainly oak and beech.[1][2] It was celebrated by the poet R. Williams Parry (1884–1956) in his Welsh-language poem Eifionydd.

Lôn Goed starts in the hamlet of Afon Wen, on the A497 main road about half a mile to the south of Chwilog and halfway between Criccieth and Pwllheli. Afon Wen lies on a river of the same name, near where it reaches the sea. The lane runs for about five miles (8 km), at first north-east then in a northerly direction, from Afon Wen to Hendre Cennin on the slopes of Mynydd Cennin.[3][1] The lane is used as a footpath, other than a short section that follows a minor road.

Y Lôn Goed information signpost

History

The lane is also referred to locally as Lôn Môn, a corruption of the name Maughan,[4] named after John Maughan, steward of Plas Hen (now Talhenbont) near Llanystumdwy, who helped rebuild the path with trees to help the water drainage system between 1819 and 1828.[2][1]

The lane was developed for the carriage of lime, coal and peat to the farms of the Talhenbont estate, from materials landed from ships on the beach at Afon Wen.[1][5] The use of the lane for transporting goods ended in the late 1800s after the opening of the Carnarvonshire Railway in 1862 between Brynkir railway station (Bryncir) and the Afon Wen railway station. The railway allowed goods to be transported by train instead of by horse and cart.[1][6][7]

In 1977–78, a Government employment scheme run by Gwynedd County Council's countryside service managed the trees along Lôn Goed.[8]

Lôn Goed through four seasons
Winter
Spring
Summer
Autumn

National Eisteddfod 2023

In February 2014, Storm Darwin made landfall in Gwynedd, after causing a record amount of damage in Ireland. The storm felled an 200-year-old oak tree on Lôn Goed, a piece of which donated by a local farmer to make the bardic chair for the 2023 National Eisteddfod of Wales in nearby Boduan. The chair was made by the sculptor Stephen Faherty, who formed it by carving the entire piece of oak, instead of the usual method of cutting up and jointing the wood. The chair was won by the poet Alan Llwyd.[9][10][11]

Lôn Goed was the inspiration for the design of the bardic crown created by jeweller Elin Mair Roberts, which was awarded at the 2023 National Eisteddfod.[12][13][14]

Literary references

R. Williams Parry's poem Eifionydd includes the couplet:[15][16][17]

The literary editor Meic Stephens described Parry's poem as one of the most famous in the Welsh language, and as expressing the poet's love for the countryside of Eifionydd, and for Lôn Goed in particular, contrasting them with the quarrying district of the Nantlle Valley.[18] In the 1970s the Welsh Arts Council published a poster of the poem that was illustrated by a painting of a wooded lane by Sue Shields; this has since been republished.[19]

The Eifionydd writer J. G. Williams refers to Lôn Goed in his work, including in his book Pigau'r Sêr.[20]

See also

  • Lôn Eifion, a cycle route that passes near the northern end of Lôn Goed

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "The beautiful seven mile walk down a leafy lane where you can see all the colours of autumn". dailypost.co.uk. 3 November 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Garn Bentyrch". visitsnowdonia.info. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Y Lon Goed". mudandroutes.com.
  4. ↑ "Lon Goed". rhosyddbach.co.uk.
  5. ↑ "Criccieth - The Lime Kiln". People's Collection Wales. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  6. ↑ "Lon Eifion". equinerambler.org. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "Afon Wen Line". trawslinkcymru.org. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  8. ↑ David Eagar (Ynys Cybi), Gwynedd Countryside Service manager, 1975-83.
  9. ↑ "National Eisteddfod Chair awarded to one of Wales' most prominent poets". nation.cymru. 11 August 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  10. ↑ "Ireland's worst storm damage on record was in 2014". irishtimes.com. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  11. ↑ Crump, Eryl (20 February 2023). "Stephen Faherty: the man behind this year's Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales.
  12. ↑ "Crown and Chair presented to Llŷn and Eifionydd Eisteddfod Committee". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 13 July 2023.
  13. ↑ "2023 Eisteddfod crown honours historic landmark". nation.cymru. 13 February 2023.
  14. ↑ "Writer from Caernarfon wins the National Eisteddfod Crown". Nation.Cymru. 7 August 2023.
  15. ↑ Parry, R. Williams (1952). Cerddi'r Gaeaf [Winter Poems] (in Welsh) (1st ed.). Denbigh: Gwasg Gee. OCLC 563638712.
  16. ↑ "Cerddi'r Gaeaf". Y Lolfa. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Perrin, Jim (4 April 2009). "Country Diary – Lleyn Peninsula". The Guardian. London.
  18. ↑ Stephens, Meic (2016). "Poem Cards & Envelopes - Eifionydd". Graffeg.
  19. ↑ "Eifionydd - Poster Poem". Graffeg. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  20. ↑ Williams, J. G. (1970). Pigau'r Ser [Reaching for the stars]. Gwasg Gee. ISBN 0900996129.
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