Story

THE STORY OF GWYNUS SINCE 1719

There are still visible remains of a settlement dating back to the bronze age, some three and a half thousand years ago at Gwynus. You can clearly see what was a circle of round huts, barely one hundred meters from parts of the caravan park. The present farm house dates back to the middle of the 1600s, it is certain that the house itself, together with hundreds if not thousands of acres of land was in the possession of the Lloyd’s family, during that period. More than likely that family acquired the estate following the killing of the last Welsh king, during the war that had been waged against the English for several centuries. As a matter of interest the surname Lloyd is a bastardisation of the Welsh Ap Lwyd; which the English changed together with several other Welsh surnames, since they had difficulty pronouncing the Welsh dialect Ll and Ch etc; hence their replacing of the natural surname Fychan into Vaughn and Rhys into Reese.

To look forward a few centuries, my father and mother became tenants of Gwynus, with some four hundred and forty acres in 1936. Just after a world wide depression, the land at Gwynus had deteriorated, with brambles, gorse, bracken and docs etc. Having encroached into most of the fields, the house itself was in dire straits. Windows boarded up, plaster falling off the walls, slates falling off the roof etc. In a way I was lucky to be the youngest of four sons and did not have to endure the hardship of toiling in the fields like my elder brothers. Getting the farm back into shape took the most part of fifteen years, which was a gruelling and back braking test of endurance for my family. During this period we had no electricity and had to construct a water pipe line over half a mile in length. Since I was barely four years old when we arrived at Gwynus, I got away without having to perform the most menial of tasks. However I was to milk by hand a dozen or so Welsh black cows who’s milk was used for churning into butter, which my mother sold at local shops. It was during the second world war that farming re-emerged from the depressing years, the need for home grown food became a vital necessity particularly because a great many merchant vessels carrying grain were sunk by German men, I must have been 11 or 12 years old when my Mam decided to take in visitors tourists to stay in parts of the farm house. That was when I first became aware of the strange people who coudln’t speak or understand a word of Welsh! I was told they were from England. At the time of course being almost a monoglot Welsh speaker, these strange folk could have well been from Vladestock or Warsaw instead of the Wirral or Warrington. During this time by some miracle I managed to pass my elevenses and entered Pwllheli Grammar School, where at the time the English language was normal for the teaching of subjects - apart from a couple of Welsh lessons a week. By today of course Welsh is the first language for all subjects here in Gwynedd.

My mam had three sisters and one brother, one of her sisters had moved with her husband to find work in England, they lived in Middlewich in Chesire. One summers day she mentioned to my mam they wanted to buy a small touring caravan and could she place it on a piece of land at Gwynus. Mam said “ok, you can stick it in the corner of our long garden”. So I guess it is through that little incident that we have a caravan park at Gwynus. Over the years at it has grown in size and now has some 55 touring pitches and 10 static pitches, although the latter have gained on an upgrade to modern lodges with a 12 month vacancy class. To think that my mother had the foresight to start a caravan site via her sisters query over 70 years ago is quite amazing because when she passed away 29 years ago she had just 6 static caravans, I believe she would be pleased to see what has evolved in recent years: we owe her a great deal!