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Belle Vue

Belle Vue maps

Historic maps of Belle Vue and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Belle Vue maps

Belle Vue photos

We have no photos of Belle Vue, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Ffestiniog| Gellilydan| Blaenau Ffestiniog| Tanygrisiau| Maentwrog| Trawsfynydd| Cwm Penmachno| Llanfrothen| Garreg| Penrhyndeudraeth| Talsarnau| Penmachno

Belle Vue area books

Displaying 1 of 2 books about Belle Vue and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Belle Vue

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Add your memory of Belle Vue or of a photo of Belle Vue.

Gwynedd memories

WW11 in Llan Ffestiniog

Towards the end of WW11 my mother took me to visit family in Llan Ffestiniog. I was vey young. I recall clearly looking out of the parlour window and seeing a communal water pump in the street and with dozens if not hundreds of soldiers passing through - apparently en route to their camp at Trawsfynydd.
Where was the pump ? Can anyone help? I think it may have been near the wide Y junction in Ffestiniog but I just don't know. Help!

An English Boy Going to School in A Welsh Village

My mother brought me aged four and my brother aged one to a farm on the outskirts of Gellilydan in 1940 to escape the bombing in Coventry. I can remember my mother taking me to the village school to see if they would let me attend lessons. I was allowed to go even though I was only four years old. I did not speak any Welsh and the children there all spoke Welsh (and as far as I could tell no English). However, the lady teacher was very kind and did her best to settle me into the class, though I can remember being rather lonely at playtime, when I was left to play on my own. Because the farm I stayed at was a little way out of the village, my mother found it difficult to take me to school, especially as she had to leave my one year old brother at the farm. Eventually it was arranged that I went to school in the van which visited... Read more

1927 my Grandmother Was Born

On July 31st 1927, my grandmother Mary Alice McGroarty was born at Brynderw Bungalow, Gellilydan. xx

A Wonderful Memory From A Carnival Queen

We moved to Gellilydan so that my dad could work on the power station. We lived in a caravan, Mum, Dad, my 2 brothers, Roy, Daniel and me, Angela Maalma. We had a wonderful time living there, playing in the woods and attending the local primary school. Mr Jones was the head master and was lovely. I remember the outside toilets and when it was very cold they would freeze over, and we would have to take buckets of water to flush. I remember one day one of the girls was playing and swinging the bucket of water when it slipped out of her hand and soaked me, fun times! We learned to speak Welsh, but I've forgotten it now. I was voted Carnival Queen and it was probably the most exciting time of my life. I loved living there. Angela Gibbs (nee Maalma)

In my Heart This is Where my Roots Are.

I was born in Meantwrog on 1 July 1942 at 2 Fron Goch. My father was Cadwalader Jones Owens and my mother was Mary Bridget. Dad was born, I believe, at Tyn Fedw (it has now changed its name but I cannot remember what to) which was just up from Cae Glas farm in Gellilydan. My gran was Kate Owens, I never met Granddad, he died when Dad was quite young. My father worked in the gardens at Plas Maentwrog until a chance encounter with a visiting family on a fishing trip from Derby, who offered him a job as gardener in the little village of Quarndon complete with tied cottage. (Something not to be overlooked in those days.) We moved on 5 May 1946, when my brother David was only a baby. Every year without fail we all went on holiday to stay with my gran at Tyn Fedw. Almost every we day we would go fishing, either in local streams or, if we could afford it, we would spend... Read more

Growing up in Blaenau Ffestiniog. 1961

High Street 1961
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I was brought up in Blaenau Ffestiniog and lived there until 1971. The High Street photograph brings it all back. The shop on the extreme left of the photo was my mum's hairdressing shop and we lived in the flat above. My dad was the Superintendant Registrar and he used to marry people, usually on Saturday mornings. I well remember the lobby to his office always had bits of confetti. His office was called Caerblaidd Offices and they were a bit further left again to this photo. Every morning at about 7am the miners would congregate in the middle of the High Street to the left of this photo and the buses would take them to their various quarries around the town. In June every year the fun fair would come into town, and it was always when you had to revise for the summer school examinations. They would set up camp just behind the square to the extreme left of this photo. It was a busy town in its heyday and... Read more

Bronddwyryd

Manod From West 1901
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Not exactly my memory (only 44yrs old).  But in the research of my family tree, I have been interested in locating old pictures of Bronddwyryd.  The small row of houses were built in 1880, and my great grandfather Richard Evans (1846-1912) was the first to rent the property.  His son, my grandfather Evan Evans (1880-1954) lived there with his wife Annie Mary Evans (nee Hughes) (1884-1946) with his mother Margaret Evans (nee Jones) (1848-1929).  
Evan Evans then bought the property in about 1923 for the grand sum of 900 pounds.  When he died in 1954, he left the house in his will to his eldest daughter, Annie Blodwen Casson (nee Evans) (1920-1996), she died in Canada where she lived.
During the 1950s the house was rented out, and in 1963, when Anne's younger brother left the army, he took residence with his family. On the 28 Sept 1981, Anne bequeathed the property to her brother William Hughes Evans (1927-   ) and his wife Jean Evans (nee Evans) (1938-   ),... Read more

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