Caernarfon, Castle Grand Entrance 1890

Brown Bus to Beddgelert

Castle Square in the 1930s was the terminal point for a bus service to Beddgelert run by the Brown Bus Service. Memory has it that the bus ran every two hours or so and had a garage (now a mountain-climbing gear retailers) on the right hand side of the main road entering Beddgelert.

The bus shown, a brown and cream Daimler of early 1920s vintage, was ramshackle and dilapidated by the late 1930s, a 'local lad' of the time says that he could crack walnuts in the gap which opened up between the interior panels when the bus ran over a bump in the road.

There was a 'civilised understanding' between the brown bus's owners and O R Williams's Whiteway Buses and their co-ordinated service ensured a minimum frequency of at least an hourly bus from Waunfawr and Caernarfon. Of course, there was the alternative means of travel into town by the narrow gauge railway, but that ran indirectly and involved a change of train at Dinas Junction, which made it an expensive alternative to the buses. A local banker and his wife always used the train into Caernarfon as they 'had a position in society' to maintain. Hmmm ...

Castle Square Bus Terminus

Castle Square of the 1950s and 60s had a vibrancy that is absent nowadays. This was because all of the local bus services terminated there and a constant stream of people dismounted to go about their business throughout the day. People from the hillside communities came to town to do their shopping, buy food, clothing, hardware etc. Families arriving from Liverpool on the coach would change here to local buses to Dinas Dinlle, Nantlle or Waenfawr if revisiting their relatives and places of birth.

There were buses in every colour of the rainbow. Mr Williams's Whiteway vehicles were the most noticeable, but Motorcoch (Clynnog & Trefor) in red and cream looked most dignified. (They served Pwllheli on a service of over an hour's duration.) Silver Star buses in reds and blues vied for position with Express Motors' mainly red vehicles that ran to Rhostryfan and other, maybe less exotic destinations in the hills. Dominant upon the bus 'stance' were the Green buses of Crosville Motor Services who operated more than twenty routes from the town.

In the late 50s, Saturday night in the 'square was synonymous with throngs of people who, when the cinemas and pubs emptied would all head for their buses home at essentially the same time! The Salvation Army would be in attendance by the fountain, singing and selling copied of the 'Warcry', all this adding to the general melee. There would be maybe twenty or more buses all waiting for the ten o'clock 'getaway to the hills'. The Crosville Stand Inspector (Phillips?) would 'rack up' his many vehicles ready for the 'off'. The arrival of the Liverpool coach at nine fifty five, heralded the start of many engines and the rush for their bus by many often unsteady patrons. On the stroke of ten, the ensemble of buses would all move forward, surging for their place in the grand exit. Then quite surprisingly, a silence would descend on the square, interrupted only by the rustle of discarded chip papers and other litter blowing about. There were a few more Crosville departures but other than for these, the square would fall silent until the next morning. The multicoloured surge of overloaded vehicles would all be heading  to their small upcountry destination villages, to slumber overnight in their depots - often little more than overgrown sheds. Crosville had their own large brick and concrete depot in the town itself.

Castle Square was in those days the centre of the town's activity and even today, with the relocation of the bus station some years ago, it remains a place of great interest.

Inside the Walls

This about the time my mother, Lysbeth Nielsen, was born in Caernarvon.

William Titterton's Butcher Shop

William Titterton and his son had a Butcher Shop on this street. He was a pork butcher.