Aberdyfi | |
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View of Aberdyfi from Penhelig |
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Aberdyfi shown within Gwynedd | |
Population | 1,282 (2011) |
OS grid reference | SN615965 |
Community |
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Principal area | |
Ceremonial county | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | ABERDYFI / ABERDOVEY |
Postcode district | LL35 |
Dialling code | 01654 |
Police | North Wales |
Fire | North Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
EU Parliament | Wales |
UK Parliament | |
Welsh Assembly | |
Aberdyfi (English: Mouth of the River Dyfi), or Aberdovey (the Anglicised spelling) is a village and community on the north side of the estuary of the River Dyfi in Gwynedd, on the west coast of Wales.
The village was founded around the harbour and shipbuilding industry, but is now best known as a seaside resort with a high quality beach. The town centre is on the river and seafront, around the original harbour, jetty and beach but it stretches back from the coast and up the steep hillside in the midst of typical Welsh coastal scenery of steep green hills and sheep farms. Penhelig, with its own railway station, is the eastern part of the town.
Aberdyfi is a popular tourist attraction, with many returning holidaymakers, especially from the metropolitan areas of England, such as the West Midlands, which is less than 100 miles to the east. A relatively large proportion of houses in the village are now holiday homes, resulting in high house prices. The town is located within the Snowdonia National Park. In the 2011 census, 38.5% of the population of Aberdyfi ward identified themselves as Welsh (or combined).
Local tradition suggests that the Romans established a track into Aberdyfi as part of the military occupation of Wales around AD78.
The strategic location in mid-Wales was the site of several conferences between north and south Wales princes in 540, 1140, and for the Council of Aberdyfi in 1216. The hill in the centre of Aberdyfi, Pen-y-Bryn, has been claimed to be the site of fortifications in the 1150s, which were soon destroyed. The site of Aberdyfi Castle however is usually said to be at the motte earthworks further up the river near Glandyfi.