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Fairy Falls, Trefriw


Coordinates: 53°09′04″N 3°49′48″W / 53.151°N 3.830°W / 53.151; -3.830

The Fairy Falls (Welsh: Rhaeadr y Tylwyth Teg) is a waterfall in the village of Trefriw, north Wales. The falls are on the river Crafnant which has its source at Llyn Crafnant, being joined upstream by a tributary, the river Geirionydd. Below the falls the river Crafnant flows on to itself become a tributary of the river Conwy.

The main falls are about 25' high, the water falling down an angled rockface, and they were formed during the last Ice Age some 20,000 years ago. As the main glacier passed down the Conwy Valley, it truncated the Crafnant valley, leaving a hanging valley and this series of falls.

Not all of the water from the river Crafnant passes over the falls, as a little upstream some is diverted through a pipeline to provide hydro-electric power for the woollen mill. During drier periods this can leave the falls with little or even no water, but most of the year there is a good supply of water, as testified by the erosion of the rocks at the base of the falls.

Downstream of the main Fairy Falls are a number of further, lesser, falls, which old postcards also call the "Fairy Falls". Along this lower section of river the water once turned a number of waterwheels which powered various mills. The whole area of this series of falls - from the main falls through the lesser falls downstream - was known as "Fairy Glen", and was altogether more open than it is today. In Edwardian times there was a proper path alongside the river Crafnant, and a popular stroll was to walk from the banks of the river Crafnant, up through the well-known Fairy Glen, and on beside the river Crafnant up towards Llyn Crafnant.


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