Ogwen Cottage

Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Centre is situated beside Llyn Ogwen, in Gwynedd, Wales. It is owned by the National Trust, who bought the property at auction in October 2014 for £450,000. It was formerly for many years part of Birmingham City Council's Outdoor Learning Service, providing outdoor education, and with links to the climbing community.

Located on the London to Holyhead A5 road (Great Britain), Ogwen developed as a stage coach inn and the present stores building was once stabling for horses. The nearby Tin Can Alley was a source of honing stones used to sharpen tools during the construction of the A5 by Thomas Telford. This mammoth project started in 1815 and it was 1836 by the time the first mail coach crossed the Menai Straits via Telford’s bridge. Telford designed the milestones and the hexagonal toll houses every five miles. Toll houses survive in Capel Curig and Bethesda, Wales whilst in the middle stands Ogwen.

The centre is informally referred to as “The Cott” and has been used as a base for climbers since the nineteenth century. During the 1890s climbers stayed at Ogwen or the Pen-y-Gwryd and early accounts make mention of Mrs Jones of Ogwen Cottage; “ Mrs Jones at Ogwen Cottage always most good naturedly received and fed us if we turned up, no matter at what hour.”

In 1895 Archer Thompson ascended Twll Du, climbing the ice with an unusual tool; “According to tradition Thor was armed with a hammer for his battle with the Frost Giants, and with such a weapon, we too, were luckily provided in the form of a hatchet, surreptitiously removed from Mrs Jones’ coal cellar at Ogwen.”

The 1894 Climbers’ Club Journal contained an advert for The Cott citing it as “the chief centre for climbers visiting Snowdonia….the cottage is on the high road and conveyances meet visitors at Bethesda Station if so desired.”

Geoffrey Winthrop Young, a noted alpinist with many first ascents to his credit, stayed at Ogwen between visits to the Alps in the early 1900s.

...
Wikipedia