Penysarn
Encyclopedia
Penysarn is a small village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 located in the north-eastern corner of Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, and on the north-eastern side of Parys Mountain
Parys Mountain
Parys Mountain – in the Welsh language Mynydd Parys – is located south of the town of Amlwch in north east Anglesey, Wales. It is the site of a large copper mine that was extensively exploited in the late 18th century.-History:...

, at approximately 140–150 feet above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

.

Name

Penysarn is sometimes written 'Pen-y-sarn', but in both cases, the 'y' is silent. The English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 translation from Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 means 'the end of the causeway'.

Amenities

The village has one public house called Y Bedol,
a camp site called Tyn Rhos Campsite, village shop and post office,
an infants and junior school called Ysgol Penysarn, and a youth club. The village is well connected by regular bus routes.

The village is also the starting point of many officially designated circular tourist walks, including industrial heritage walks such as Llwybr Cadi Rondol, which takes walkers through the old copper mines at Mynydd Parys, and Llwybr Eilian, which takes walkers through Llaneilian and the surrounding countryside, including some of Anglesey's coastline which has gained Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty status.

History

Penysarn grew throughout the eighteenth century, close to what was once the world's largest copper mine, located at Parys Mountain
Parys Mountain
Parys Mountain – in the Welsh language Mynydd Parys – is located south of the town of Amlwch in north east Anglesey, Wales. It is the site of a large copper mine that was extensively exploited in the late 18th century.-History:...

. The village's expansion was due both to employment opportunities at the busy mines, and from providing subsidiary services such as cloggmaking, blacksmithing and baking. The ruins of a bakery still stand in the village, and the names of several of the older houses stem from the village's industrial past; with names translating from Welsh to "blacksmith's house", "blacksmith's field", etc.

During this time, the Mountain and its locality, including Penysarn, had their own nationally recognised currency; the Parys Penny which was made from the copper mined at the mountain.

Notable residents

  • Lewis William Lewis ("Llew Llwyfo", 1831 - 1901), poet, novelist, journalist, conductor, singer and winner of several Eistoddfodau. Born in Penysarn.

  • John Eilian Jones (born 1904), Journalist, poet and broadcaster. Born in Penysarn.

External links

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