Place:Llanbedr, Merionethshire, Wales

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Llanbedr is a village in the Ardudwy area of Gwynedd, Wales.

The village originally grew around the slate quarrying industry. Attractions in Llanbedr include Neolithic standing stones and Bronze Age hut circles. The Morfa Dyffryn sand dunes and Mochras (Shell Island) lie nearby. It also boasts two public houses; Ty Mawr Hotel and The Victoria Inn.

A mile from the village is the hamlet of Pentre Gwynfryn whose chapel, Capel Salem, was the subject of a painting by the artist Sydney Curnow Vosper. The painting, entitled Salem, a showed member of the congregation, Siân Owen, in traditional Welsh costume and became famous throughout Britain in the mid 20th century.

Llanbedr has a (disused) airfield which, until 2004, was operated by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), and QinetiQ as a launch site for remotely piloted drone 'aircraft' for use as aerial targets by the RAF and other UK forces. Opposite the airport is one of two NACATC units (National Air Cadets Adventure Training Centres) in the UK (the other being in the village of Windermere in the English Lake District). The airfield was included in the Snowdonia Enterprise Zone by the Welsh Government in January 2013.

To the north of the village is the smaller village of Pensarn, situated on the sea estuary where the river Artro enters the Irish Sea. This is the location of Llanbedr & Pensarn Yacht Club and the Christian Mountain Centre, a residential adventure activity centre.

At the southern entrance to the village is the former RAF complex of Maes Artro which is now a Second World War heritage museum.

The village has a railway station (a little out of the village itself) served by the Cambrian Line. Llanbedr station was formerly known as Talwrn Bach Halt.

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