Place:Nefyn, Caernarvonshire, Wales

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Nefyn (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈneːvɨn]) is a small town and community (or parish) on the northwest coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, since 1974 in Gwynedd, Wales. Previously it was in Caernarvonshire. It had a population of 2,602 in the 2011 UK census. Welsh is the first language of almost 73% of its inhabitants. The A497 road terminates in the town centre. The community includes the settlement of Morfa Nefyn and Edern, a former parish which it absorbed in 1939.

The sea was always an important part of the economy of Nefyn; and fishing, particularly for herring, became the prime trade for most of the 18th and 19th centuries: so much so that the town's coat of arms bears three herrings. The area nurtured many ship's captains in the age of sail, and shipbuilding was also an important local industry. About 3 miles to the southwest is Madryn Castle, home of Sir Love Jones-Parry, one of the founders of the settlement of Puerto Madryn in Argentina.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Nefyn.

Research Tips

• A 1900 Ordnance Survey map of the historic county of Caernarvonshire is available on the A Vision of Britain through Time website. This shows all the old parishes of the Llyn Peninsula.