Castell Cawr

Coed y Gopa is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the preserved county of Clwyd, north Wales. Located on a prominent limestone hillside in the Vale of Clwyd in North Wales, Coed y Gopa is a popular wood managed by the Woodland Trust, with a wide variety of wildlife, coastal views, and features of historical interest.Mine adits and natural caves provide roosts for bats and the second largest lesser horseshoe bat hibernaculum in North East Wales is present at the site, hence the designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The site is also home to ospreys and goshawks.The hill fort of Castell Cawr is located within the SSSI.

Abergele Golf Club (Welsh: Clwb Golff Abergele) is a golf club located in Abergele, Conwy, Clwyd, Wales. The 18-hole course was formed in 1910 and established itself at its present location in 1968 near Gwrych Castle and is a member of the Community amateur sports club. It was redesigned between 2002 and 2003 to meet United States Golf Association standards allowing its members and visitors to play on the course all-year round. Abergele Golf Club is regarded by many golf publications to be "one of the most picturesque courses in Wales". Becky Brewerton, a member of the Ladies European Tour, has played on the course, and Abergele Golf Club has held several regional and national golf tournaments.

Gwrych Castle (Welsh: Castell Gwrych pronounced [ˌkastɛɬ ˈɡwrɨːχ]) is a Grade I listed country house near Abergele in Conwy County Borough, Wales. On an ancient site, the current building was created by Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh and his descendants over much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The castle and its 236-acre estate are now owned by a charity, the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust. The family had owned land in the area of Abergele since at least the 16th century and claimed much older descent. In the very early 19th century Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh determined to replace the existing house with a much larger building. Designs were prepared by Charles Busby and exhibited in 1815. Busby was subsequently sacked and Thomas Rickman engaged, while Bamford-Hesketh's ambitions grew from a Regency style country house into an enormous Gothic Revival castle. The foundation stone was laid in 1819. Bamford-Hesketh's heirs continued his building and at various times C. E. Elcock and Detmar Blow worked at the castle until it achieved its final, immense, extent. In the later Victorian and Edwardian eras the castle was run as a full-scale country house, receiving visits from Queen Victoria and Edward, Prince of Wales. The presiding spirit was Winifred Bamford-Hesketh, Lloyd Bamford Hesketh's granddaughter, his sole heir, and Countess of Dundonald following her wedding to Douglas Cochrane in 1878. The marriage was not a success, and the countess pursued her interests at Gwrych and in London, while the earl served in Canada and as a courtier to Edward VII and George V. On her death in 1924, the countess left the castle, of which she had retained ownership, to George V, in the hope that it would become the official Welsh residence of the Prince of Wales but the gift was declined. It was subsequently re-purchased by her husband, but the family never returned to live there. During World War II Gwrych was home to 200 Jewish children brought to Britain under the Kindertransport programme. At the war's end, the Dundonalds sold the castle. For the next forty years it operated as a tourist attraction and as a hospitality venue, but finally closed to the public in 1987. The next decades were disastrous for the structure; failed plans for development saw the castle asset-stripped of much of its fabric and furnishings, including the lead roofs, and by the 21st century it was a ruined shell. In 2018 the castle, and some 200 acres were sold to the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust. The trust had been established by the author, Mark Baker, who had witnessed the castle's destruction as a child and had determined on its rescue. Since 2018, the trust has worked to stabilise and restore the castle. In 2020-2021 the castle received publicity and funding when it was used for the filming of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

Cefn yr Ogof is the highest point of the hill to the west of Gwrych Castle near Abergele and Llanddulas. Ownership of the hillside is divided into three categories; an area managed by Welsh National Resources on behalf of the National Assembly of Wales, private ownership including the land immediately around Gwrych Castle and the western slopes which are predominantly common land and therefore open access. It is 204 m (669 ft) high, with views towards the Clwydian Hills, Denbigh Moors, (Mynydd Hiraethog) Snowdonia, the Great Orme, Anglesey and the Dulas valley. The name refers to the caves located on the hill. It has recently been promoted to HuMP status, having a prominence of over 100 metres. Large parts of Cefn yr Ogof are designated an SSSI.

Rhyd-y-foel is a small village near the coast of north Wales in the area of Rhos in the County Borough of Conwy, Wales. It is named after the old ford (Welsh: rhyd) over the River Dulas. It lies at the foot of the western slopes of Pen y Corddyn Mawr, an Iron Age hillfort on the River Dulas, about a mile south of the village of Llanddulas. It is a rural area, with Abergele to the east and Betws yn Rhos to the south.

The Abergele rail disaster, which took place near Abergele, North Wales, in August 1868, was the worst railway disaster in Great Britain up till then. The Irish Mail train was on its way from London to Holyhead. At Llanddulas -- the nearest sidings to Abergele -- a complicated shunting operation had caused the derailment of a goods train, blocking the main line. In the confusion, a brake-van and six wagons loaded with paraffin were left uncoupled on a gradient leading down to Abergele, and a collision with other carriages caused it to run downhill into the path of the Irish Mail train, exploding on impact. Flames and smoke made rescue impossible, and 33 people died in the crash, some of them burned beyond recognition. The inquest blamed the two brakemen on the derailed goods train, who had failed to secure the wagons individually, as well as the stationmaster at Llanddulas who was supervising the operation. The Board of Trade also strongly criticised the London and North Western Railway for poor practices.

Moelfre Isaf is a 317 m (1,040 ft) hill located to the south of the town of Abergele. There are views towards the Clwydian Range, Snowdonia, and the Isle of Man and the Cumbrian Mountains can be seen on a clear day. Nearby is the small settlement of Moelfre, Conwy. Almost opposite is the higher hill of Moelfre Uchaf.

Craig y Forwyn (meaning "Maiden's Crag" in English) is a crag in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located less than a mile south of Llanddulas, near the village of Rhyd y Foel. The cliff is composed of carboniferous limestone and is of interest to geologists as a source of fossils and to rock climbers as a fine cliff with many interesting climbing routes.

Llanddulas is a village in Conwy county borough, Wales, midway between Old Colwyn and Abergele and next to the North Wales Expressway in the community of Llanddulas and Rhyd-y-Foel. The village lies beneath the limestone hill of Cefn-yr-Ogof (670 ft). This hill has large caves, and quarrying of limestone was formerly the main industry of the village, with crushed stone being exported from the 200 m long jetty. According to figures from the 2011 census, Llanddulas, combined with nearby village Rhyd y Foel, had a population of 1,542, with around 23% of the population having some knowledge of the Welsh language.Llanddulas is notable as being the place where Richard II was betrayed in 1399. and is also the birthplace of Lewis Valentine. Between 1889 and 1952 the village had its own railway station. According to legend, a cave on the mountain of Pen y Cefn was once the abode of the Devil, until the people of Llanddulas performed an exorcism at the cave to drive him away.Llanddulas Limestone and Gwrych Castle Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. In February 1990 a storm and high tide caused extensive flooding to the east of here, especially at Towyn and Kinmel Bay. New coastal defence works were built along 7 miles of coast from Old Colwyn to the River Clwyd. At Llanddulas these consist of Dolos concrete. At Northern Towers, a gateway to Gwrych Castle, a battle is commemorated with four plaques. (See photograph bottom of page).

The River Aled, a small river near Conwy County Borough, flows into River Elwy.The river originates at Llyn Aled on Mynydd Hiraethog to the right of the village Llansannan. It flows through Llyn Aled Isaf and then towards the north through Llansannan and Bryn Rhyd-yr-arian before meeting River Elwy to the east of village Llanfair Talhaearn. The River Aled is controlled, and thus so is the River Elwy, by reservoirs and Llyn Aled. In the Middle Ages the river marked the boundary between Commotes and Upper and Lower Aled. Fishing on a long section of the River Aled, both banks, is controlled by the Rhyl and St Angling Association, near to Bryn Rhyd-yr-Arian.

Llandulas railway station was located in Denbighshire, North Wales, situated just north of the village of Llanddulas and with the sea to the north.

Llanddulas and Rhyd-y-foel (Welsh: Llanddulas a Rhyd-y-foel) is a community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It is located on the coast of Liverpool Bay, at the mouth of the Afon Dulas, 2.7 miles (4.3 km) west of Abergele, 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east of Colwyn Bay and 9.0 miles (14.5 km) east of Conwy. As the name suggests, it consists of the villages of Llanddulas and Rhyd-y-foel. At the 2001 census the community had a population of 1,572, reducing slightly to 1,542 at the 2011 census.Now derelict, Gwrych Castle stands on the hillside to the east of Llanddulas. Built between 1812 and 1822 by Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh, it has been described as a "spectacular and romantic flight of gothic fancy," and was an attempt to create a replica of an Edwardian fortress. The castle contains 18 towers, and is surrounded by terraced gardens and woodland, with gothic park walling, lodges and towers. The total frontage is over 0.8 miles (1.3 km) in length, and has been described as "one of the finest examples of its date in Britain" by Cadw. It is Grade I listed.Saint Cynbryd's Church, in Llanddulas, dates from 1868, and was designed by George Edmund Street, who was also responsible for the Royal Courts of Justice in London. It is on the site of an earlier medieval church which had been rebuilt in 1732, and was commissioned by Robert Bamford-Hesketh of Gwrych Castle. It is described by Cadw as being "of subtle sophistication and quiet mastery" and is Grade II* listed. Similarly listed is Plas Tan-yr-ogof, a farmhouse on the Gwrych estate, built in 1819, which was used for a while as a night club.In 2008 a 1,148 feet (350 m) long honeycomb worm reef was discovered on the beach at Llanddulas, by fishery officer Philip Capper of the North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee after an absence of 60 years. The worms are common to the Mediterranean Sea, and are rare in the British Isles, but found at a number of sites on western and southern coasts. They create the reefs by forming tightly packed tubes from sand and shell particles on top of rocky shores, which then provide a haven for barnacles, crabs, limpets, mussels, periwinkles, sea anemones and whelks.Pen-y-corddyn-mawr is a hillfort located on a limestone plateau above Rhyd-y-foel, where Roman artefacts have been unearthed. Lead mines nearby are thought to have been worked by the Romans, and were still in use in the 1820s, when they provided the lead for Gwrych Castle's windows. The limestone hill of Cefn yr Ogof 204 metres (669 feet)stands above the village. Nearby is the crag of Craig y Forwyn.