A
Brief History of the Village
The
area is rich in prehistoric sites and Nantcyll is
mentioned in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion
as the place where a battle was fought between the
men of Dyfed and Gwynedd. Nantcall is now part of
the names of three farms on the outskirts of the
village.
In
Nancall Uchaf, the world famous singer Bryn Terfel
was raised. He began his musical career in the Glannau
Dwyfach Joint Festival between the chapels of Pant-glas,
Bwlchderwin, Bryncir and Brynengan - where his great-grandfather
Richard Jones, Y Gaerwen, was the precentor.
Opposite
the old inn, the road leads to the former railway
station on the LMS line that, until 1964, ran between
Caernarfon and Afon-wen. Its course is now the cycle
track and footpath known as Lôn Eifion which
stretches some fourteen miles from Caernarfon to
Bryncir.
Sheltering
Pant-glas towards the south is Moel Derwin and on
the slopes beneath it is Bryn Derwin. There, in 1255,
Llywelyn II won a battle agaist his brothers Owain
and Dafydd. Many field names in the area reflect
its military past.
To
the north is Mynydd Graig Goch. Running parallel
to the new road (A458) is the old post road between
Garndolbenmaen and Nasareth. Beside this road, on
the further side of Nancall Uchaf on the land of
Tai Duon Farm is another early Methodist chapel.
The cemetery there today is called Mynwent Tai Duon.
Buried
there are two brothers and a sister from Nantcwmbran,
Pant-glas who died young, between 1918 and 1924,
remembered there in an 'englyn' (one of many
traditional Welsh alliterative verses in strict metre).
A literal translation could never do it justice therefore
we have included the englyn in its original Welsh
format:
"Marwolaeth
Mair a Willie - a Rhisiart
Wna i reswm
dewi;
Ond
ffydd ddichon fodloni
A gweld
trefn mewn galw tri."
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