Penrhyn Bay

Coordinates: 53°18′50″N 3°46′12″W / 53.314°N 3.770°W / 53.314; -3.770

Penrhyn Bay (Welsh: Bae Penrhyn) is a small town on the north Wales coast, in Conwy county borough, within the parish or community of Llandudno, and part of the ecclesiastical parish of Llanrhos. It is a prosperous village with a cluster of local shops, a pub, a parish church and a modern medical centre with doctors' surgery at the foot of the pass over the shoulder of the Little Orme from Llandudno Bay. Here there is a highschool called Ysgol y Creuddyn and a primary school called Ysgol Glanwydden. It is considered to be a residential suburb of Llandudno lying east of the Little Orme. It adjoins the resort of Rhos-on-Sea. The population of Penrhyn Ward at the 2011 census was 4,883.

History

The oldest building in Penrhyn Bay is Penrhyn Old Hall dating from the early 15th century. It was the home of the Pugh family whose fortunes faded through their adherence to the Catholic religion when their neighbours reluctantly accepted Protestantism. On 14 April 1587, printing material for Catholic literature was found in a cave on the Little Orme, where it had been used by the recusant Robert Pugh (squire of Penrhyn Hall) and his chaplain William Davies to print Y Drych Gristianogawl ('The Christian Mirror'). They had taken refuge there during the persecution of Catholics instigated by Queen Elizabeth I in May 1586. In the grounds of the hall are the ruins of the medieval chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Penrhyn, last used by the Church in Wales for public worship c1930. The Pugh family also held a charter and built a windmill to serve their land in the nearby village of Glanwydden the first charter dating 1580. The hall now serves as a pub and restaurant.