Brynrefail (Welsh pronunciation) is a small village in Gwynedd, Wales which straddles the A4244 road roughly between Deiniolen and Llanberis. The village is in the Arfon (UK Parliament constituency) and the Gwynedd Council Ward of Penisa'r Waun. It is a short walk from the northern shore of Llyn Padarn lake.

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Brynrefail
Afon Caledffrwd at Pont Brynrefail
Brynrefail Location within Gwynedd
OS grid reference	SH558626
Community	Llanddeiniolen
Principal area	Gwynedd
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CAERNARFON
Postcode district	LL55
Dialling code	01286
Police	North Wales
Fire	North Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
UK Parliament	Arfon
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament	Arfon
List of places UK Wales Gwynedd 53.141°N 4.155°W / 53.141; -4.155

The main street is mainly traditional terraced housing. Notable buildings include the village's Post Office, and the village's sole chapel, which is still in use.

The village is policed from Llanberis and has a dedicated Community Beat Manager.

History

In the 19th century, the village was built to house workers for the nearby Dinorwig slate quarry.

The village developed around the village smithy (yr efail in Welsh). The building that housed the smithy, which was built in 1776, still exists and has been converted into a cottage called "The Nook".

Brynrefail's development may have been also influenced by the quarry railway that ran between Dinorwic Quarry and Y Felinheli (or the unofficial English name of Portdinorwic) and skirted around the village.

On the 1933 ½ inch Ordnance Survey map of the area (Sheet 11) and on the 1948 revision of the same map, the village is referred to as Bryn-yr-Efail.

At one time the village was home to the Ysgol Brynrefail before the campus was moved to the nearby village of Llanrug in the 1960s. The school's site was cleared in the 1990s.

Until 1960, the village's main street was the main road between Caernarfon and Llanberis until it was by-passed by the existing road to allow machinery to be conveyed to what was then the major construction site for the Dinorwig Power Station. This split the village, leaving the small Local Authority housing estate of Trem Eilian effectively stranded on the other side of what has later become a very busy main road.

In 2002, work began on a multi-use centre called "Caban". Opened in 2004, Caban is home to a café, a meeting room, which doubles as the village's chapel, and 13 business units. The café was mentioned in the Which? 2008 Good Food Guide.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brynrefail, Gwynedd.

• Caban website
• North Wales Police Archived 13 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Brynrefail and area