Anyone fancy a day out at Helly-on-Sea?
The debate about the loss of Welsh place names still rages today but it’s not a new phenomenon, as Eryl Crump discovered
LAST month a petition to stop the Anglicisation of house names was delivered to the Senedd and signed by 15,000 people.
But ever since Offa’s Dyke was built 1,200-odd years ago, those who may struggle somewhat with saying Dwygyfylchi, say, or even Abersoch have been offered a helping hand by those looking to make this place more “accessible”.
So it was in the late 1890s when attempts were made to rename Pwllheli – in what was then and still remains to this day a popular seaside resort in Gwynedd.
Potential developers feared the town’s name was too difficult for visitors to pronounce and came up with a series of alternatives
It could have been retitled Saltpool or Salty Pool, literal translations from its Welsh name.
Other suggestions included Hellyon-Sea, Poolhelly or even Hellysuper-Mare.
Another suggestion – Erchmouth – could have caused just as many difficulties.
The suggestions were first reported in the then Carnarvon [sic] and Denbigh Herald.
The man credited with turning Pwllheli into a resort was a businessman Solomon Andrews.
In June 1896 a gossip column in the Herald said: “Mr Solomon
Andrews has completely mastered the pronunciation of the word Pwllheli – so says the Rev OL Roberts.
“Indeed, this enterprising gentleman was very much disgusted the other day when he heard the fair watering-place dubbed Poolhelly.”
Two years later the same newspaper carried this report.
The Rhyl Journal reported: “They are proposing to do all sorts of things with Pwllheli now that Mr Solomon Andrews has given it a world-wide reputation.”
The suggestion was given shortshrift by the Town Council and there are no reports it was ever discussed officially.
Welsh language experts have noted it was typical of an age when the English language was favoured above Welsh in schools and public life.
Many towns and villages were given Anglicised names in this period – Dolgellau become Dolgelley and Caernarfon was known as Carnarvon. Local councils have reverted to the Welsh spellings for most of those mispelt in this time.
Pwllheli developed as a seaside resort during the second half of the 19th century partly as the result of the arrival of the railway from both Caernarfon (1862) and Machynlleth (1867) allowing relatively easy access from the North-west of England and the Midlands.
Mr Andrews, a Wiltshire-born entrepreneur was head of the Solomon Andrews and Son bus and tram-operating company, based in Cardiff, but had extensive business interests elsewhere in Wales and England.
These included tramways, buses, draperies and collieries.
The town had been given its charter as a borough by Edward, the Black Prince, in 1355, and had been known as Pwllheli from before this time.
It grew around the shipbuilding and fishing industries, and the granite quarry at Gimlet Rock.
In Pwllheli, Mr Andrews was responsible for the development of the West End holiday resort, which included a promenade, housing, roads, a recreation ground, golf course, and the West End Hotel. The stone required to build the West End was provided by a quarry at Llanbedrog and his company constructed the Pwllheli and Llanbedrog Tramway, which carried the stone and passengers.
The West End Hotel was constructed first, along with large houses numbered 1-4 The Parade. The hotel was probably completed by 1895 and the houses were all were completed by 1899.
Construction of housing and shops in Cardiff Road was undertaken between 1897 and 1901. A power station was erected next to the
Assembly Rooms behind the West End Hotel, to provide electrical power for the West End Hotel.
The trams ran until 1927 when a section of track was seriously damaged by a storm.
In 1894 he purchased an area at Arthog, on the southern bank of the river Mawddach near Barmouth consisting of several farms. He developed three terraces of houses, including Mawddach Crescent.
The Crescent was connected to Barmouth Junction railway station by the short-lived Barmouth Junction and Arthog Tramway which he constructed.
Mr Andrews intended this to be the start of a purpose-built holiday resort but the surrounding land proved unsuitable for further construction.
In 1941, during the Second World War, the Crescent was commandeered by the Royal Marines.
It was renamed Camp Iceland and used as a training facility.
Andrews also purchased land here at Aberdyfi and started work by fencing off some of it. However, this provoked trouble locally as public rights of way were affected, so no development ever took place.
The land was later sold to the local authority.
Much like the attempt to rename Pwllheli.