Betws-y-Coed
(Prayer house in the woods) arose from a few cottage style crofts
scattered around an ancient pack-horse trial in the Snowdon Mountains. These early crofters cut out
their own small pastures from the dense forests that covered the entire
area. This local deforestation around Betws-y-Coed produced an area of
open pasture in the midst of the surrounding forest, an ideal spot for the
herds of cattle bought at the local fairs to be grazed prior to the
arduous eight week cattle drove to London.
The
next major link to the village was a road from Bangor that led in 1808 to
the arrival for the first time of the Irish Mail coach. By 1815, (the same
year as the battle of Waterloo) a iron bridge built to Thomas Telford’s
design over the River Conway was evidence of the rapidly increasing number
of travelers.
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