Dolgellau

Dolgellau (dɔlˈɡɛɬaɨ) is a town and community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Merionethshire (Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd) until the county of Gwynedd was created in 1974. Dolgellau is the main base for climbers of Cadair Idris and Mynydd Moel which are visible from the town. Dolgellau is the second largest settlement in southern Gwynedd after Tywyn and includes the community of Penmaenpool. The name Dolgellau is a compound of dôl 'water-meadow' and cellau, the plural of cell 'a cell', giving the meaning 'water-meadow of cells'. The dôl in the name was probably located within a bend at the confluence of the rivers Wnion and Aran. The cellau may refer to monastic cells or merchant's stalls. The earliest recorded spelling (from 1254) is Dolkelew, and a spelling Dolgethleu dates from 1294–5 (the thl is an attempt to represent Welsh /ɬ/). Owain Glyndŵr's scribe wrote Dolguelli. The town's name was commonly anglicised as Dolgelly or Dolgelley. Up until the 19th century most spellings in English were along the lines of Dôlgelly, Dolgelley, Dolgelly or Dolgelli. Thomas Pennant used the form Dolgelleu in his Tours of Wales, and this was the form used in the Church Registers in 1723, although it never had much currency. In 1825 the Registers have Dolgellau, which was the form adopted by Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt in 1836. This became standard in Welsh and later also in English. The official name for the urban district which covered the town and the surrounding rural district was changed from Dolgelley to Dolgellau in 1958 by Merioneth County Council, following requests from both district councils. The site of Dolgellau was, in the pre-Roman Celtic period, part of the tribal lands of the Ordovices, who were conquered by the Romans in AD 77–78. Although a few Roman coins from the reigns of Emperors Hadrian and Trajan have been found near Dolgellau, the area is marshy and there is no evidence that it was settled during the Roman period.