[Marine Drive]
[Great Orme]
[Saint Tudno]
[Summit Complex]
[Tramway] [Aerial Cable Car]
GREAT
ORME - COAST & CAVES
The
Great Orme is a massive limestone promontory, which is of course full
of
fissures and underground caverns that are mostly connected with earlier
exploitation of the rich copper ore deposits to be found in this
rock. Around the steep shoreline, mostly on the seaward sides are
open caves, some of which have been occupied by men at various times
during the long history of mankind in these parts. Some of these caves
may be reached from the road above and here in order, together with
other
coastal features are those found as we follow the route of the Marine
Drive or better still sail with local boatmen round the headland:
Ogof
Hanner Dydd
This
cave between the Happy Valley Toll Gate and the minor headland of
Pentrwyn is impossible to reach without climbing techniques and its
Welsh name says it all: "The Midday Cave." The name recalls an ancient
happy tradition that at 12 noon at the spring and the summer equinox,
the sun's rays shine straight into the cave.
Dutchman's
Cave
Local guides do not
mention a Welsh name for this rock fissure on the Pentrwyn headland nor
why this name was chosen.
Ogof
Colomenriod
This is
"Pigeons' Cave"
in Porth yr Helyg where a quarry was established to produce stone for
the construction of Telford's Conwy Bridge and delivered by boat c1820.
The wide limestone shelf is easily accessible and is a favourite
location for sea angling. Still within Porth yr
Helyg
are features
known as Frog's Head (a natural rock resemblence to a frog seen only
from the sea) and Austen's Rock. The latter is a submerged
limestone shelf named after the first keeper of Llandudno lighthouse
who drew attention to this dangerous underwater feature that can only
be seen at low tide.
Cilfin
Ceirw
The
"Precipice of the Deer" is the name given to the minor headland and
exactly locates two carefully positioned lines of megalithic stones on
the sloping headland above that bear the name "Hwylfa'r Ceirw" or the
"Path of the Deer" and which has been the subject of much speculation
as to their purpose. In 1880 it was said that the older name for
this "Stone Row" was "Cerrig Coch" or the "Divination Stones" thus
suggesting that their function was religious or ceremonial.
Pen
y Gogarth
This is the
northernmost
headland of the Great Orme and the location of the Great Orme's Head
lighthouse seen from the sea in this photograph:
Britain's
highest lighthouse no longer illuminates the night sky and has been
private property since 1986.
- Ogof
Llech
Of all the Great Orme Caves this is perhaps
the
most
intriguing. Certainly it is to the scholars something of an enigma.
Unfortunately most of us must take their word for it because today one
needs
to be in the company of proficient cavers or climbers to reach
it safely.
Traditionally it is
said: The Ogof Llech (or hiding cave),
a small cave on the
headland, difficult of access, this is an understatement, but with a
clear spring of water was
Saint Tudno’s cell." Saint Tudno, a monk of Bangor-is-y-coed,
came to the Great Orme in the 7th century AD and made his home in this
cave. From here he took the faith of Christ to the local people living
on the Great Orme.
Access is in fact
easier from the sea than from the land above and particularly since the
ancient rough stone steps are now in a very dangerous condition. There
is a wide stone shelf on the cliff near the water level and forming a
natural quay, together with a small beach, which extends above the high
water mark and onto which small boats may be dragged clear of the
sea. The cave is formed, or was constructed, within a natural
rock fissure and so is not easily identified from the sea.
But
the above does not explain
the present condition of the cave, which is unusual and of much later
date than St Tudno, in
that the walls of the cave are lined with finely dressed high grade
sandstone, which is not a local stone and some have suggested it
resembles Pennine sandstone from Derbyshire or Northumbria. The
resulting sandstone lined octagonal chamber, with a stone seat around
the
walls, contains also the remains of a sandstone table set on sandstone
columns as well as a little spring of clear water. Unfortunately, much
of the finely carved detail is obscured by moss and
lime scale deposits. Just outside the entrance to the cave
is a weathered statue
carved from the local stone and thought to depict an angel.
These
features: the use of imported sandstone, the octagonal shape, a
possible round stone altar and the statue all support a later tradition
that
links the cave with religious use by the Knights of St John of
Jerusalem. The Great Orme is at the
seaward end of
the Conwy
Valley route to and from Ysbyty Ifan, the hospice of St. John
established there in 1190 and Ogof Llech may have been a chapel for the
Knights on
their way to and from the crusades. If indeed it was so used, perhaps
it was used in the knowledge or belief that had been earlier used by
the local saint.
More recently, researches by the British Geological Survey and reported
by Neil Oliver in the BBC "Coast" programme have indicated that the
very
special sandstone comes from the Mostyn Estates Talacre quarry and
suggests that it was erected by members of the Mostyn family (owners of
much of the Great Orme).
This connexion is
also mentioned in a Welsh bardic poem of 1683 "Cywydd i'r Llech yn Llandudno" by
Siôn Dafydd Las (John Davies) of Llanuwchllyn near Bala. In the
poem he says "it was repaired with skill and taste for Mostyn's heir, a
man of wit." This heir is thought to be William Mostyn who became MP
for Flintshire in 1553. The poet also refers to the kitchen and
wine cellar below. Note too it is said that the poem mentions
repair rather
than new construction, thus suggesting an earlier use. Could the
Knights' chapel, if that is what it was, have been bought back from the
crown by the Mostyn's following the disolution of the religious orders
just a few years earlier
by King Henry VIII?
Finally, the cave
was last used as a hiding place during the first world war on the night
of August 13th 1915, when two German submarines, the U27 and the U38
attempted a rendezvous with three senior German officers who had
escaped from a prison camp at Llansannan. The three men failed to make
contact with the submarines and were later arrested in Llandudno.
The fuller story of this failed escape and its planning with their
eventual capture following quiet observation by a shop-keeper and a cab
driver is told by Ivor
Wynne Jones in his book Llandudno "Queen of Welsh Resorts".
Interestingly one of the three was arrested by a policeman and spent
the night in a police cell but the other two fared much better, they
were arrested by soldiers and following interrogation by officers at
the Imperial Hotel they were dined and spent the night in gentlemen's
rooms at the Royal Hotel in Church Walks!
Hornby Cave
<>This cave takes
its modern name from the brig Hornby, which
was wrecked on the surrounding rocky cliffs (now known as the Hornby
crags) on New Year's Day 1824. The ship was bound from Liverpool to
South America and was blown against the rocks by a northwesterly gale.
Only one man, John Williams, survived. He was flung from the bowsprit
on to the land and managed to climb the cliffs to safety. He
stayed on the Great Orme for the rest of his life working as a copper
miner.
To the west of
Hornby cove is the westerly headland known as Squatter's Rock and just
beyond is the notorious "Cerrig Uffern" or "Hell's Stones". This was
the site of the wreck on Shrove Tuesday 1847 of the barque Jane Tudor on
its maiden voyage laden with timber from Maine to Liverpool. The
crew escaped to safety by felling the foremast and using it as a bridge
to the shore. The wreck was bought in situ by a Conwy timber
merchant, who refloated and repaired the vessel and used it for many
years bringing timber from America for the construction of many of
Llandudno's Victorian buildings.
Click
for a Map of the Great Orme
Llandudno the Queen of North Wales
Resorts