Pen-y-Gwryd, Gynedd - Hotel - real photo postcard by Eric Edwards, c.1950s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Pen-y-Gwyrd, Hotel [Gwynedd, Wales]
• Publisher: Eric Edards, Barmouth 
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Pen-y-Gwryd is a pass at the head of Nantygwryd and Nant Cynnyd rivers close to the foot of Snowdon in Gwynedd, Wales. The area is located at the junction of the A4086 from Capel Curig to Llanberis and Caernarfon and the A498 from Beddgelert and Nant Gwynant about a mile from the head of the Llanberis Pass. It is close to the boundary with Conwy county borough in northern Snowdonia. The famous mountaineering hostelry, Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, is located in the pass. It is also a mountain rescue post with links to the other rescue posts at Ogwen Cottage and Plas y Brenin.

The Old Miners' Track from the Snowdon copper mines are now part of the modern A4086 road between Pen-y-Gwryd and Pen-y-Pass. It continues northwards beyond Pen-y-Gwryd skirting Glyder Fach to Bwlch Tryfan and Dyffryn Ogwen. From Pen-y-Pass is the "PYG track", one of the many routes leading to the summit of Snowdon, its name is believed be derived from the initials ("P-y-G"). However, older maps show it as the "Pig track", a name derived from Bwlch y Moch (the Pigs' Gap).

The Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel was originally a farmhouse dating from 1811. It was converted to wayside inn by a John Roberts from Llanberis,[3] who eventually sold the Inn in 1840 before emigrating to America. A Mrs Hughes, who was the widow of the first landlord (a Joseph Griffith) of the Capel Curig Inn (which became The Royal Hotel, now Plas-y-Brenin), and later the widow of Reverend Robert Hughes of Capel Curig, took over the Inn in 1843.

In 1847 Henry Owen acquired the Inn.[4] He was born in Beddgelert, Caernarvonshire on 2 April 1822, the son of a farmer, Owen Owen. He married Ann Pritchard from the parish of Llanbeblig near Caernarvon. Initially Henry combined his hostelry work with a position of Agent at the nearby Snowdonian copper mine and later with farming. But by 1858, the inn business was sufficiently successful to allow him to purchase the freehold.

During the Owens' tenure running the inn, it became renowned for its status for comfort and hospitality.[5] The original building was considerably extended transforming it from a farmhouse Inn to a well-known and popular hotel. Ann's excellent cookery was apparently to pay no small part in the hotel's success. Eventually it became an intrincal part of the blossoming mountaineering industry that was developing in North Wales.[6] In May 1898 The Climbers Club originated at Pen-y-Gwryd, as it is recorded in its first journal "....its natural birth at Pen-y-Gwryd" and "...its congenial atmosphere...... (The Climbers Club) first struck its roots". The Climbers Club is now based at Helyg on the A5 between Capel Curig and Ogwen Cottage.

In 1870 the Society of Welsh Rabbits (c.1865) was founded with the objective of exploring Snowdonia in winter (and as close to Christmas as possible). Ann Owen said in 1895 that the society had written an article "praising Pen-y-Gwryd as an excellent resort at Christmas". She noted " ....we rarely, if ever, had a guest at Christmas and since then we have hardly been without guests during the period". Henry continued to run the hotel until his death in 1891. Ann then took over the management until her death in 1896.

After the owner of The Royal Hotel, Capel Curig took over, the business saw an indifferent ten years. However, this changed when William Hampton, along with Arthur and Florence Lockwood, took ownership. The hotel and its mountaineering traditions soon picked up again and the building was redeveloped. In the 1920s they created Llyn Lockwood – the small trout lake opposite the hotel. During the Second World War the hotel was taken over by Lake House School from Bexhill-on-Sea.

The subsequent owners have improved the hotel and enhanced its mountaineering links by becoming a Mountain rescue post (the plaque is still attached to the main entrance), whilst maintaining the hotel's history. Guest bedrooms are named after one of Snowdonia's 13 peaks over 3,000 ft (910 m).