Thursday 22nd July 1819
Thursday July 22nd At 11 o’clock we started for Bala. The country approaching the town being flatter and less interesting. It is however
situated in a pretty vale with a beautiful view of Bala Lake so famous for fishing it is 4 miles long & in many parts a mile beside. There are two Inns at Bala the Bull is considered the first, but we are at the Lion which is as comfortable as can be required.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Bala is a market town that lies within the historic county of Merionethshire at the north end of Llyn Tegid, 17 miles north-east of Dolgellau. It is little more than one wide street, this being Stryd Fawr (High Street, literally "Great Street"). According to the 2011 census, 78.5% of Bala's population speak Welsh.
1813: Bala. Drawn and etched by John George Wood to accompany his " The Principal Rivers of Wales". https://antique-prints-maps.com/acatalog/ref1.php?imagefile=../largeimages/WoodsBala17.jpg
The Tower of Bala is a tumulus or "moat-hill", formerly thought to mark the site of a Roman camp.
2006: Bala, The High Street by David Stowell. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by David Stowell and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Bala_High_Street.jpg
2007: Tomen y Bala - a Norman motte, byr Eric Jones. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Eric Jones and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tomen_y_Bala_-_a_Norman_motte_-_geograph.org.uk_-_462982.jpg
In the 18th century, the town was well known for the manufacture of flannel, stockings, gloves and hosiery. The large stone-built theological college, Coleg Y Bala, of the Calvinistic Methodists and the grammar school, which was founded in 1712, are the chief features, together with the statue of the Rev. Thomas Charles (1755–1814), the theological writer, to whom was largely due the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bala,_Gwynedd
2007: Bala - The Rev. Thomas Charles B.A. by Graeme Walker. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Graeme Walker and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bala_-_The_Rev._Thomas_Charles_B.A._-_geograph.org.uk_-_408431.jpg
Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid in Welsh): In the legend of the History of Taliesin, the character Tegid Foel ("Bald Tegid") was the husband of the goddess or witch Ceridwen. The place where his court stood is now beneath the waters of the lake. According to folk tradition, the court was drowned one night. It is said that the light of the court and the little town around it can be seen on a moonlit night.
1818: Bala Lake, by Thomas Compton – lithograph by James Bailey Baily, in the collection of the National Library of Wales, Accession number 1129280. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bala_Lake.jpeg
2005: Bala Lake, by Necrothesp at English Wikipedia, the copyright holder of this work, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bala_Lake.jpg
It was the largest natural body of water in Wales before its level was raised by Thomas Telford to help support the flow of the Ellesmere Canal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bala_Lake
Circa 1810: View From Tommen Y Bala. Engraving by D.L. after the Welsh artist, Moses Griffiths. https://antique-prints-maps.com/acatalog/ref1.php?imagefile=../largeimages/SEViewFromTommenYBala17.jpg
Ninety five years later, Lucy’s grandson Esmond Copland-Griffiths took his wife Offie to Bala, 13 months after their marriage and four months after the birth of their first child, Arundel Helen.
Esmond Copland-Griffiths, Lucy’s grandson, took his wife Offie to Bala Lake in May 1913 (from Esmond’s Photograph Album)
Olde Bulls Head Reputedly haunted, this black-and-white coaching inn is the oldest in Bala, dating back to at least 1692. https://whatpub.com/pubs/CLN/12/olde-bulls-head-bala
The White Lion Royal Hotel was built in 1752, according to its website https://www.sabrain.com/pubs-and-hotels/north-wales/gwynedd/white-lion-royal-hotel-new/
From the Hotel's web site at https://www.sabrain.com/pubs-and-hotels/north-wales/gwynedd/white-lion-royal-hotel-new/
The following is an advertisement by the Hotel’s proprietor, William Owen, in 1893
Can you help us?
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?