Aberconwy Hall, Eglwysbach
This building has long been a public hall, but before that it was reputedly the abattoir where animals from nearby farms were slaughtered! The building was owned by Lord Aberconway, of Bodnant Hall, and became the Aberconway Institute in 1915.
The adjoining building (now a house called The Cottage) also became part of the Institute. It was the Bodnod Arms until 1909, when it was closed because Eglwysbach had too many pubs!
People donated books so that a public library could be established at the Institute. By 1916, the Women’s Temperance Association (a campaign against drunkenness) was meeting here each Thursday. The back room was equipped with a full-size billiards table. Many community events which had previously been held in the village’s school or chapels were transferred to the Institute. They included concerts, eisteddfodau and political rallies.
In 1938, the hall began to serve as the refectory for the village school. Pupils no longer had to sit on a road bridge to eat their lunch! In the Second World War, the Institute became a schoolroom for 50 evacuees who arrived in 1941 from parts of England which were at risk of aerial bombing.
The building, now known as Aberconway Hall, remains in public use.
The nearest house to the south of the hall, called Islwyn, housed the village’s part-time branch of the Midland Bank, before it moved to Preswylfa.
Postcode: LL28 5UD View Location Map
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