Llandudno & Colwyn Bay History Society

Llandudno & Colwyn Bay History Society holds regular meetings where speakers outline interesting aspects of local history. Meetings are usually on the second Tuesday of the month at the Trinity Centre on Trinity Avenue, Llandudno, starting at 7pm. Visitors, who pay £3 entry, are welcome. From May to August the society holds outdoor visits to places of interest.

Contacts: Philip Berrie, secretary. Email: philb.10a [at] gmail.com

HiPoints collection:

Llandudno pier - Wales' longest pier
Ted yr Ogof memorial - recalling a boatman whose grandparents raised 15 kids - while living in a cave!
Site of Alice Liddell's holiday home - built for father of girl who inspired Alice in Wonderland
Site of cottage hospital - where two Native Americans from the Buffalo Bill show were patients in 1904
Former Wartski jeweller's shop - the business traded Fabergé eggs and other valuables post-Russian revolution
The Cottage Loaf - Llandudno pub containing wood from shipwrecks
The St George's Hotel - a pioneering building from 1854 where Winston Churchill once flummoxed staff
Walter Beaumont memorial - this swimmer and stuntman would smoke a cigar and drink milk underwater
Llandudno Town Hall - finally completed in 1902 after two lawsuits, three builders and doubling of the cost
The Palladium - now a pub but once a theatre graced by Gracie Fields
Former St George's Hall - was an entertainments venue for live opera and ballroom dancing
Former Grand Theatre - where the BBC broadcast radio entertainment in wartime
Pier Pavilion site - George Formby, Vera Lynn, Winston Churchill and Oswald Mosley all took the stage here
Osborne House - owned by John Arthur Walker until he was killed in action in Belgium in 1916
Venue Cymru - a theatre on this site was once famed for its resident pierrots
Queen of Romania's hotel - this royal holiday left its mark on street names and the town's motto
Rest and Be Thankful cafe - on the remarkable Marine Drive
White Rabbit statue - commemorating Llandudno's link to Alice in Wonderland
Great Orme copper mines - the world's biggest prehistoric mine remains
Great Orme summit complex - once owned by a champion boxer who gave demonstrations in a ring outside
Former police station - you might need our map to find this hidden piece of Llandudno's history
Grand Hotel - featured in movies starring Alec Guinness, Richard Gere and others
Empire Hotel - onec a shop selling gunpowder, leeches and bear grease
Former Majestic Ballroom - just the place for dancing and American Soda, but jiving was forbidden
Llandudno's first bank - now an upmarket hotel annexe
Haulfre Gardens - laid out by Henry Davis Pochin, inventor of white soap bars
The Little Orme - where the first Welsh book was printed, in a cave!
Prince Madog's departure site - where a Welshman left for America more than 300 years before Columbus
St Trillo's Chapel - said to be Britain's smallest church
The Cayley Arms - named after a family whose members included the inventor of the aeroplane
Rhos Fynach - land here was once gifted to a privateer called Captain Henry Morgan
St Tudno's Church - established by a Celtic missionary named Tudno during the reign of Maelgwyn Gwynedd
Holy Trinity Church - built on land donated by the Mostyn family
Former Winter Gardens - where audiences were amazed to see an electric organ rising out of the floor
Gunnery school site - where men were once trained to fire the army's really big guns
The King's Head - Llandudno's oldest pub
Clare's - department store which still features a vintage cage lift
The Imperial Hotel – guests included the Queen of Siam, followed by Inland Revenue in Second World War
Evans’ Hotel – earmarked by MI5 for double agents during the war
Punch & Judy site - the story of Britain's longest-running seaside Punch & Judy show
Lloyd George salute 1915 - many of the local soldiers later died at Mametz Wood, France
Australian PM's former home - where Billy Hughes spent part of his childhood
Arnold war heroes' shop - four brothers from here were decorated for bravery in tanks in the First World War
First town hall - also hosted Llandudno's first magistrates' court when people refused to pay the town rate
Llandudno lighthouse - needed after countless Great Orme shipwrecks, including the brig Hornby
Suffragists' meeting place - where the first society in Wales for women's suffrage was established
War hero J Rhydwen Jones' family shop - son of furniture retailer was awarded Croix de Guerre and MC
Llandudno war memorial - read details of the town's war dead
Llanrhos church - connected to a 6th-century King of all the Britons. See the 1712 lending library inside
Llanrhos churchyard - follow our mini-tour, which includes the grave of "The Bird Man of Llandudno"
Airship repair site 1918 - police warned sightseers not to smoke as an airship was mended on the prom
Flying Foam wreck 1936, West Shore – remains still visible at low tide
Paddle steamer Rhosneigr wreck
– passengers waiting on Rhos pier saw their ship sink as it approached
Site of Rhos pier - initially an illegal structure because it wasn't built in the authorised place
Llandudno rail station - in the early years, passengers sometimes helped to push the trains on windy days
Former Washington Hotel - rebuilt 1925 because the original projected forward and spoiled the building line
Colwyn Bay's Victorian prom - see the granite "postcard" on the rebuilt prom west of the pier
Colwyn Bay tram - granite 'postcard' depicts one of two 'streamliner' trams which served Colwyn Bay & Llandudno
Tram interior - John Lawson-Reay's photo conveys the atmosphere inside one of the trams
Site of Colwyn Bay pier - built for entertainments only, as the cost of a pier for steamer calls was prohibitive