Happy Valley, Great Orme, Llandudno
Press 'Play' to hear this text. Click here for more readings
As Llandudno developed as a resort from 1850, the Happy Valley – also known as The Fach – became popular with visitors for its wildness and natural grandeur.
In 1872 there were complaints about traders erecting huts there to sell “fancy articles” to tourists. Provision of a pleasure ground was mooted in 1873, and a roller-skating rink was installed in 1875.
The area is shaped like a natural amphitheatre, and in 1872 Mr Round’s Promenade Band gave alfresco performances here. In 1873 a minstrel show, featuring white performers with blacked faces, began here, with no formal stage and just a small bell tent for the artists to change in. Later, permanent stages were built.
In 1887, to mark Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, Lord Mostyn (the principal local landowner) closed the nearby quarries and gave “the Happy Valley” (as it was commonly known) to the town as a permanent park. The council planted trees and laid out rock gardens and pools. The work was completed in 1890 with the unveiling of the drinking fountain, which features a bust of the queen. The old photos show the Happy Valley soon afterwards.
The minstrels were a major Llandudno attraction. When Roy Cowel took over in 1930 with his ‘Cowel’s Querries’, he ended the tradition of blacking up. His show also featured female artistes and dancing.
For over 30 years until the 1970s, Alex Munro provided popular variety shows at Happy Valley and the Pier Pavilion. The road up to Happy Valley is named in his honour.
Shows continued at Happy Valley till 1987, when they were finished off by changing tastes and the constant interruptions of cable cars clattering into the lower station. A café now occupies the site of the “minstrel plot”.
The stone circle in Happy Valley was erected in 1962 for Gorsedd of Bards ceremonies relating to the National Eisteddfod held in Llandudno in 1963. When the Eisteddfod was held in the centre of Llandudno in 1864, Gorsedd stones were erected near the seafront.
In 1999 the gardens were upgraded with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Sculptures were created in wood of various characters from the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland stories. The town’s link with Alice is explained on our page about her family's holiday home.
With thanks to John Lawson-Reay, of the Llandudno & Colwyn Bay History Society, and to Vicky Macdonald for the audio presentation
Postcode: LL30 2QL View Location Map
 |
  |