Saint Hilary's Church The
Church in Wales parish church is dedicated to
St Hilary and is in the
diocese of St Asaph. It is said to have been erected on the site of a mid-6th-century church built by
Maelgwn Gwynedd, whose
castle was within the parish on the twin peaks at Deganwy. The church was rebuilt by the
Cistercian monks of
Aberconwy Abbey in 1282 and remained largely unchanged until extensive rebuilding in 1820 and 1865, paid for by the
Mostyn family and local landowners. The rebuild incorporated the roof beams and many other features of the late
medieval church and these are still in place. Local legend recounted by
Thomas Pennant in his 1784 work
A Tour in Wales, has it that Maelgwyn died at the church, having taken refuge there to avoid the yellow pestilence. The
plague is colourfully said to have taken the form of a fair women with the powers of a
basilisk, who slew Maelgwyn with a glance as he incautiously looked out of a window. He is said to have been buried beneath the south door. St Mary's well (Welsh: Ffynnon Santes Fair) is west of the church; once lost it was rediscovered after local flooding in June 1993, being excavated and restored the following year. It is said that Maelgwyn's church was originally dedicated to Saint Mary, before the Cistercians rebuilt and rededicated the holy site to Saint Hilary.
Gloddaeth Hall The historic
mansion of
Gloddaeth Hall was the home of Iorwerth Goch of Creuddyn and pre-dates the 13th century conquest of
Edward I. By 1460 it had become through marriage one of the homes of the
Mostyn family, members of which lived there until about 1935 when it became a girls' boarding school, which closed in 1964. In 1965, Lord Mostyn transferred the lease to
Saint David's College for boys, which is now co-educational.
Bodysgallen Hall Bodysgallen Hall, within the village, home of its bachelor owner, Ievan Lloyd Mostyn, until his death in 1966, was sold in 1967 for £15,000 with the contents being sold for £35,000.
Cadwallon Lawhir's 5th century AD residence
ruins are extant atop a
woodland knoll above the present Bodysgallen Hall (Williams, 1835). The square tower (non-defensive) has a five-storey, ascending anti-clock wise, extant spiral staircase, which yields commanding views to the north (Lumina Technologies, 2006). Bodysgallen Hall is now a five-star
destination hotel.
The Mostyn Arms and the Queen's Head The village was once home to two sizeable public houses, The Mostyn Arms and The Queen's Head. These buildings flanked the church to the north and south, a proximity which was to be their undoing when the pious
Lady Augusta Mostyn ordered their demolition in the latter years of the 19th century. The adjacency of the public houses to her estate was another factor which hastened their demise, as Lady Mostyn felt the nearness of such temptations was hampering the productivity of her workers. In 1898 Lady Mostyn came to an arrangement with the owner of the Mostyn arms - Sam Hughes - providing him with a freehold a short distance to the north on which he could build a new premises. This building still stands today on the southern outskirts of Llandudno and is called The Links Hotel (Gwesty Links in Welsh).
Llanrhos Temperance Hotel True to her convictions, in 1908 Lady Mostyn would go on to build a
temperance house known as Llanrhos Temperance Hotel opposite the church, which later found use as a sub-post office. The building still stands and is now in use as a private residence.
Llanrhos Grange Over the years Llanrhos Grange was also known as Bryn Lupus and Swinglehurst. It was a substantial 2-storied stucco building with grounds. It is notable for being the birthplace of famous mariner
Harold Lowe, who was fifth officer on the
RMS Titanic when she sank on her maiden voyage. Its last usage was as a convalescent home for men, run by the Manchester and Salford Hospital Saturday Fund and renamed after the eponymous chairman, Charles Swinglehurst. By 1965 the building had fallen into disrepair and was demolished. Bryn Lupus Road which runs east–west through the village, linking it with Deganwy, bears testament to the vanished building. == Notable people associated with Llanrhos ==