Porthmadog

Introducing Porthmadog

Given its abundance of transport options, Porthmadog (port-mad-uk) is a good base for exploring the Snowdonia National Park. The town itself may not be the most aesthetically spectacular place, but it does retain a busy, workaday feel with the hub of the action strung out along the bustling High St, which runs for half a mile through the middle of town.

The town was founded by an 1821 Act of Parliament granting permission to slate magnate William Alexander Madocks – after whom the town is named – to reclaim estuary land and create a new harbour.

Madocks had begun by laying a mile-long causeway called The Cob across Traeth Mawr, the estuary at the mouth of River Glaslyn. Some 400 hectares of wetland habitat behind The Cob was drained and turned into farmland. The resulting causeway provided the route Madocks needed to transport slate on the new Ffestiniog Railway down to the new port.

In the 1870s it was estimated that over a thousand vessels per year departed from the harbour and, at the peak of 1873, over 116, 000 tons of Blaenau Ffestiniog slate left Porth­madog for ports around the world.

Today Porthmadog is the southern terminus for one of Wales’ finest narrow-gauge train journeys, the Rheilffordd Ffestiniog Railway . It’s also a popular, not to mention slightly cheaper, place to stay for visitors to the village of Portmeirion, a fantasy-style pocket of la dolce vita Italy in North Wales.

Porthmadog is proud of its status as a bastion for small, local businesses with several shops and the local cinema all privately owned by members of the local community.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009