Tremadog’s rich history

There’s so much history in North Wales and Tremadog is no exception. When you come for a visit, you might be forgiven for not realising just how much has taken in place within its buildings and market square.

The town is part of the Porthmadog area, and was originally founded by William Madocks who bought land with the aim of creating somewhere that would be a shining example of town planning. The first houses in Tremadog were built by 1805, after the land was drained to make it possible to live on.

William Madocks created the town because he wanted to open up this part of Wales to the outside world. He created roads and manufacturing to bring connections and wealth to the area, often spending the last of his available money on developing it. He built the embankment known as The Cob, now an integral part the area, to create transport links.

To continue to fund the areas development, Madocks let out his home to the poet Percy Shelley, who moved in as a tenant to Madocks home Plas Tan-Yr-Allt and completed his poem Queen Mab there.  However Shelley upset the locals with comments about their sheep production and ran off leaving debts having paid no rent at all. Legend has it that because he’d upset people so much, someone sneaked into the house and tried to assassinate him.

Later on in the town’s history, Lawrence of Arabia was born in 1888. Thomas Edward Lawrence was posted in the First World War as a British Intelligence Officer in Egypt, afterwards refusing a Knighthood and the Victoria Cross for his services during the war and went on to be immortalised in the film of the same name by Peter Toole.

The market square, where the Golden Fleece Inn is situated in the heart of the village and sits under a towering crag which gives it a unique location and stunning views. The inn would have been one of the most important places in the town originally, alongside the Town Hall where dancing and merriment also took place in the first floor dancing room.

Originally the inn itself was an old coaching inn. The dining room is located where the horses would once have been stabled in the courtyard. Travellers would have stayed at the inn on their way back to London or on the way to the Llyn Peninsula, having had long and uncomfortable journeys and very much as today would have been a place to rest, eat and rejuvenate (although the accommodation then would have been much less comfortable and stylish than today!).

Tremadog is steeped in history and you can experience that history for yourself. Come and stay with us at our hotel in Tremadog to experience the original coaching inn buildings, with the feel of luxury accommodation. Take a wander along the Cob and imagine it being built. Dine in the restaurant and see if you can hear the neigh of the horses in the distance!