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Cynfi Terrace, CAERNARFON, LL55 3LG

This was THE shop back in the 1950s, with long queues outside on Monday and Friday mornings and housewives prepared to spend half a day waiting to be served. But then, the Deiniolen Co-op paid a divi which amounted to 2/6 in the £. Groceries were stocked downstairs, drapery upstairs. The shop was ruled with a rod of iron by 'Morgans Bach', a small man with a strong South Walian accent. The collapse of the slate industry and the growth of supermarkets in Caernarfon and Bangor led to the demise of the Co-op. It was all over by the 1970s. The building then became a convenience store and, today, is the only shop left in Deiniolen.

Deiniolen developed in response to the growth of the slate industry on freehold land between Assheton-Smith's slate road and his first slate tramway. Much of the initial planning and building was carried out by an Anglesey builder who adopted a grid street pattern. Many of the initial inhabitants also were migrants from Anglesey. The term "Llanbabs" was applied to these incomers, after the hamlet of Llanbabo in North Anglesey Image The inhabitants of Deiniolen are still known today as "Llanbabs". Two famous contemporary "Llanbabs" are Sir David Brailsford, the British Cycling coach, and the professional footballer and sports commentator Malcolm Allen.

These houses were built in the late Victorian period and until the 1950s-1960s their owners would almost all have been slate workers.

Thanks to Dave's salami slicing tactics the cash strapped Gwynedd Council has decided to put many of its village public toilets on sale. This at Deiniolen is one of them. The village's war time air raid shelter previously stood on this spot.

Now a glaziers' workshop, this building was the village cinema between 1952 and the coming of television (snowy pictures from the Holme Moss transmitter) around 1959. The roof was of corrugated iron and a shower of rain would effectively drown out the film, not that it was easy to hear much over the riot that would be going on inside. I spent hours here watching such films as 'Abbot and Costello Meet the Ghosts' and 'The Mario Lanza Story'.

This large house in Deiniol Road was known to earlier generations as "Y Becws" -the Bakery.

This is the cemetery used for the burial of non-Anglicans. Members of the Church in Wales are buried at Llandinorwig Church Cemetery.

The site has been cleared for redevelopment. After its closure the old cinema had been converted into a glazier's workshop. That company has now moved its base to Caernarfon. Image

A terrace of fine Victorian built workers' houses.