Points 23-25
Pause outside numbers 60-64. These interesting STONE COTTAGES (23) were built in 1857 to serve the quarry which at Bryn Euryn (19). The initials carved on the front of the cottages are those of Whitehall Dodd, who owned all the surrounding estate at the time and whose name lives on in local road names. The first railway in Rhos once ran behind these houses - a primitive track with horse drawn trucks to take stone from the quarry at Bryn Euryn to a 19th century quay on the seafront. The remains of the railway embankment still exist in the back gardens of some of the houses on Rhos Road, and residents have found numerous old horseshoes along the route.
Carry on to numbers 56 and 58. These slightly more functional stone cottages also date back to the days before most of Rhos was built. They were originally tied cottages for farm workers at the Aberhod (8), in the days when it was still a farm. The surrounding area was still all open fields. This was reflected the terms of the lease to the tenants. Technically they are still allowed to keep two pigs, and to fish in the sea.
Turn left into Elwy Road. Where the road bends slightly left, cross over and enter the park by a flat-roofed house (built in the modernist style). Through the trees on your left, you can just see the COLWYN BAY CRICKET CLUB. Opened in 1924, the cricket club still plays an important part in the life of the local community. It continues to host important matches such as the regular county match between Glamorgan and Lancashire. It hosted the touring West Indies side in 1984.
Follow the path down past the tennis courts to the road. If you look around, you will be able to sense that you are in a small river valley. This is the river bed of the Afon Ganol (now diverted). It used to run into the sea in Rhos, and there is evidence that there used to be a small dock and boatyard in its mouth in earlier centuries.
Turn right into Penrhyn Avenue. The old tramway to Llandudno used to run along this road. As you pass the flats called Penrhyn Park, look closely in the grass by the pavement and you will see the metal base of one of the old pillars used to support the overhead tram wires - all that now remains.
Take the first left into Colwyn Crescent. Continue straight ahead into Trillo Avenue. Note NUMBERS 4 & 6 ON YOUR RIGHT (13). Continue down the road, back to St Trillo's Chapel, your starting point. If you wish, and are feeling fit, you can turn left to walk EXTENSION C (approx 40 minutes). Cross over, so that you can walk on the path below the road, by the sea. This gives attractive views across to the Little Orme. You can see how the end of the Little Orme has been quarried away to provide limestone, some of it for building Rhos-on-Sea. Mostyn Estates insisted that the quarrying was all done on the Rhos side of the Little Orme. They imposed this condition to ensure that the view of the Little Orme from Llandudno was not damaged. Presumably the view from the Rhos-on-Sea side did not concern them.
Cross over the road at the start of the golf course and look across the golf links. The golf club dates from 1899, but its real claim to fame is that it was it was THE LANDING SITE OF FIRST AEROPLANE TO LAND IN NORTH WALES (24). The plane, a Farmer Racer biplane, landed on Rhos-on-Sea golf course just 100 yards from the club house (possibly by accident) on August 10 1910 much to the amazement and delight of local people. An aviation pioneer called Robert Lorraine piloted it. He had taken off from Blackpool air show to establish two records for the time - the longest over-sea flight (63 miles), and the first aircraft to land in Wales. He had planned to land at Holyhead, and then try and cross the Irish Sea, but bad weather forced him down here, thus putting Rhos-on-Sea into the history books.
Turn back towards Rhos, noting the house on your right called ODSTONE. This is a private house. In its front garden is MADOC'S QUAY (25). The stream you can see on the golf course was a navigable river in ancient times, probably with a harbour, and it is thought that the rockery in the garden is made out of the remains of the old quay. Prince Madoc is alleged to have sailed from here with two ships in 1170 to discover America 322 years before Columbus. Tradition tells us that he returned some years later to tell of his discovery of a new land. He then collected a fleet of 10 ships loaded with colonists, and was never seen again.
Although the legend cannot be proved, a commemorative stone in Alabama does mark the place where he is claimed to have settled. There is a plaque in the garden (not open to the public, and not visible from the road) which states "Prince Madoc sailed from here Aber-Kerric-Gwynan 1170 AD and landed at Mobile, Alabama with his ships Gorn Gwynant and Pedr Sant". It is doubtful if the truth of the legend will ever be proved conclusively one way or another, but is amazing to think that this spot might have been witness to such major firsts for Wales - a pioneering navigator who discovered America, and a pioneering aviator who landed the first plane in Wales!
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