Abersoch

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place

Abersoch (Template:IPA) is a village in the community of Llanengan in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a coastal seaside resort, with around 2,600 residents, on the east-facing south coast of the Llŷn Peninsula at the southern terminus of the A499. It is about Template:Convert south-west of Pwllheli and Template:Convert south-west of the county town of Caernarfon.

Etymology

The village takes its name from the river Soch, which reaches the sea in the village. 'Aber' meaning 'estuary', gives us a literal translation of the 'Soch Estuary'. The name of the village is often rendered "Rabar" in the local Welsh dialect.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> File:Pronunciation of Abersoch.wav

Archaeology

In the dry summer of 2018, aerial photography at Fach Farm, some 1100 metres north of the bridge over the Afon Soch, identified crop marks that were reported as a possible Roman fortlet. High-resolution geophysics in 2019 revealed evidence of a complex defended enclosure, unlike Roman military structures but suggesting a pre-Roman date.<ref>Driver, T., Burnham, B., & Davies, J. (2020). Roman Wales: Aerial Discoveries and New Observations from the Drought of 2018. Britannia, 1-29. doi:10.1017/S0068113X20000100</ref>

Tourism

Built upon the fishing trade, Abersoch was once a small village which grew exponentially after the 1950s with the rise of tourism. The fishing port which was guided by the Abersoch Fishermen's Society<ref>Birmingham Daily Post - Monday 28 May 1956</ref> (which was replaced with the active Pysgotwyr Llŷn Fishermen's Association)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is still being used for fishing, however it is no longer the village's major source of income.

It is now a tourist centre specialising in dinghy sailing and other watersports such as windsurfing and jet-skiing. Nearby Porth Neigwl is also popular for surfing; it can hold large swells in the winter which can reach Template:Convert; however, the prevailing south-westerly winds can affect qualityTemplate:Citation needed.

The village had a lifeboat station from 1869 until 1931. A new inshore lifeboat station was opened in 1965.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Central Abersoch has a variety of small shops as well as bars, restaurants, cafes and hotels. Boat trips around St Tudwal's Islands (one of which is owned by the famous survival instructor, Bear Grylls) to see the seals and other wildlife are available from the village. Abersoch is also popular for its close proximity to Snowdonia National Park, with Snowdon being visible from Abersoch Bay on clear days. There is an 18-hole golf course.

Abersoch was named one of the best places to live in Wales in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:Main Because of Abersoch's popularity with tourists, particularly from northwest England and the western Midlands, there has been an increase in the sale of holiday homes in the area, and of the conversion of old properties into holiday lets.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This has led locals, through the YesCymru campaign, to protest against rising house prices which push families away from the coastal towns where they were raised,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as a result of high numbers of holiday lets compared with low numbers of families, Abersoch primary school was forced to close.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gwynedd Council has called for the Welsh government to step in to limit the number of homes allotted to each area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Demographics

Country of birth

According to the 2011 UK Census, 97.2% of the population was born in the United Kingdom. Although situated in Wales, the majority of the village's population (51.1%) was born in England, with only 44.7% having been born in Wales.<ref name=":0">Template:NOMIS2011</ref>

Identity

The 2011 Census demonstrated that 60.4% of the population had no Welsh identity. 34.0% of the population identified themselves as Welsh only.<ref name=":0" /> The surrounding community of Llanengan is considerably less Anglicised.

Welsh language

43.5% of the population aged 3 and over noted that they could speak Welsh. 52.1% noted that they had one or more skills in the Welsh language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Of those who were born in Wales, 85% of the population aged three and over noted that they could speak Welsh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In June 2021, a Welsh language primary school 'Ysgol Abersoch' was threatened with closure, where the current school-children would be transferred to the closest school at 'Ysgol Sarn bach' which is located 1.4 miles away.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2021, despite over 200 objections from the public, the council unanimously voted to shut the school down.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It closed at Christmas, 2021.<ref name="G31222">Template:Cite news</ref>

The neighbouring village of Sarn Bach has a Welsh-medium primary school for 3 to 11 year olds. As of 2017, the two schools between them educated 72 pupils.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to the latest Estyn reports conducted in 2017, 39% of pupils in Ysgol Abersoch primary school came from Welsh-speaking homes, with 47% of pupils of Sarn Bach pupils coming from homes where Welsh was spoken.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The closest specialist school to Abersoch is Ysgol Hafod Lon in Penrhyndeudraeth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ysgol Botwnnog, situated Template:Convert inland from Abersoch, provides Welsh-medium secondary education to pupils from the village.