Bala, Gwynedd

Bala is a market town and community in Gwynedd, Wales. Formerly an urban district, Bala lies within the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies at the north end of Bala Lake, 17 miles north-east of Dolgellau, with a population taken in the United Kingdom Census 2011 of 1, 974. It is little more than one wide street, Stryd Fawr . The High Street and its shops can be quite busy in the summer months with many tourists. Bala was ranked having the 20th highest percentage of Welsh language speakers in Wales by electoral division, in the United Kingdom Census 2011. According to the census, 78. 5% of Bala's population can speak Welsh. HistoryThe Tower of Bala is a tumulus or "moat-hill", formerly thought to mark the site of a Roman camp. In the 18th century, the town was well known for the manufacture of flannel, stockings, gloves and hosiery. The large stone-built theological college, Coleg Y Bala, of the Calvinistic Methodists and the grammar school, which was founded in 1712, are the chief features, together with the statue of the Rev. Thomas Charles, the theological writer, to whom was largely due the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

Bala is a market town and community in Gwynedd, Wales. Formerly an urban district, Bala lies within the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies at the north end of Bala Lake, 17 miles north-east of Dolgellau, with a population taken in the United Kingdom Census 2011 of 1, 974. It is little more than one wide street, Stryd Fawr . The High Street and its shops can be quite busy in the summer months with many tourists. Bala was ranked having the 20th highest percentage of Welsh language speakers in Wales by electoral division, in the United Kingdom Census 2011. According to the census, 78. 5% of Bala's population can speak Welsh. HistoryThe Tower of Bala is a tumulus or "moat-hill", formerly thought to mark the site of a Roman camp. In the 18th century, the town was well known for the manufacture of flannel, stockings, gloves and hosiery. The large stone-built theological college, Coleg Y Bala, of the Calvinistic Methodists and the grammar school, which was founded in 1712, are the chief features, together with the statue of the Rev. Thomas Charles, the theological writer, to whom was largely due the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society.