Criccieth

Criccieth (Welsh Cricieth) is a town on the Cardigan Bay coast in north west Wales.

The town is a seaside resort, popular with retirees. Attractions in Criccieth include the ruins of Criccieth Castle, built by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth in 1230, and a chapel used as an art gallery.

The town is noted for its fairs, held on 23 May and 29 June every year, when large numbers of people visit the fair itself and the market which spreads through many of the streets of the town.

Famous people associated with the town include David Lloyd George, who grew up in the nearby village of Llanystumdwy.

In Wales, road signs must be bilingual; however, signage on the approach to the town have always read simply "Criccieth". The signs are repeatedly vandalised, removing one of the middle Cs. The doubling of the letter "C" is not a grammatical feature possible in Welsh and therefore the road signs are effectively displayed only in English and this is offensive to some Welsh speakers and nationalists.

Criccieth hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1975. On August 28 2003 it was granted Fairtrade Town status.

On the night of Saturday June 24 2006 a large scale riot erupted involving 300 people, mainly from Pensyflog in Porthmadog.

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