Morfa Conwy facts for kids
Morfa Conwy is a sandy area in north-west Wales. It's located north of the A55 road entrance to Conwy in the Conwy county borough. People often call it Conwy Morfa, which might have come from "Conway Marsh". The old North Wales Coast Line railway even had a stop called 'Conway Morfa'.
Locally, people call it "The Morfa" (which means the sea marsh in Welsh). It forms the southern side of the River Conwy estuary. Today, Morfa Conwy is a large sandy bay. At low tide, it becomes part of the huge sandy beaches and mussel banks of Conwy Bay. Many things have been built on Morfa Conwy, including:
- A big sandy beach
- A golf club, which might be where golf was first played in Wales
- Conwy Quays marina, a place for boats
- An industrial estate, which is a business area
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Golf History at Morfa Conwy
In 1869, three Scotsmen created a few golf holes on Morfa Conwy. This might have been the very first time golf was played in Wales! Later, in 1875, members from The Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake saw how great Morfa Conwy was for golf. They had a 12-hole course professionally designed.
On June 30, 1890, The Caernarvonshire (Conwy) Golf Club was officially started. A month later, on July 30, the club's first Captain, Mr. Sydney Platt, opened the clubhouse. It was a military hut donated from a local army base! In 1895, the club helped create the Welsh Golfing Union. After making the course bigger to eighteen holes, they hosted the first Welsh National Championship.
Today, it's a typical links course. This means it's built on sandy land near the coast. It has lots of gorse bushes and strong winds, which make playing golf there quite a challenge! Douglas Adams, a famous golf painter, created three of his best paintings at Morfa Conwy. These paintings are called A Difficult Bunker, The Putting Green, and The Drive. You can see them in the current clubhouse, which was finished in 1996. This is the fifth clubhouse since 1875.
Mulberry Harbours for D-Day
There's a discussion about who first thought of the Mulberry Harbour design. However, we know that Hugh Iorys Hughes, a civil engineer from North Wales, was asked to test one of the designs. He had a lot of input into this particular design.
The first versions of these harbours were built at Morfa Conwy. The area became a huge construction site. Over 1,000 workers were brought in to help. One of these workers was Oleg Kerensky, whose father was a former Russian Prime Minister. Oleg supervised the building process. Hughes built three large concrete structures called 'Hippo' caissons. These were then pulled from Morfa Conwy to a test site in Scotland.
The main production of these structures happened behind what is now the second green of the golf course. After being built, the caissons were launched into the River Conwy estuary. From there, they began their journey south. These special harbours played a very important part in the D-Day landings during World War II.
Football History at Morfa Conwy
Llandudno Junction F.C. used to play football at Morfa Conwy for a while. However, fewer people were coming to watch their games, and costs were high. By the 1953–54 season, they and their local rivals, Conwy Borough, were at the bottom of the Welsh League (North).
An agreement was made, and a new team called Borough United F.C. was created. They left Morfa Conwy and played for 15 seasons at Nant-y-Coed in Llandudno Junction. They wore the maroon and white colours of Llandudno Junction. In the 1962–63 season, they won the Welsh Cup! They beat a professional team, Newport County A.F.C., 2–1.
Because they won the Welsh Cup, they got to enter the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They beat a team from Malta called Sliema Wanderers F.C. in the first round. However, they lost to the Czech cup-winners ŠK Slovan Bratislava with a score of 4–0.
In 1967, the owners of Nant-y-Coed asked the club to leave. The football club couldn't find a new place to play or join with other local clubs. They also said no to returning to the Morfa site because it only had a pitch and no other facilities. They left the Welsh League and played as a wandering team for two more seasons before closing down in 1969.
Llandudno Rugby Club
For the 1953–54 season, the Llandudno Rugby Club started playing at Morfa Conwy. This happened after the Conwy Football Club left the Morfa sports ground. In 1957, a fire destroyed the changing rooms at the Morfa ground. Because of this, the rugby club moved to a new ground in Llandudno.
