Dwyfor

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Former district of Gwynedd, Wales

title: "Dwyfor" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["districts-of-gwynedd", "former-subdivisions-of-wales", "districts-of-wales-abolished-in-1996", "1974-establishments-in-wales"] description: "Former district of Gwynedd, Wales" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwyfor" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Former district of Gwynedd, Wales ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox historic subdivision|"]

Field	Value
Name	Dwyfor
HQ	Pwllheli
subdivision_type	District
Start	1 April 1974
End	31 March 1996
Replace	Gwynedd
image	[[File:Swyddfa Dwyfor Council Offices Pwllheli - geograph.org.uk - 355474.jpg
Council Offices, Embankment Road, Pwllheli
image_map	Dwyfor au pays de Galles (1974-1996).svg
image_map_caption	Dwyfor shown within Wales
membership_title1	County Council
membership1	Gwynedd
::

Dwyfor was one of the five local government districts of Gwynedd, Wales from 1974 to 1996, covering the Llŷn peninsula. Its council was based in Pwllheli.

History

The district was created on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the whole area of four former districts and parts of a fifth from the administrative county of Caernarfonshire, which were all abolished at the same time:

Beddgelert parish from Gwyrfai Rural District
Clynnog parish from Gwyrfai Rural District
Criccieth Urban District
Llŷn Rural District
Porthmadog Urban District
Pwllheli Municipal Borough The new district was named after the river Dwyfor.

Dwyfor was notable for being the last stronghold of the Sabbatarian temperance movement in Wales. Under the terms of the Licensing Act 1961, local referendums prevented the opening of public houses on Sundays until 1996.

Under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, the previous two tier system of counties and districts was replaced with new principal areas (each designated either a "county" or a "county borough"), whose councils perform the functions previously divided between the county and district councils. The Dwyfor area merged with Arfon and Meirionnydd to become a county which the government initially called "Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire". During the transition to the new system, the shadow authority requested a change of name from "Caernarfonshire and Meirionethshire" to "Gwynedd". The government confirmed the change with effect from 2 April 1996, one day after the new council came into being.

The Dwyfor area remains in use as an area committee of Gwynedd Council.

Political control

The first election to the council was held in 1973. The council operated as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1974. Throughout the council's existence a majority of the seats were held by independents councillors.as follows:

::data[format=table]

Party in control	Years
	1974–1996
::

Premises

The council established its main offices on Embankment Road in Pwllheli. After the council's abolition in 1996 the building became an area office of Gwynedd Council.

References

{{cite legislation UK. (1972)
{{cite legislation UK. (1973)
(8 November 1996). "Drink vote drowns out the last dry Sabbath". The Times.
{{cite legislation UK. (1994)
(2 April 1996). "Hansard: Written Answers".
"Dwyfor Area Committee".
"Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
(20 November 1987). "County Council of Gwynedd". Caernarfon Herald.
"Contact us: Siopau Gwynedd".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::