“ The Conwy stream, on which a steamboat runs from Deganwy (2 m. below Conway town) to Trefriw, opposite Llanrwst, in summer, has some coasting trade in sulphur and slates. It is about 30 m. long, its valley (a haunt of artists) containing the towns last mentioned and Bettws y coed. Its pearls are mentioned in Drayton’s Polyolbion and Spenser’s Faerie Queene. Pearl fisheries existed at Conway for many centuries, dating back to the Roman occupation. Tacitus, Agricola, 12, says of Britain “gignit et Oceanus margarita, sed subfusca ac liventia,” as are those found to-day. ”

“ St Mary’s church is Gothic; the Elizabethan Plâs Mawr is the locale of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. There are still some fragments of the 1185 Cistercian Abbey. There are golf links here and at Llandudno. ”