Turn left into Church Walks at
the Empire Hotel and Trail Marker No. 11 is on the left just outside
the
Victoria Tramway Station. Think not that the station was named in
honour of the reigning Queen, the tramway was not built until after her
death. Rather the station was built on the site of the Victoria Hotel
that it replaced.
Beyond the station is the
Kings Head, Llandudno's oldest pub and the leading hotel until about
1850. It was in its parlour that in 1846 the deed was plotted - the
creation of a seaside resort on the marginal wasteland and commons
between the Ormesheads as they were
known. The very
steep Old
Road (1 in 4) that the tramway follows for the first quarter mile
serves
a number of houses and yet it is hardly wide enough for the tram and
there
are no
passing places.
The tramway is one of only three cable
hauled street tramway
systems surviving in the world. The others are in San Francisco and
Lisbon. The writer's Great
Orme Tramway webpages contain more information, a great
many photographs, and a detailed history of this popular and world
famous tramway.
Church Walks descends slowly from the Tramway Station to
Saint George's Church,
built in 1840 and closed in September 2002 when Holy Trinity Church was
formally designated as Llandudno Parish Church. Saint George's is now
seeking a user that will preserve its historic features.
One should consider continuing
down Church Walks to the former National School opened on behalf of the
Established Church in 1846 as St George's School and continued on this
site until 1993 when a new Church-Aided School 'Ysgol San
Siôr'
opened in Abbey Road near the Loreto Convent and the Loreto
Retreat and Conference Centre.
The old National School was
completely restored in 2002/03 as a result of the efforts of the
Llandudno Seaside Buildings Preservation Trust and significant grant
aid. It is now used for a wide variety of educational and
community uses.