[1] The community includes Bardsey Island (Welsh: Ynys Enlli), the coastal area around Porthor, and the villages of Anelog, Llanfaelrhys, Penycaerau, Rhoshirwaun, Rhydlios, Uwchmynydd and Y Rhiw.

[5] The coastal waters are part of Pen Llŷn a'r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation, one of the largest marine designated sites in the United Kingdom.

In 1094, Gruffudd ap Cynan, the exiled King of Gwynedd, sought refuge in the church while attempting to recapture his throne; he escaped in the monastic community's boat to Ireland.

After the English Civil War, when the Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell introduced a strongly Protestant regime, Catholicism remained the dominant religion in the area.

[25] Under the Public Health Act 1848 the area of the poor law union became Pwllheli Rural Sanitary District, which from 1889 formed a second tier of local government under Caernarfonshire County Council.

[29] The community now forms an electoral division of Gwynedd Council, electing one councillor; William Gareth Roberts of Plaid Cymru was re-elected in 2008.

The main product locally was felt, produced by soaking the cloth in water and beating it with large wooden paddles until the wool formed a thick mat which could be flattened, dried and cut into lengths.

In 1743, John Roberts and Huw Bedward from Y Rhiw were found guilty of the murder of two shipwrecked sailors on the beach at Porth Neigwl on 6 January 1742 and were hanged; Jonathan Morgan had been killed by a knife thrust into the nape of his neck and Edward Halesham, described as a boy, had been choked to death.

[68] The community is included in Pwllheli and Llŷn Regeneration Area and was identified in the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2005 as the electoral division in Gwynedd with least access to services; it was ranked 13th in Wales.

[90] Aberdaron was the last place on the route for rest and refreshment and pilgrims often had to wait weeks in the village for a chance to cross the treacherous waters of Bardsey Sound (Welsh: Swnt Enlli).

In the Middle Ages, the abbot from the monastery on Bardsey Island visited the rock to dispense justice to local criminals; if they were found guilty, the wrongdoer would be hanged and thrown into Pwll Ddiwaelod (English: The Bottomless Pool).

[91] Above the village, on the Afon Daron, stands Bodwrdda, an early 16th-century stone-built house, which had a fulling mill adjacent; two large brick-built wings were added later, giving an imposing three-storey facade containing 17th-century windows.

Bards called it "the land of indulgences, absolution and pardon, the road to Heaven and the gate to Paradise",[96] and, in medieval times, three pilgrimages to Bardsey Island were considered to be of equivalent benefit to the soul as one to Rome.

The trust is financed through membership subscriptions, grants and donations; it is dedicated to protecting the wildlife, buildings and archaeological sites of the island; promoting its artistic and cultural life; and encouraging people to visit as a place of natural beauty and pilgrimage.

Oats, turnips and swedes are grown; goats, ducks, geese and chickens kept; and there is a mixed flock of sheep and Welsh Black cattle.

Porth Ysgo, owned by the National Trust, is reached by a steep slope from Llanfaelrhys, 3+1⁄4 miles (5 km) east of Aberdaron, past a disused manganese mine in Nant y Gadwen.

[115] On the hill summits that dot the headlands are heather and gorse, shaped by the prevailing wind; thrift and wild thyme thrive on the acidic soil.

[92] It provided fuel from peat cuttings, pasture for animals and accommodated squatters, mainly fishermen, who had encroached on the common with the tacit acceptance of the community.

[37] At Mynydd Mawr, the picnic site has views which, on a fine day, take in Cardigan Bay, Bardsey Island and the Wicklow Mountains; at night, South Stack Lighthouse is visible in the distance.

[89] A road to the summit, owned by the National Trust, was built during the Second World War to provide access to the heights, where men were posted to give early warning to Liverpool of Luftwaffe air raids.

At the foot of Mynydd Mawr is Ffynnon Fair (English: St Mary's Well), the last stop for pilgrims crossing to the island; the well is a freshwater spring which is covered twice daily by the sea, emerging from the ebbing tide with crystal clear water.

Further south is Porth y Pistyll, which has good views of Ynysoedd Gwylanod, home to puffin and guillemot colonies; and Pen y Cil, where the Precambrian pillow lavas are exposed, revealing how they have been contorted over time.

Bus routes are operated by two companies:[130] The nearest National Rail station is at Pwllheli, about 15 miles (24 km) to the east; it is the western terminus of the Cambrian Coast Line.

[156] During the early 1920s, South African poet Roy Campbell and his aristocratic English wife Mary Garman lived in a croglofft cottage" above Porth Ysgo.

[157] According to his biographer, Joseph Pearce, Roy and Mary Campbell shocked the local population with their flashy, colourful clothing, unkempt appearances and lack of bashfulness about nudity and sex.

She was born in 1734 and lived all her adult life at Bryn Canaid in Uwchmynydd, where she would collect plants, cheese, apple mold and local manganese to make remedies.

[167] Her play Hugo was inspired by her stay, and she has produced two novels, Atyniad (English: Attraction), which won the prose medal at the 2006 Eisteddfod; and Twenty Thousand Saints, winner of the Oxfam Hay Prize, which tells how the women of the island, starved of men, turn to each other.

Inside is a display about the life and works of the poet R. S. Thomas;[149] and in the churchyard stand Y Meini Feracius a Senagus (English: The Veracius and Senacus Stones), the tombstones of two 5th-century Christian priests, found in the 18th century on farmland near Mynydd Anelog.

[192] The Ynysoedd Gwylanod are particularly popular and the wreck of the Glenocum, in Bae Aberdaron, is excellent for novices, having a maximum depth of 26 feet (7.9 m); an extremely large conger eel lives in the lower section of the boiler openings.

Aberdaron Beach is a surfing and bodyboarding location for surfers of all levels, although it can be dangerous at high tide when the waves break directly onto boulders underneath the cliff.