The village is the largest in the area known as Uwchaled which also includes Llangwm, Pentrefoelas, Pentre-llyn-cymer, Dinmael, Glasfryn, Cefn Brith, Llanfihangel.G.M and Cwm Penanner.

In the farmhouse of Ceirnioge Mawr, where the stagecoach and Mail coach horses were changed, there is a plaque marking the fact that Queen Victoria stopped there en route to Ireland.

Today it is the most important tourist attraction in the area and provides competition class fly fishing facilities for many visitors.

In 1924, a farmer was carrying out repairs on a wall at Ty-tan-y-Foel Farm when he found significant Iron Age remains in a stone-lined cist.

Archaeologists thought for decades that the fragments formed a vessel, but recent research has revealed that it is a headpiece decorated with palm leaf and lotus flower designs.

Jacqueline Chadwick, an artist, and Nodge Nolan, a craftsman who specialised in reconstructing Roman era artefacts, were commissioned to produce it.

His ideas were published in the polemical pamphlets Seren tan Gwmwl ("Star under a Cloud") and Toriad y Dydd ("Break of Day").

Due to its upland setting, it tends to be cooler than coastal areas of Wales throughout the year, and heavy snowfall can occur during winter months.

The nearest MetOffice weather station[11] at Alwen, about 2.5 miles to the North, holds the Welsh record for the coldest day for the months of June, September and October[12] The biggest employer in the parish remains agriculture, although tourism-related work is becoming common.

It once received as a guest the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George when he was unable to return home due to heavy snowfall.

At its conception the engineer who designed the dam, George Deacon, also planned Llyn Brenig, built over half a century later.