Porthmadog (Welsh: [pɔrθˈmadɔɡ] ⓘ), spelt Portmadoc until 1972 and known locally as "Port",[1] is a coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, Wales, and the historic county of Caernarfonshire.

[2] It grew in the 19th century as a port for local slate, but as the trade declined, it continued as a shopping and tourism centre, being close to Snowdonia National Park and the Ffestiniog Railway.

Diversion of the Afon Glaslyn caused it to scour out a new natural harbour deep enough for small ocean-going sailing ships,[6] and the first public wharves appeared in 1825.

Quarry companies followed, with wharves along the shore almost to Borth-y-Gest, while slate was carted from Ffestiniog down to quays along the Afon Dwyryd, then boated to Porthmadog for transfer to seagoing vessels.

The rapidly growing cities of England needed high-quality roofing slate, which was brought to the new port by tramway from quarries in Ffestiniog and Llanfrothen.

It would develop into Stryd Fawr, the main commercial street of the town, with a range of shops and public houses and a post office, but the open green retained.

[7] Porthmadog's role as a commercial port, already reduced by the opening of the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway in 1867, was effectively ended by the First World War, when the lucrative German market for slate collapsed.

The estuary, filled with sediment deposited by rivers emptying from the melting glaciers at the end of the last ice age,[30] is a haven for migrating birds.

Borth-y-Gest, 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Porthmadog, is built in a shallow bowl sweeping down to a sheltered bay, with hidden sandy coves and cliffs.

[35] On the shore is another nature reserve, Pen y Banc, a mixture of coastal rocks, secluded sandy coves and mixed woodland.

[45] Tremadog, a planned settlement 0.9 miles (1.4 km) north of Porthmadog, was built on land reclaimed from Traeth Mawr by William Madocks.

In 1805 the first cottages appeared in what Madocks called Pentre Gwaelod ("Bottom Village"), which was designed to give an impression of a borough, with a central Town Hall and Dance Room.

Slate had already reached King's Lynn and the Port of Wisbech by 1830 and was shipped further inland in barges for use in late Georgian era development.

[56] Welsh slate was also in high demand as a construction material in the English industrial cities and transported to the new port by horse-drawn tramways.

The Carnarvonshire and Merionethshire Steamship Company formed in 1864 purchased the Rebecca to carry stores from Liverpool to supply the growing town.

The arrival at Blaenau Ffestiniog of the LNWR in 1879 and the GWR in 1883 brought a steady decline in the slate traffic carried by the Festiniog Railway and Portmadoc shipping.

After the arrival of the railway there was a reduction in trade, but a new type of ship, the Western Ocean Yacht, was developed for the salt cod industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.

[62] The Cob is a prominent embankment built across the Glaslyn estuary in 1811 by William Madocks to reclaim land at Traeth Mawr for agriculture.

It opened with a four-day feast and Eisteddfod celebrating the roadway connecting Caernarfonshire to Meirionnydd, which figured in Madocks's plans for a road from London to his proposed port at Porthdinllaen.

[6] In 2012, 260 metres of the embankment were widened on the seaward side of the Porthmadog end to allow a second platform to be added to the Ffestiniog Railway's Harbour Station.

[65] Grisiau Mawr ("Big Steps") connected the quay to Garth and houses were built for the ship owners and sea captains.

The Millennium Dome, constructed by local craftsmen in 1999 to mark the store's 125th anniversary, is made of stained glass depicting scenes from Porthmadog in 1874.

[6] The Royal Sportsman Hotel (Welsh: Gwesty'r Heliwr) on Stryd Fawr was built in 1862 as a staging post on the turnpike road to Porthdinllaen.

The arrival of the railway five years later brought rising numbers of tourists, and the hotel soon became famous for its liveried carriage and horses to take guests to local sightseeing spots.

[67] Taking the form of a Celtic cross and standing 16 feet (4.9 m) high, it was fashioned from Trefor granite and unveiled "in memory of ninety-seven fallen war heroes of Madoc Vale" in 1922.

[79] Of the town's three railway stations, Porthmadog on the Cambrian Coast Line between Pwllheli and Machynlleth is served by Transport for Wales for Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

The original tenancy agreement stipulated that golfers must take no game, hares, rabbits or wildfowl and pay compensation for any sheep or cattle killed or injured.

The club competes as part of the Welsh Sea Rowing Association [101] Glaslyn Leisure Centre on Stryd y Llan has a 25-metre swimming pool and sports hall, badminton, squash and tennis courts, a sauna, a five-a-side football pitch and a dance studio.

[104] Bass, flounder and huge schools of whiting are found at Black Rock Sands, along with thornback ray, mackerel and garfish.

[105] Bass, flatfish, eel and some very large mullet can be caught in Porthmadog Harbour, in the heart of the town, though care must be taken to avoid taking the poisonous lesser weever.