Tonfanau is a coastal village in the community of Llangelynnin, in Gwynedd (formerly Merionethshire), Wales.

Around 600 men were stationed at the camp, which specialised in training personnel in anti-aircraft artillery.

Over 3,000 Ugandan Asians, fleeing from persecution by Idi Amin, were housed there for six months before being settled elsewhere.

In 1892, a group of local miners opened a granite quarry to the north of the village.

[6] During the First World War, several German prisoners of war (who were being housed in Tywyn worked at the quarry between June 1918 and November 1919 (after which they were transferred to Frongoch internment camp near Bala); one of them experienced a fatal accident – they died from the injuries in Machynlleth Cottage Hospital.