ROSTA - Rho-on-sea Traders Association

To start your walk stand on the promenade opposite Nino’s Café.

Looking back at the shops, across the pedestrian crossing, you will see when the buildings were built. When were they built?

Turn left and walk towards Colwyn Bay: Almost immediately you will see (on your right) the old fisherman’s cottage, on
the bottom corner of Rhos Road.

1  A few yards further along (again on your right on the other side of the road) is the Cayley Pub. Sir George Cayley was one of the first people to imagine

that man could fly. On the pub sign you will see, as well as a painting of Sir. George, a painting of a hot air balloon. This is a reference to his pioneering work with ‘planes. Also related to Sir. George Cayley were people with the following names, Digby, Everard, and Kenelm, who all have roads named after them in Rhos-on-Sea. Sir George’s other local estate was at Llannerch, St.Asaph, hence Llannerch Road and his own home was at Brompton in Yorkshire, hence Brompton Avenue.  Continue to

2  Aberhod Old Hall, 17th century farmhouse and

3 Harlequin Puppet Theatre, the only purpose built such theatre in the country, with continuous performances since 1958. Read the information board on Prom.

Turn round and walk back along the Promenade towards Llandudno.
4 The ‘breakwater’ is on your right. Before this was constructed in the 1980s
the sea regularly flooded all the way down Penrhyn Avenue as far as Church Road.                      When the large houses on the left (next door to Fortes café) were originally built, c1870, they were deemed to be ugly and out of all proportion to the rest of the village.
5 The Rhos Ffynach (on the left) is where the monks used to live hundreds of years ago. There are two stone effigies of monks beside the pub door. Read the information board propped up in the pub doorway.                    Rhos Point, on the right, opposite Abbey Road, just past the Rhos Ffynach:                         6 The small round building with the conical roof is the old booking office for the Rhos-on-Sea Pier which was demolished in the 1953. If you lean over the wall you can see the last bit of wood from the pier structure, sticking out of the

wall. Read the information board.                                         Stay on the promenade, beside the road:

7 On your left (on the other side of the road) just past Colwyn Avenue, there is a large stone building. This is ‘Algiers’ and it is an early example of the work of a local distinguished architect, Sidney Colwyn Foulkes.

8 On your right, on the foreshore, below the Promenade, is Capel Trillo. Go down to the Chapel and read the information board. The Chapel was built over a spring and was probably built sometime between the 6th and 16th century.

9 On the left (on the other side of the road) is St.Michael’s Care Home. This is a very prominent example of the 1930’s Art Deco architectural movement. The large glass fronted lounge extension on the front of the building was added c1990.

10 Another fine example of the Art Deco movement is ‘The Breakers’ on the right hand corner of College Avenue (just a little further down the road from St.Michael’s).  It was designed to look like the prow of a ship.   Back track along the Promenade, cross the road, and walk down Trillo Avenue:

11 Walk on the left hand side of the road until you reach the houses numbered 6 and 4. These were both designed by Herbert Luck North 1871-1941. (Google him when you get home). He worked with Edwin Lutyens and set up his own practice in Llanfairfechan where there are lot of houses designed by him. There are some other of his houses in Deganwy and one in Hafodty Lane, Upper Colwyn Bay. Mr North’s designs, once seen, are always recognisable and internationally highly considered. Turn left along Abbey Road (heading back towards the sea):   The large building on the left, on the corner of Colwyn Avenue, Adlington House was built on the site of Rhos Priory. During the 2nd World War Rhos Priory was used by the armed forces as a place of rest for their recuperating troops. Douglas Bader spent some time here before his capture by the Germans and subsequent incarceration in Colditz Castle.

Turn right into Colwyn Avenue, to head back into the village of Rhos:                                            12 Immediately on your right, on the corner, is Rhos-on-Sea United Reformed Church. This is a fine example of the architectural Arts and Crafts Movement. If the Church is open, make sure you go in. Continue down the road and turn left into Penrhyn Avenue: You are now in, what was originally called Tramway Avenue. It was thus named because this was the line taken by the trams and when they first came into service this was farm land. There were no other buildings, just the tram track. The trams stopped running in the 1950s.                                Head towards the sea: Immediately on the left is the Co-op store. This was built as a cinema, The Rhos Playhouse, designed by Sidney Colwyn Foulkes. Further along the roadon the right is Beardsall’s the jewellers. This business is now 96 years old and is still run by the grandson of the original owner. Next door, Jeniosa, the hair dressing business, is now installed in the old Lloyd’s Bank Building. If you look at the exterior of the building you will recognise the ‘bank style architecture’.