When they started building the village of Talsarnau it was called Sun Street and over the road to the Post Office was Lloyd Street, further down was Jones Street and Mrs Grace Owens' father built four or five houses that were called Trefor Place.
I'm not sure of the year but I would think it was about 1870.
There were quite a lot of shops in the village at one time. William Rowlands kept the shop where Gwenda is now, and he had a pony and cart which he used to go round the farms and to carry goods from the station. I can remember Rosie's brother going round with the cart and Billy Roberts' father working there as well; he had a little farm on the fields on the left near the embankment as you go to the traeth and he also had some of the traeth fenced out as well. William Rowlands was the first owner of a car in the village - it was a Ford (open) and he took us children to Penrhyn to see Charlie Chaplin on the films. Next door there was a shop - D. R. Jones and you could buy nearly everything there, and in the back there was a Bakehouse and they kept a few pigs where Pauline's garage is now and he also kept quite a lot of bees there as well. D. R. Jones bought a car, this was the second in Talsarnau - a Ford again like William Rowlands. Before D. R. took this shop he kept a cycle shop in a shed where the Williams Garage is now. Cambrian Stores, where the Chapel is now, was a very busy shop. The owner was Edmund Evans but they emigrated to America during the war (first war). The Coop opened a kind of shop in the station in the warehouse at the back of the station house, the Manager was Mr. Palmer but they soon moved up to the village and opened up in Cambrian Stores and they kept the shop open until a few years ago. Mr. Parry was the Manager after Palmer and he stayed in Bronwylfa. Tecwyn Rowlands, who was the brother of William Rowlands, worked in the shop with him.
Trefor House next door to 15 Trefor Place was a Temperance with a big sign hanging above the door. Mrs. Elin Jones lived there and she used to sell home made bread and buns. Mrs. Mynnot had a shop next door to Mrs. Orton, she had the groceries on one side and on the other counter there was toys, oil lamps, stationery and everything handy for the house and she used to make gingerbread and cut it up in small slices and sell it at a .5p a slice and also in the shop there was lose coffee, tea and tobacco. She had two daughters, one used to give piano lessons and she played the organ in the church. Mrs. Mynnot was teaching in the church School at Glanywern and her husband was the head gardener at Glyn. Before they rebuilt this house and made it up as it is today. The old house was like Mrs. Orton's house next door and it was called `Briws' - `Brew House' in English. It was rebuilt by Richard Jones who came down from Cancoed, Llandecwyn. Noddfa was where the Post Office used to be and Mr. and Mrs. Evan Williams lived there with their son Evan Llewelyn. Evan went out to work as a plasterer and there is a lot of his work to be seen today. He put the slates on the Coliseum in Porthmadog and also the Power house in Maentwrog.
Miss Morris kept the shop opposite the Methodist Chapel and she sold clothes and also food. The Midland Bank came from Harlech every Wednesday and that is where you had to pay the Coop monthly bills as they would not take money over the counter until later.
Before my time there were two public houses in Talsarnau - `The Sun' and the `Prince' and Mr. Stanley Humphreys' father lived there. Willie Williams had a shop where Carol lives now, he used to do shoe repairs and after he was married, Mrs. Williams used to sell clothes upstairs. The farm servants used to buy a lot there and they paid their bills and also they bought more when they had their wages and that only happened every six months. They had to make a new contract with the farmer for another six months or look for another farmer who would pay them more wages. Sian Jones lived next door, she was a widow and she was very good for pickling herrings. In later years Humphrey Williams opened a Butchers shop, they were living in the house before (opposite the Post Office) also William Owen Penybryn had a Butchers Shop in the little house opposite Noddfa and Owen Williams, Tynfron took over from William Owen.
At Pen y Gongl (Ty Anarferol as it is now called), Tom Williams kept a Butchers shop there and then J. D. Roberts opened it to sell Cycles, Wirelesses and batteries. The farm servants used to meet there, they played draughts and darts and he also had a little billiard table in the top and we had to use a ladder to go up, as they had taken the stairs away. He also sold bottles of pop there.
I found out a few years ago that they called the row of houses where Trefor Place is now Trefor Place. I think the houses were built about 1870 and it was Grace Owen's Father who built them and at first there were more than one family living in them. That is where people used to throw their rubbish in the old times as there were no houses there. Where Llys Myfyr is now my mother said that William Rowlands' mother kept a lot of pigs there.
When they started building the village of Talsarnau it was called Sun Street and over the road to the Post Office was Lloyd Street, further down was Jones Street and Mrs Grace Owens' father built four or five houses that were called Trefor Place. I'm not sure of the year but I would think it was about 1870.