Boot Street, Caernarfon
Boot Street was a short street, with about five buildings, in this vicinity. It was demolished sometime after February 1878, when a thief was jailed for stealing a pair of trousers from Ned Coxon of Boot Street.
The land belonged to the Glynllifon estate, ancestral home of the Glynne and Wynn(e) family. Some historians believe that Boot Street may have been named after the black leg at the centre of the family’s coat of arms. The photo shows part of the coat of arms.
The family claimed descent from Cilmyn Troed Ddu (‘Cilmyn Black Foot’), a chieftain of Gwynedd. According to legend, he helped a wizard to steal some of the devil’s books. While fleeing from the devil, Cilmyn jumped a stream. One of his feet sank into the mud and turned black.
The poet Dafydd Ddu Eryri (1759-1822) lived in Boot Street for a time. His father, Thomas Griffith, had worked in the Glynllifon estate’s fulling mill. His son was named David and took the surname Thomas, in line with the Welsh patronymic custom. David received tuition from the curate of Llanberis and founded a school in Betws Garmon. While teaching there, he was given access to the libraries of various ministers. Paul Panton of Plas Gwyn, Pentraeth, Anglesey, asked David to help with cataloguing his collection of Welsh manuscripts.
David won so many poetry competitions in the 1780s and 90s that he was barred from competing for two years, to give others a chance! He was an inspiration to many other poets in North-west Wales.
With thanks to Caernarfon Civic Society
Postcode: LL55 1AN