BALA, a township and market-town and assize-town, in the parish of LLANYCIL, hundred of PENLLYN, county of MERIONETH,
NORTH WALES, 18 miles (N. E.) from Dolgelley, and 204 (N.W. by W.) from London. The population is returned with the
parish. This place derives its name, which signifies "a running out," from its situation near the efflux of the Dee from
the adjoining lake of Llyn Tegid. Its early history is involved in obscurity, and nothing peculiarly remarkable has been
with certainty recorded of it. A high artificial mount, called Tommen y Bala, at the south-eastern extremity of the town,
is thought to have been constructed by the Romans, who built a small fortress upon its summit, to protect the pass towards
the sea, and overawe the turbulent inhabitants of the district: this mount was afterwards used by the Welsh, as one of a
chain of forts which they established across this portion of the principality, terminating at the sea on the confines of
Flintshire, for the purpose of defending themselves against the invasions of the lords-marcher. A castle was erected here,
in 1202, by Llewelyn ab Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales, probably, as Mr. Pennant supposes, on or near the site of a more
ancient castelet, called "Castell Gronw Bevr o BenllSrn:" some vestiges of it are still traceable on the eastern side of
the Dee, near the point where that river emerges from the lake. Bala was probably dependent upon the castle of Harlech,
and, in the reign of Edward II., was committed to the custody of Einion de Stanedon, constable of that castle: in that of
Edward III. both these places were given in fee-farm to Walter de Manni, a distinguished military commander, who was
appointed sheriff of this county for life. The town, which consists of one wide street and a smaller one, not lighted, but
well supplied with water, is situated on the road from DOlgelley to Corwen, near the north-western extremity of the lake ;
and, although standing in an unfertile district, and destitute of all the advantages derived from water carriage, yet in
appearance it is excelled by few towns in the principality. The surrounding country consists chiefly of wild moors and
heathy mountains, from which circumstance this has become the general rendezvous of gentlemen resorting to this part of
Wales for grouseshooting. A book society was established here in 1828. Bala and its neighbourhood have for a long series
of years been noted for the knitting of woollen stockings, socks, and gloves, but this manufacture has of late been on the
decline: in the year 1830, thirty-two thousand dozen pair of stockings, ten thousand dozen pair of socks, and five
thousand five hundred dozen pair of gloves, were made. The hosiery is distinguished for the softness of its texture, which
causes it to be held in high esteem for winter wear, and universally recommended by the medical faculty. The market, which
is on Saturday, is well attended; and fairs are held on the Saturday before Shrovetide, chiefly for the hiring of
servants, and May 14th, July 10th, October 24th, and November 8th, chiefly for the sale of live stock; that in July is a
great fair for lambs. Bala was anciently incorporated, under the government of two bailiffs and a common council: it is
under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates. The spring assizes, and the winter and summer quarter sessions, for the
county are held here; and the county court, for the recovery of debts under forty shillings, is held once a month, by the
deputy sheriff, either here or at DOlgelley. The town-hall is a plain substantial building, standing in the principal
street: attached to it is one of the county bridewells, which is under the regulation of the magistrates for the hundred,
but is too small to admit of an extended system of classification. A chapel of ease was erected by subscription, in 1811:
it is a small plain structure, with a low tower, surmounted by a spire. There are places of worship for Independents and
Calvinistic Methodists, with Sunday schools attached. A grammar school was founded and endowed, in 1712, by Dr. Edmund
Meyrick, chancellor of St. David's, who bequeathed, in trust to the Principal and Fellows of Jesus' College, Oxford, land
then let for £ 15 per annum, for the instruction of children: thirty boys are now clothed and educated for four years on
this foundation, and the master, who is appointed by the Principal and Fellows, receives a salary of 440 per annum, with a
rent-free residence: the sum of £60 is annually applied towards clothing the children. A branch of the Roman Watling-
street, passing from the station Mediolanum, in Montgomeryshire,to that of Heriri Mons, near Festiniog, proceeded through
or very near the present town of Bala; and at the upper end of the lake, the remains of a Roman station, now called Caer
Gai, are very conspicuously situated, around which a great quantity of Roman bricks lies scattered. The Rev. T. Charles,
formerly of Jesus' College, Oxford, one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and an indefatigable
promoter of Sunday schools and circulating charity schools, resided at this place, where he died in 1814, and was interred
in the parochial church: he also distinguished himself as the author of an extensive work, in the Welsh language, entitled
Geiriadur Ysgrythyrol, or a " Scriptural Dictionary." Bala lake, called also Llyn Tegid and Pimble mere, is the largest in
Wales, being about four miles in length, and in some places nearly one mile in breadth: its greatest depth, which is
opposite Bryn Goleu, is about forty-six yards. Its overilowings, when the wind rushes from the mountains at the upper end,
occasion great damage: in stormy weather it receives a great accession of water from the mountain torrents, and rises to
the height of seven or eight feet above its ordinary level, covering a considerable portion of the vales of PenlVn and
Edeyrnion, and even endangering the security of the town itself. The river Dee has its source under Aran PenlVn, a high
mountain at the head of the lake, through which it has been said, by Giraldus Cambrensis, Drayton, and others, to flow
without mingling its waters; as the Rhone is fabled to pass through the lake of Geneva, and the classic Alpheus through
the Adriatic sea. This assertion is partly founded on the circumstance that salmon, which are plentiful in the river, are
never found in the lake; nor are gwyniaid, which swim in shoals in the lake, ever seen, except rarely, in the river ' but
this may be accounted for by the instinct which all creatures exhibit, in resorting only to those haunts most congenial to
their habits, and most convenient for feeding and shelter. The lake abounds with pike, perch, trout, and eels; and there
are also a few roach, and innumerable gwyniaid (so called from the whiteness of their scales), a species of fish found
only in Alpine waters, and resembling whitings in flavour, which spawn in December, and are caught in great numbers in
spring and summer. The fishery, in the thirteenth century, belonged to the abbot and monks of Basingwerk: the whole is now
the property of Sir W. W. Wynne, Bart., who has a handsome villa, called Glhi L1))n, pleasantly situated upon the margin
of the lake. From the summit of Tommen y Bala, at the north-eastern extremity of this fine sheet of water, the view to the
south-west is exceedingly grand: on the right it is fringed by a line of rich meadows, and on the left is the bridge,
under which the Dee passes: a large rocky hill, the sides of which are well clothed with wood, rises over it in
picturesque beauty, and hence the eye is directed along a ridge of craggy elevations, to the lofty Arans, with their two
pre-eminent summits, Aran Mowddwy and PenlVn. On the north-west soar the Arenigs, Vawr and Vach, with the cloud-encircled
summit of Cader Idris, terminating the prospect. The local tradition vulgarly connected with the formation of this lake,
in common with most other large pieces of water in the principality, is, that it occupies the site of the palace and
grounds of a rich, haughty, and irreligious prince, whose wealth, acquired by acts of rapine and murder, was preserved by
oppression and the violent exercise of arbitrary power; till at length, disregarding the warnings he had often received
from a superhuman agent, he drew down upon himself the vengeance of an offended God, and his magnificent mansion was
suddenly swallowed up, whilst celebrating the birth of his eldest son's first-born, and surrounded by a gay concourse of
lords and ladies, whom he had invited as friends to participate in the festivity: the towers and parapets of the palace
are credulously reported to have been frequently seen, by the superstitious boatmen of former times, when the bright full
moon reflected its refulgent lustre upon the glassy surface of the unruffled waters. Some flourishing plantations of young
trees have within the last thirty years been formed at Cyvty, Caer Leon, and Tal y Bout, in the vicinity of this town, by
W. M. Thackeray, Esq., M.D.