Page "Trefriw" Paragraph 12

It seems probable that Trefriw has links with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Thomas Wiliems, who was probably born in the village, and a nephew of Sir John Wynn of Gwydir, went to Brasenose College, Oxford, and returned to work as a physician.

He was an authority on vegetarianism, and also published a Welsh / Latin dictionary.

In 1573 he became Curate of Trefriw.

He is reputed to have been a papist ( he was certainly charged on that score at Bangor in 1607 ) and as such would probably have known of the plot to blow up Parliament.

According to some sources it was he who, in warning his relative John Wynn not to go to the State Opening, was responsible to either a smaller or greater extent for the suspicions which ultimately caught Guy Fawkes.

This story is the basis for a short historical novel written for children by Gweneth Lilly, entitled Treason at Trefriw ( Gomer Press, 1993 ).