Buan, Gwynedd


Buan is a community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, located on the Llŷn Peninsula. It includes the villages of Boduan and Rhydyclafdy, and has a population of 469, increasing to 484 at the 2011 Census.

History

In 1870–72 the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales by John Marius Wilson described Buan as:

Geography and demographics

Buan is located in the south-western central part of Gwynedd on the Llŷn Peninsula, in North West Wales, and includes the villages of Boduan and Rhydyclafdy. The landscape is dominated by farms and woodland. According to the 2011 census, the community of Buan had a population of 484 people. In addition, there are 195 households in the community with a population density of 0.1 per hectare. Buan is situated near the Corn Bodvean hill, and its nearest town is Nefyn which is located approximately south of the community. Christianity was the majority religion in the area with two people stating they followed other religions. Of Buan's 484 residents, 84.1% described their health as either "good" or "very good", and of those aged between 16 and over, 18.8% had no academic qualifications or one GCSE, lower than the figures for all of Gwynedd and Wales.

Governance

In local government Buan is governed by Gwynedd Council, and is in the Efailnewydd/Buan ward, which is part of the Dwyfor electoral district. At the national level Buan is in the Welsh parliamentary constituency of Dwyfor Meirionnydd, for which Liz Saville-Roberts has been MP since 2015. In the general election of 2015 Saville-Roberts won 11,790 votes, giving her a majority of 5,261; the Conservative Party won 6,550 and the Labour Party won 3,904 votes, while the United Kingdom Independence Party took 3,126 votes. The Independent candidate Louise Hughes, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party each won fewer than 2,000 votes, Hughes performed slightly better of all three. In the Welsh Assembly Buan is in the constituency of Dwyfor Meirionnydd for which Dafydd Elis-Thomas has been the Assembly Member since its creation in 2007.

Education

Ysgol Rhydyclafdy School was the only primary school in the community and closed in 2008 due to a falling number in pupils and as part of a programme that saw two additional schools being closed on the Llŷn Peninsula. Gwynedd Council allowed the building to be reopened as a nursery with community facilities two years later.

Notable landmarks

The following are the listed buildings in Buan. The listings are graded:
Buan contains 34 Grade II listed buildings, in addition to two Grade II* listed buildings. The former church of the same name, St Buan, was in 1765, and is reminiscent of the Romanesque style in design. The church was later deconsecrated and sold in 2004.