[Welsh, place where river flows from the lake]
A lake in Gwynedd (until 1974, Merionethshire), the largest stretch of inland fresh water in Wales, 4 miles long and half a mile wide, and the chief source of the River Dee. It was once the heart of the powerful, ancient Celtic people the Ordovices, whose descendants became the leaders of Gwynedd. The remains of an Ordovician hillfort, Caer Euni, lie 5 miles NE of Bala. At Llafawr, 2 miles from Bala, is the alleged burial-place of the 7th-century poet Llywarch Hen. Gwion Bach was immersed here and later transformed into Taliesin. The giant Tegid Foel [Welsh, the bald] lived here with his wife, Ceridwen. Known as Llyn Tegid in much of Welsh tradition; also known as Pemble Mere; possibly identical with Llyn Llion.
