Rachub

The name Rachub is thought to have come from Yr Achub, which in Old Welsh was a term for an area of land. However, in modern Welsh Yr Achub roughly translates as The Saving or Safe place: there is a tradition that when enemy forces were in the area the locals would flee to Rachub for safety (although the village did not then exist). Rachub was considered no more than a part of Llanllechid parish until the 19th century, when the slate industry expanded in the valley, and Rachub grew as a separate village. Before then, the village consisted of a few houses and the Carmel chapel. Most of the area was farmland, used mostly for sheep. This changed considerably over the last half of the 18th…