Dolgellau is a market town and neighborhood in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, pushing the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It is generally the county town of the historical region of Merionethshire (Welsh: Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd), which lost its management condition when Gwynedd was developed in 1974. Dolgellau is the primary base for climbers of Cadair Idris. Although really small, it is the 2nd largest negotiation in Southern Gwynedd after Tywyn. The community includes Penmaenpool. The name of the community is of uncertain beginning, although dôl is Welsh for "meadow" or "dale", and also (y) gelli (soft anomaly of celli) suggests "grove" or "spinney", as well as is common locally in names for ranches in sheltered nooks. This would certainly appear to be the most likely derivation, offering the translation "Grove Meadow". It has additionally been suggested that the name might originate from the word cell, suggesting "cell", converting therefore as "Meadow of [monks'] cells", but this seems much less most likely taking into consideration the background of the name. The earliest tape-recorded punctuation (from 1253, in the Survey of Merioneth) is "Dolkelew", although a punctuation "Dolgethley" dates from 1285. From after that till the 19th century, many spellings were along the lines of "Dôlgelly" "Dolgelley", "Dolgelly" or "Dolgelli" (Owain Glyndwr's scribe composed "Dolguelli"). Thomas Pennant used the type "Dolgelleu" in his Tours of Wales, and also this was the form used in the Church Registers in 1723, although it never ever had much money. In 1825 the Registers had "Dolgellau", which form Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt embraced in 1836. While this type may stem from an incorrect etymology, it became standard in Welsh and is now the basic type in both Welsh as well as English. It was embraced as the main name by the neighborhood country district council in 1958. Quickly prior to the closure of the town's railway station it presented indicators reviewing variously Dolgelly, Dolgelley and also Dolgellau.