Dolgellau is a market community as well as area in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, pushing the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It is typically the county town of the historical county of Merionethshire (Welsh: Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd), which shed its administrative status when Gwynedd was produced in 1974. Dolgellau is the primary base for mountain climbers of Cadair Idris. Although extremely little, it is the second largest settlement in Southern Gwynedd after Tywyn. The community consists of 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", and also is common locally in names for farms in sheltered nooks. This would seem to be the most likely derivation, providing the translation "Grove Meadow". It has actually likewise been suggested that the name can originate from the word cell, implying "cell", translating consequently as "Meadow of [monks'] cells", but this seems much less most likely considering the history of the name. The earliest taped spelling (from 1253, in the Survey of Merioneth) is "Dolkelew", although a punctuation "Dolgethley" days from 1285. From after that up until the 19th century, most spellings were along the lines of "Dôlgelly" "Dolgelley", "Dolgelly" or "Dolgelli" (Owain Glyndwr's scribe wrote "Dolguelli"). Thomas Pennant utilized the form "Dolgelleu" in his Tours of Wales, and also this was the type utilized in the Church Registers in 1723, although it never had much currency. In 1825 the Registers had "Dolgellau", which develop Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt taken on in 1836. While this kind might originate from a false etymology, it came to be typical in Welsh as well as is currently the common type in both Welsh as well as English. It was taken on as the official name by the neighborhood rural district council in 1958. Shortly before the closure of the town's railway station it displayed indications reading otherwise Dolgelly, Dolgelley and also Dolgellau.