Pwllheli Lifeboat Station
| All-Weather Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
| Launch Method | SLARS |
| Address | Glan Y Don Industrial Estate, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, LL53 5YT |
| Telephone | 07972 937368 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
On the south-east coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, Pwllheli runs a Shannon-class all-weather lifeboat and a D-class from a modern boathouse beside the marina, covering a broad stretch of Cardigan Bay. A lifeboat has served the town since 1891.
A lifeboat station was established at Pwllheli in 1891. The first boathouse had doors at both ends, so the lifeboat could be launched into the harbour or out across the beach to the sea. The town had earlier connections to lifeboat history through the Richardson family, inventors of the ‘Tubular’ lifeboat.
The station’s story includes a striking episode of community spirit: in October 1917, with so many men away at the First World War, Elizabeth Black of South Beach volunteered when the lifeboat was short a hand, and — the Welsh press recorded — played her part like one of the men for many hours through a violent storm.
For a period the boat was kept at a harbour mooring; silting later returned it to a carriage launch. A new £2.8m boathouse, funded largely by the Colton legacy, was completed at Glan-y-Don in 2020 for a new Shannon-class lifeboat, the Smith Brothers, which works alongside the D-class across the bay.
