Editing Caernarfon (section)

==Governance==
[[File:Caernarfon Town Hall.jpg|thumb|The Institute Building: headquarters of Caernarfon Town Council]]
There are two tiers of local government covering Caernarfon, at [[Community (Wales)|community]] (town) and [[Principal areas of Wales|county]] level: Caernarfon Town Council (Cyngor Tref Caernarfon) and [[Gwynedd Council]] (Cyngor Gwynedd). The town council is based at the Institute Building on Pavilion Hill (Allt Pafiliwn). As a royal town, the town council is allowed to style itself Caernarfon Royal Town Council (Cyngor Tref Frenhinol Caernarfon), which names it has used in the past, but as at 2024 it does not do so on its website or in council minutes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Contact |url=https://www.cyngortrefcaernarfon.llyw.cymru/en/contact |website=Caernarfon Town Council |access-date=24 November 2024}}</ref> Gwynedd Council also has its headquarters in the town at the [[Council Offices, Caernarfon|Council Offices]] on Shirehall Street.<ref>{{NHAW|num=26628|desc=Council Offices, Caernarfon|accessdate=15 April 2020}}</ref>

The [[Caernarfon (UK Parliament constituency)|Caernarfon parliamentary constituency]] was a former electoral area centred on Caernarfon. Caernarfon is now part of the constituency of [[Dwyfor Meirionnydd (UK Parliament constituency)|Dwyfor Meirionnydd]] in the UK Parliament, and [[Arfon (Senedd constituency)|Arfon]] in the [[Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament|Senedd]]. The town is twinned with [[Landerneau]] in [[Brittany]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Alun |first=Wena |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-16530689 |title=BBC News – Town twinning links remain strong in Wales |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=20 January 2012 |access-date=29 September 2012}}</ref>

===Administrative history===
Caernarfon formed part of the [[ancient parish]] of Llanbeblig. The parish also included adjoining rural areas, particularly to the south-east where it extended to include the village of [[Waunfawr]]. The parish church was St Peblig's Church, to the south-east of the walled town. The church stood in relative isolation until the 20th century, but has since been surrounded by the town's suburbs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Llanbeblig Ancient Parish / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10149927/boundary |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref>

As part of establishing the castle and fortified town, Edward I of England granted Caernarfon a [[municipal charter|charter]] making it a [[ancient borough|borough]] in 1284.<ref name="Coflein" /> The [[Statute of Rhuddlan]] in the same year created the new [[historic counties of Wales|county]] of Caernarfonshire, with Caernarfon serving as [[county town]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Breverton |first1=Terry |title=Wales: A Historical Companion |date=2009 |publisher=Amberley Publishing |isbn=9781445609904 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2qoAwAAQBAJ&dq=Eifionydd%20commote%20rhuddlan&pg=PT67 |access-date=23 November 2024}}</ref>

In 1836 Caernarfon became a [[municipal borough]] under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]], which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.<ref>{{cite book |title=Municipal Corporations Act |date=1835 |page=456 |url=https://archive.org/details/statutesunitedk35britgoog/page/456/mode/2up |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref>  The [[Local Government Act 1894]] directed that parishes were no longer allowed to straddle borough boundaries, and so the part of the parish of Llanbeblig outside the borough became the separate parish of Waunfawr (initially spelt Waenfawr).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Langston |first1=Brett |title=Carnarvon Registration District |url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/carnarvon.html |website=UK BMD |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref>

The municipal borough of Caernarfon was abolished in 1974 under the [[Local Government Act 1972]]. A community called Caernarfon was created instead, covering the area of the abolished borough. District-level functions passed to [[District of Arfon|Arfon Borough Council]], which was in turn replaced in 1996 by Gwynedd Council.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70|accessdate=6 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government (Wales) Act 1994|year=1994|chapter=19|accessdate=9 October 2022}}</ref>