BALA, market town and urban district of Merionethshire, north Wales, near the end of Lake Bala, the largest natural lake in W'h'ales, on the Tryweryn just above its confluence with the Dee. Population of the urban district (1931) 1,395. A mound known as Tomen-y-Bala is thought to be a Norman motte and bailey castle and was possibly an outpost in the upper Dee valley. As one of the most important northern foci of Welsh Wales it came into prominence during the 18th and Iqth centuries, both as a woollen centre, manufacturing chiefly flannel and hosiery, and also as a centre for the religious and educational movements of the period.
In the latter capacity it is associated with Thomas Charles (1755-1814), Howell Harris (1714-73) and Thomas Edward Ellis (1859-99) . A grammar school was founded in 1712 and a Calvinistic Methodist college in 1837, and later an Independent college now transferred to Bangor. At Bala junction near the town a branch railway up the Tryweryn valley to Festiniog separates from the railway which skirts Bala lake and proceeds south-westwards via Dolgelly to the sea coast.