The village of Penmachno is situated approximately four miles south of Betws y Coed. According to the 1st edition of the 25inch OS maps, the village had three public houses and an assembly room in 1889. Of the three public houses - The Machno Inn; the White Horse and the Eagles, only the Eagles remains open today. By the time the second edition of the 25inch OS maps was published in 1900, the assembly room had become a public hall. There were also two schools - one run by the church, which is now a village hall, and the other - Ysgol Gynradd Penmachno - now educated around forty pupils aged between three and eleven. At one time Penmachno had six places of worship - five chapels and one church. The church (NPRN 43816) was closed in 1997, although after a sustained effort by the local community it was re-opened in 2009 - the first Church in Wales to be reopened after it had been deemed unnecessary. Since 2009 the church has served as a place of worship for many groups in the village, as well as hosting community clubs such as the local choir and events such as community meals, craft fairs, concerts and coffee mornings. The church is open every day and even has a help yourself coffee shop.
Penmachno's nonconformist community once had five chapels in and around the village- Soar (NPRN 7079); Salem (NPRN 7078) and Ebenezer (NPRN 7076) were all Calvinistic Methodist chapels, whilst Bethania (NPRN 7080) was Wesleyan Methodist and Tabor (NPRN 11580) was for Baptists. However, the grade II listed Bethania chapel probably held its last service in 2002, and was for sale in 2014. All the members of nonconformist congregations in Penmachno have now formed the Penmachno United Church, and hold services together in Salem chapel.
Sources: historic OS maps, Estyn report for Ysgol Gynradd Penmachno (October 2015) and community website http://www.cyngorbromachno.org
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 11th October 2018.