There is evidence of an Iron Age hill fort in the immediate area.^{[citation needed]} There was a Roman fort, so far undated precisely but it may have been built during the first campaign of conquest of Wales by the Roman governor Julius Frontinus (AD 73-77).^[1]

In the 6th century an unknown monk from Llanfor was reputedly responsible for converting Llywarch Hen,^[2] prince of Rheged, to Christianity.

There is a legend that the Devil used to frequently visit Llanfor Church in the shape of a pig.^[3]

• William Price (1619–1691), a Welsh politician, MP between 1640 and 1679 and fought as a Royalist colonel in the English Civil War.
• Humphrey Foulkes (1673–1737) a Welsh priest and antiquarian.
• William Price (1690–1774) a Welsh High Sheriff and antiquarian, from Rhiwlas.
• Richard Thelwall Price, British member of Parliament for Beaumaris, 1754–1768
• John Williams (1811–1862), antiquary, bardic name Ab Ithel, the Anglican curate of Llanfor from 1835
• Richard Williams Morgan (1815–1889), bardic name Môr Meirion, author, priest and Welsh nationalist campaigner
• David Roberts (1831–1884), poet known as ‘Dewi Havhesp’, spent his early years at 'Pensingrug', Llanfor.