North Wales edit
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North Wales edit
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Coordinates: 52°56′13″N 3°39′32″W / 52.937°N 3.659°W
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North Wales (Welsh: Gogledd Cymru) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England.
It comprises the island of Anglesey, the Llŷn peninsula and the Snowdonia mountain range, together with the catchments of the Rivers Conwy, Clwyd and Dee with the River Dyfi often said to form the southern boundary along part of its course.
However, northern Powys is the same distance north as south Gwynedd so that could also be classed as North Wales.
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North Wales is steeped in history. In 1210, English King John invaded Gwynedd a county of North Wales, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, one of the greatest of the medieval Welsh kings was forced to retreat to the mountainous areas to the West. When John found himself embroiled in struggles with his Barons and the Pope, Llywelyn was able to reassert his authority in North Wales. In 1216, Llywelyn went on to preside over a Welsh Parliament, a position confirmed at the Peace of Worcester in 1218, by Henry III.1
North Wales is home to five of the six UNESCO World Heritage sites in Wales, including:Caernarfon Castle, Beaumaris Castle,2 Conwy Castle, Harlech Castle3 and Pontcysyllte aqueduct.4
Traditionally, most of North Wales was covered by the kingdom of Gwynedd.
The region is approximately made up of the following administrative areas:
North Wales was a European Parliament constituency until 1999. Currently, there is an electoral region for the National Assembly for Wales with the name (used, in parallel with the smaller constituencies, to elect top-up members under the Additional Member System), which covers the North-East of Wales (specifically the entire area of the former pre-1996 county of Clwyd) as well as the Northern-most coastal areas of north-western Wales; the rest of North Wales is covered by Mid and West Wales (National Assembly for Wales electoral region).
The area is mostly rural with many mountains and valleys. This, in combination with its coast (on the Irish Sea), has ensured that tourism is the principal industry. Farming, which was once the principal economic force in the area, is now much reduced in importance. The average income per capita of the local population is the lowest in the UK and much of the region has EU Objective 1 status.5
The eastern part of North Wales contains the most populous areas, with more than 300,000 people living in the areas around Wrexham and Deeside. Wrexham is North Wales' largest town, with a population of 68,000 in 2005. The majority of other settlements are along the coast, including some popular resort towns, such as Rhyl, Llandudno and Pwllheli. The A55 expressway links these towns with the north of England and the port of Holyhead for ferries to Ireland; few routes connect North Wales with South Wales. There are two cathedral cities – Bangor and St. Asaph – and a number of mediaeval castles (e.g., Criccieth, Dolbadarn, Harlech, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Conwy).
North Wales has a very diverse and complex geology with precambrian schists along the Menai Strait and the great Cambrian dome behind Harlech and underlying much of western Snowdonia. In the Ordovician period much volcanism deposited a range of minerals and rocks over the north western parts of Gwynedd whilst to the east of the River Conwy lies a large area of upland rolling hills underlain by the Silurian mud-stones and grits comprising the Denbigh and Migneint moors. To the east, around Llangollen,to the north on Halkyn mountain and the Great Orme and in eastern Anglesey are deep beds of limestone from which metals have been mines since pre-Roman times. Added to all this are the complexities posed by Parys Mountain and the outcrops of unusual minerals such as Jasper and Mona Marble which make the area of special interest to geologists.
North Wales has a distinct regional identity. Its dialect of the Welsh language differs from that of other regions such as South Wales in some ways; for example llefrith is used in most of the North instead of llaeth for "milk"; a simple sentence such as go upstairs now might be Dos i fyny'r grisiau rwan in North Wales, where it might be Cer lan y stâr nawr in South Wales. Colloquially, a person from North Wales (especially one who speaks with this dialect or accent) is known as a North Walian, or a Gog (from the Welsh gogledd, meaning "north").
Wrexham FC play in the English football pyramid. Having been a member of the Football League for over 80 years, in 2008 they were related into the Conference National for the first time in thier existence. They remain the highest ranked team in the region, and play at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham and train at Colliers Park, Gresford.
There are a number of teams playing within the semi-professional domestic leagues the Welsh Premier League and the Cymru Alliance.
Wales is represented in the European Super League by Crusaders Rugby League, they re-located to Wrexham for the 2010 season from south Wales. They play at the Racecourse Ground and train at Stansty Park both in Wrexham.
In September 2008 it was announced by the Welsh Rugby Union that a development team based in North Wales would be created, with a long term goal of becoming the fifth Welsh Region in the Celtic League.6 It was envisaged that this would both help the growth of the game in the area, and provide a larger pool of players for the Welsh national team to be selected from.78
In 2000, The Wales Tourist Board tourist identified the top 10 most visited attractions in the region.9 They included: