North Wales

Coordinates: 52°56′13″N 3°39′32″W / 52.937°N 3.659°W / 52.937; -3.659

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. North Wales comprises the region historically known as Gwynedd between the River Dyfi in the south and the River Dee in the east. North Wales is comrpised of three historic regions. Upper Gwynedd, or Gwynedd above the Conwy ( Welsh:Gwynedd Uwch Conwy), defined as the area north of the River Dyfi and west of the Conwy. Lower Gwynedd (Welsh: Gwynedd Is Conwy), or Gwynedd below the Conwy also known as the Perfeddwlad, defined as the region east of the Conwy and west of the River Dee. Ynys Môn (Anglesey), comprises the third historic province of the region.^{citation needed}.

The southern boundary is arbitrary and its definition may depend on the use being made of the term. For example the boundary of North Wales Police differs from the boundary of the North Wales area of the Environment Agency Wales

Contents 1 History 1.1 World Heritage Sites 2 Political divisions 2.1 Related Constituencies 3 Geography 4 Geology 5 Language 6 Local media 7 Sport 7.1 Football 7.2 Rugby League 7.3 Rugby Union 8 Attractions 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

History

see also History of Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages

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 National Assembly for Wales, a position confirmed at the Peace of Worcester in 1218, by Henry III.¹

World Heritage Sites

North Wales is home to five of the six UNESCO World Heritage sites in Wales, including:Caernarfon Castle, Beaumaris Castle,² Conwy Castle, Harlech Castle and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

Political divisions

Traditionally, most of North Wales was covered by the Early Middle Ages post Roman kingdom of Gwynedd until about 1063, and later the High Middle Ages Principality of Gwynedd from 1063 until the 14th century. Gwynedd formed the nucleus for the Principality of Wales founded in 1216.

The region is approximately made up of the following administrative areas:

• the county borough of Wrexham (Wrecsam)
• the county of Flintshire (Sir y Fflint)
• the county of Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)
• the county borough of Conwy
• the county of Gwynedd
• the county of the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)

Related Constituencies

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).

Geography

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.³

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 Castle, Beaumaris, Conwy).

Geology

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.

Language

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").

Local media

• Television is provided by BBC Cymru Wales throughout the area and by BBC North West in eastern border areas. Flintshire, Denbighshire and Greater Wrexham lie within the broadcast area of both ITV Wales and ITV Granada/ITV Central West, and S4C and Channel 4.
• Independent local radio stations in this area include: 105.4 Century RadioMarcher Sound (Wrexham, Chester and Flintshire), Coast 96.3 (North Wales coast), Champion 103 (Gwynedd and Anglesey), and Radio Maldwyn (mid Wales; signal particularly strong in Greater Wrexham). Radio City 96.7, Dee 106.3, Signal 1, Beacon Radio, Buzz 97.1 (a sister station of Marcher Sound) and other stations are very much accessible in the north-east.
• No local BBC radio stations exist for North Wales, but the national services BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru serve much of the area. BBC Radio Merseyside, Manchester and Lancashire are strong in north eastern areas.
• The Lord of the Rings fan film, The Hunt for Gollum, was filmed here. This was a non-profit film that helped convince the audience that they were in Middle-earth.

Sport

Football

Wrexham F.C. play in the English football pyramid. Having been a member of the Football League for over 80 years, in 2008 they were relegated into the Conference National for the first time in their 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.

Rugby League

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.

Rugby Union

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.⁴ 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.⁵⁶

Attractions

In 2000, The Wales Tourist Board tourist identified the top 10 most visited attractions in the region.⁷ They included:

• Portmeirion
• Caernarfon Castle
• Conwy Castle
• Bodnant Garden
• Llechwedd Slate Caverns
• Swallow Falls
• Great Orme Tramway
• Penrhyn Castle
• Erddig
• Harlech Castle

See also

• Geography of Wales
• South Wales
• West Wales
• Mid Wales
• North Wales Police
• North Wales Fire and Rescue Service
• History of Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages; A History of North Wales, Gwynedd and the Perfeddwlad (North East Wales), between 1000 and 1300 AD.

References

External links

• Pixaerial Aerial Images of Wales, Supported by the Welsh Assembly Government
• Ancient Tenures of North Wales PDF book by Alfred Neobard Palmer published in 1910