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41-640: Cadair Idris or Cader Idris is a mountain in the Meirionnydd area of Gwynedd , Wales. It lies at the southern end of the Snowdonia National Park near the town of Dolgellau . The peak, which is one of the most popular in Wales for walkers and hikers , is composed largely of Ordovician igneous rocks , with classic glacial erosion features such as cwms , moraines , striated rocks , and roches moutonnées . Cadair Idris means 'Idris's Chair'. Idris

82-524: A Welsh suffix of land, literally 'Land adjoined to Meirion') was a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd , founded according to legend by Meirion (derived from the Latin name Mariānus ), a grandson of Cunedda , a warrior-prince who brought his family to Wales from the Hen Ogledd (the 'Old North', northern England and southern Scotland today), probably in the early 5th century. His dynasty seems to have ruled there for

123-402: A cliff peters out at the end of a ridge, with mushroom rocks or other types of rock columns remaining. Coastal erosion may lead to the formation of sea cliffs along a receding coastline. The British Ordnance Survey distinguishes between around most cliffs (continuous line along the topper edge with projections down the face) and outcrops (continuous lines along lower edge). Cliff comes from

164-499: A committee area for discussing local matters. The first election to Meirionnydd District Council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1974. Throughout the council's existence a majority of the seats on the council were held by independents : The district council was based at Cae Penarlâg in Dolgellau , which had been built in 1953 as

205-534: A moon of Uranus. The following is an incomplete list of cliffs of the world. Above Sea Above Land Several big granite faces in the Arctic region vie for the title of 'highest vertical drop on Earth', but reliable measurements are not always available. The possible contenders include (measurements are approximate): Mount Thor , Baffin Island , Canada; 1,370 m (4,500 ft) total; top 480 m (1600 ft)

246-404: A number of locations including Cadair Idris. The mountain is mentioned several times and is used as a backdrop to the story of Mary Jones and her Bible . This story is an account of a girl from Llanfihangel-y-Pennant at the foot of the mountain who walked 25 miles to Bala in order to buy a bible, which were scarce at the time. Jones' determined journey to get hold of a copy of the book in 1800

287-450: Is 'seat, chair' (borrowed from the Greek cathedra , καθέδρα , 'chair'). In place names cadair can mean 'stronghold, fort, fortress' or 'mountain or hill shaped like a chair'. The spelling cader represents a spoken variant of the standard form cadair . It appears that Cadair/Cadeir Idris is the form used in the earliest Welsh-language sources. In a poem in his own hand in

328-406: Is a cliff or not and also about how much of a certain slope to count as a cliff. For example, given a truly vertical rock wall above a very steep slope, one could count just the rock wall or the combination. Listings of cliffs are thus inherently uncertain. Some of the largest cliffs on Earth are found underwater. For example, an 8,000 m drop over a 4,250 m span can be found at a ridge sitting inside

369-472: Is a type of cliff formed by the movement of a geologic fault , a landslide, or sometimes by rock slides or falling rocks which change the differential erosion of the rock layers. Most cliffs have some form of scree slope at their base. In arid areas or under high cliffs, they are generally exposed jumbles of fallen rock. In areas of higher moisture, a soil slope may obscure the talus . Many cliffs also feature tributary waterfalls or rock shelters . Sometimes

410-521: Is about 1.7, corresponding to an angle of 60 degrees, and Mitre Peak is similar. A more vertical drop into the sea can be found at Maujit Qaqarssuasia (also known as the ' Thumbnail ') which is situated in the Torssukátak fjord area at the very tip of South Greenland and drops 1,560 m near-vertically. Considering a truly vertical drop, Mount Thor on Baffin Island in Arctic Canada is often considered

451-536: Is covered in scree , is marked by a trig point . There is also a low-standing stone shelter with a roof. The Pony Path ( Welsh : Llwybr Pilin Pwn ), which begins in the north from either Dolgellau or the Mawddach estuary, is the easiest but the longest of the main trails. Its length from the mountain's base is 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) with a 727-metre (2,385 ft) climb. The Fox's Path ( Welsh : Llwybr Madyn ),This

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492-469: Is mistaken and there is no etymological or traditional connection between Idris and Arthur. In Welsh mythology, Cadair Idris is also said to be one of the hunting grounds of Gwyn ap Nudd and his Cŵn Annwn . The howling of these huge dogs foretold death to anyone who heard them, the pack sweeping up that person's soul and herding it into the underworld . Similarly the Brenin Llwyd is also said to haunt

533-502: Is now accepted, however, that cader is a spelling of a spoken form of cadair , and that there is no evidence that cadair and cader are separate words. But as it represents the pronunciation in the local dialect, the spelling Cader Idris is often seen in Welsh and English, and in June 2016 Snowdonia National Park decided to adopt that spelling on its signage, despite advice from

574-505: Is overhanging. This is commonly regarded as being the largest vertical drop on Earth [1] ot:leapyear at 1,250 m (4,100 ft). of Baffin Island , rises 4,300 ft above the flat frozen fjord, although the lower portion of the face breaks from the vertical wall with a series of ledges and buttresses. Other notable cliffs include: Above Sea Above Land Above Sea Above Land Submarine Above Sea Above Land Cliff landforms provide unique habitat niches to

615-450: Is the most direct way to the summit as the trail leads straight up the northern face. The 3.8-kilometre (2.4 mi) ascent involves a climb up a 310-metre (1,020 ft) cliff - scree face. However, this part of the Fox's Path has been heavily eroded in recent years making the descent dangerous. The Minffordd Path ( Welsh : Llwybr Minffordd ) starts on the southern side of the mountain near

656-540: Is usually taken to be the name of a giant or, alternatively, it may refer to Idris ap Gwyddno (or Gweiddno ), a 7th-century prince of Meirionnydd who won a battle against the Irish on the mountain. Idris ap Gwyddno was in fact referred to as Idris Gawr ('Idris the Giant') in some mediaeval genealogies of Meirionydd. The basic meaning of the word cadair ( Middle Welsh / Early Modern Welsh kadeir or cadeir )

697-416: Is volcanic in origin). This theory was discounted as early as 1872, when Charles Kingsley commented in his book Town Geology : I have been told, for instance, that that wonderful little blue Glas Llyn, under the highest cliff of Snowdon, is the old crater of the mountain; and I have heard people insist that a similar lake, of almost equal grandeur, in the south side of Cader Idris, is a crater likewise. But

738-564: The Kermadec Trench . According to some sources, the highest cliff in the world, about 1,340 m high, is the east face of Great Trango in the Karakoram mountains of northern Pakistan. This uses a fairly stringent notion of cliff, as the 1,340 m figure refers to a nearly vertical headwall of two stacked pillars; adding in a very steep approach brings the total drop from the East Face precipice to

779-517: The Kingdom of Gwynedd where it continued to enjoy long spells of relative independence. It was divided into the commotes of Ystumanner (administered from Castell y Bere at Llanfihangel-y-Pennant ) and Talybont (possibly centred on Llanegryn where there is a mound). The cantref was effectively abolished in 1284 following the Statute of Rhuddlan with the area being reorganised with

820-460: The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 , the previous two-tier system of counties and districts was replaced with new principal areas (each designated either a "county" or a "county borough"), whose councils perform the functions previously divided between the county and district councils. The Meirionnydd area merged with the neighbouring Arfon and Dwyfor districts to become a county, which

861-501: The Welsh Language Commissioner and from Park officers, who favoured Cadair . The local dialect form is also seen in the name of the local secondary school, Ysgol y Gader . The name of the mountain is typically spelt ' Cadair Idris on current maps. The summit of the mountain is known as Penygader ('top of the chair/stronghold'). There are three main trails that lead to the top of Cadair Idris. The summit, which

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902-424: The glacial Tal-y-llyn Lake . Hikers using this ascent climb past Llyn Cau and along the rim of Craig Cau (rockwall) to Penygadair. Its length is 4.4 kilometres (2.7 mi) and involves two climbs of over 300 metres (980 ft). Cadair Idris is formed from a complexly fractured and folded pile of both sedimentary rocks and igneous rocks of Ordovician age. They comprise the mudstones and siltstones of

943-570: The Ceiswyn Formation which form much of the southern part of the mountain, together with the varied rocks of the underlying Aran Volcanic Group . The steep cliffs rising above Llyn Cau to the north are formed from hard-wearing basalts and tuffs of the Pen y Gadair Volcanic Formation whilst those on the south side are acid tuffs of the Craig Cau Formation. The imposing cliffs which characterise

984-457: The Old English word clif of essentially the same meaning, cognate with Dutch, Low German, and Old Norse klif 'cliff'. These may in turn all be from a Romance loanword into Primitive Germanic that has its origins in the Latin forms clivus / clevus ("slope" or "hillside"). Given that a cliff does not need to be exactly vertical, there can be ambiguity about whether a given slope

1025-516: The addition of some neighbouring cantrefi to form the county of Merionethshire . The area of Meirionnydd was enlarged under the Statute of Rhuddlan to become a county , gaining the old cantrefi of Penllyn and Ardudwy (shown as Dunoding in the map of medieval cantrefi). The name for the county was anglicised to the English phonetic equivalent of Merioneth , sometimes appearing with

1066-400: The area around Cadair Idris was designated a National Nature Reserve in 1957, and is home to Arctic–alpine plants such as purple saxifrage and dwarf willow . There are numerous legends about Cadair Idris. Some nearby lakes are supposed to be bottomless, and anyone who sleeps on its slopes alone will supposedly awaken either a madman or a poet. This tradition (of sleeping on the summit of

1107-434: The bedrock formed by the movement of glacial ice across the floor of the hollow, abrading it and the lip over which it then flowed. There are several tear-drop shaped knolls above the edge of Llyn Cau, each of which is a roche moutonnée formed by the abrasive action of the moving ice. The two highest lakes are Llyn Cau and Llyn y Gader; the latter is thought to have a maximum depth of about 13 m (43 ft). Much of

1148-420: The fact is not so. The natural bowl-shaped depression to which the name of chair has been attached, was formed by a cirque glacier during multiple ice ages when snow and ice accumulated on these slopes partly through avalanching . The glacier was up to a square kilometre in size surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs the highest being the headwall. The chair of Cadair Idris is this bowl-shaped hollow in

1189-482: The form Cader Idris was often used in English and Latin documents at that time and in more recent documents in English and Welsh. In his Dictionarum Duplex published in 1632, John Davies of Mallwyd differentiated between the two words cadair ('chair') and cader ('fort, fortress'), referring to Cader Idris and Cader Ddinmael . That interpretation was followed by some later lexicographers , including Thomas Charles and Titus Lewis . It

1230-409: The government originally named Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire . During the transition to the new system, the shadow authority requested a change of name from Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire to Gwynedd . The government confirmed the change with effect from 2 April 1996, one day after the new council came into being. Since 1996, Gwynedd Council has used the former Meirionnydd district as

1271-413: The headquarters of the old Merioneth County Council. Since 1996 the building has served as an area office of Gwynedd Council. 52°45′29″N 3°50′06″W  /  52.758°N 3.835°W  / 52.758; -3.835 Cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by

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1312-536: The highest at 1370 m (4500 ft) high in total (the top 480 m (1600 ft) is overhanging), and is said to give it the longest vertical drop on Earth at 1,250 m (4,100 ft). However, other cliffs on Baffin Island, such as Polar Sun Spire in the Sam Ford Fjord , or others in remote areas of Greenland may be higher. The highest cliff in the solar system may be Verona Rupes , an approximately 20 km (12 mi) high fault scarp on Miranda ,

1353-567: The mountain) apparently stems from bardic traditions, where bards would sleep on the mountain in hope of inspiration. Although the mountain's name is typically taken to refer to the mythological giant Idris , who was said to have been skilled in poetry, astronomy and philosophy, it has sometimes been mistranslated as Arthur's Seat , in reference to King Arthur (and to the hill of the same name in Edinburgh ), an idea used by author Susan Cooper in her book The Grey King . However, this translation

1394-432: The nearby Dunge Glacier to nearly 2,000 m. The location of the world's highest sea cliffs depends also on the definition of 'cliff' that is used. Guinness World Records states it is Kalaupapa, Hawaii , at 1,010 m high. Another contender is the north face of Mitre Peak , which drops 1,683 m to Milford Sound , New Zealand. These are subject to a less stringent definition, as the average slope of these cliffs at Kaulapapa

1435-569: The next four hundred years. The kingdom lay between the River Mawddach and the River Dovey , spreading in a north-easterly direction. The ancient name of the cantref was Cantref Orddwy (or 'the cantref of the Ordovices '). The familiar name coming from Meirion's kingdom. The cantref of Meirionnydd held the presumed boundaries of the previous kingdom but now as a fief of

1476-508: The north side of the mountain are formed from a micro granite intruded into the Ty'r Gawen mudstones. In common with the rest of Snowdonia, the faulting and folding of this rock succession took place during the Caledonian Orogeny . The crater-like shape of Cwm Cau has given rise to the occasional mistaken claim that Cadair Idris is an extinct volcano (though as noted above, some of its bedrock

1517-457: The processes of weathering and erosion , with the effect of gravity . Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually composed of rock that is resistant to weathering and erosion. The sedimentary rocks that are most likely to form cliffs include sandstone , limestone , chalk , and dolomite . Igneous rocks such as granite and basalt also often form cliffs. An escarpment (or scarp)

1558-455: The second half of the 15th century, the poet Lewys Glyn Cothi wrote " Dros gadair idris gedy " ('and then over Cadair Idris'). Around 1600, John Jones of Gellilyfdy referred to " y mynydh neu bhan neu bhoel a elwir Cadeir Idris " ('the mountain, peak or hill known as Cadeir Idris'). The spoken form represented by cader had developed by the end of the Middle Ages and as a result

1599-518: The suffix -shire as Merionethshire . Merioneth became an administrative county with an elected county council in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 . In 1974 the administrative county was abolished with most of the area merging with Caernarfonshire and Anglesey to create a new county of Gwynedd . The 1974 reforms established a two-tier system, with upper-tier county councils and lower-tier district councils. The county of Gwynedd

1640-636: Was a major factor behind the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804. "Tongues of fire on Idris flaring" is mentioned in the opening verse of the John Guard version of the song " Men of Harlech ". In Cassandra Clare 's Clockwork Princess Idris is where final battle between the protagonists and antagonist takes place. 52°41′59″N 3°54′31″W  /  52.699828°N 3.908693°W  / 52.699828; -3.908693 Meirionnydd Meirionnydd (Meirion, with -ydd as

1681-513: Was divided into five districts , one of which was called Meirionnydd , reverting to the Welsh spelling of the name Merioneth . The district of Meirionnydd covered almost the same area as the pre-1974 county of Merioneth, excluding only the Edeirnion Rural District, which went to the Glyndŵr district of Clwyd . The Meirionnydd district replaced eight former districts: Under

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