Charles III
39-566: 53°13′24″N 4°12′03″W / 53.2232°N 4.2008°W / 53.2232; -4.2008 Llanfairpwllgwyngyll or Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll ( Welsh: [ɬan.ˌvair.puɬˈɡwɨ̞n.ɡɨ̞ɬ] ), often shortened to Llanfairpwll and sometimes to Llanfair PG , is a village and community on the Isle of Anglesey , Wales . It is located on the Menai Strait , next to the Britannia Bridge . At
78-613: A derivation of the element pwllgwyngyll from pwll , gwyn and gwyll ("gloomy raging pool"), in reference to the Swellies. A few thousand local residents welcome about 200,000 visitors per year. The most popular attraction is the Llanfairpwll railway station that features the plate with the full name of the village. Other places of interest in the area include Anglesey Sea Zoo , Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber, St. Tysilio's Church , and Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens. In 2020,
117-589: A feature more usually associated with cathedrals. Despite religious activity, the rural nature of the settlement meant that the parish had a population of only around 80 in 1563. Much of the land was absorbed into the Earldom of Uxbridge, which later became the Marquisate of Anglesey , and was subject to enclosures . In 1844, for example, 92% of the land in Llanfairpwll was owned by just three individuals. The population of
156-566: A new service to and from Cardiff Central every two hours. The line still provides the UK railway part of the through passenger service to Dublin using fast car ferries from Holyhead to Dublin Port . The Welsh Government would like the line to be electrified. Chancellor George Osborne said in July 2015 that there was a "really strong case" for electrification of the line. The Electrification Task Force said that
195-499: A new species of bacteria isolated from soil collected in the parish of the village was placed in the Myxococcus genus and was named Myxococcus llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochensis . In his 1957 appearance on You Bet Your Life , the Welsh academic John Hughes answered host Groucho Marx 's question about
234-782: A £50 million signalling upgrade programme was completed between Shotton and Colwyn Bay. This upgrade saw modular colour lights supervised from the South Wales Rail Operating Centre in Cardiff replacing the manual signal boxes and mixture of semaphore and older colour lights. The places served by the route are as follows: Principal through passenger services are London Euston to Holyhead, Bangor, Chester and Wrexham General operated by Avanti West Coast and Crewe to Holyhead, Cardiff to Holyhead and Manchester to Llandudno currently operated by Transport for Wales Rail . A revised timetable has operated since December 2005 incorporating
273-642: Is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest tier of local government in Wales . Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England but, unlike English parishes, communities cover the whole of Wales. There are 878 communities in Wales. Until 1974 Wales was divided into civil parishes . These were abolished by section 20 (6) of the Local Government Act 1972 , and replaced by communities by section 27 of
312-577: Is a lengthened form of the community name, used in some contexts. With 58 characters split into 18 syllables, the small town is purported to have the longest name in Europe and the second longest one-word place name in the world. There has been human activity and settlement in the area of the village since the Neolithic era (4000–2000 BC), with subsistence agriculture and fishing the most common occupations for much of its early history. The island of Anglesey
351-465: Is also shortened to Llanfair PG , sufficient to distinguish it from other places in Wales called Llanfair (meaning "[St.] Mary's church"). The long name was supposedly contrived in 1869 as an early publicity stunt to give the station the longest name of any railway station in Britain. According to Sir John Morris-Jones the name was created by a local tailor, whose name he did not confide, letting
390-786: Is using the difficult name of the village in a TV commercial as example to show the functions of the inbuilt navigation system with innovative AI and speech recognition . The village has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb ; Trewartha Do ), with mild summers and cool, wet winters. Community (Wales) Heir Apparent William, Prince of Wales First Minister ( list ) Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS ( L ) Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies MS ( L ) Counsel General-designate – Elisabeth Jones Chief Whip and Trefnydd – Jane Hutt MS (L) Permanent Secretary Sixth Senedd Llywydd (Presiding Officer) Elin Jones MS ( PC ) Leader of
429-432: The 2011 Census the population was 3,107, of whom 71% could speak Welsh . In 2021 , the population decreased to 2,900 (rounded to the nearest 100). It is the sixth largest settlement in the county by population. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch ( [ˌɬan.vair.pʊɬ.ˌɡwɨ̞ŋ.ɡɨ̞ɬ.ɡɔ.ˌɡɛ.rə.ˌχwərn.ˌdrɔ.bʊɬ.ˌɬan.tə.ˌsɪl.jɔˌɡɔ.ɡɔ.ˈɡoːχ] )
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#1732884599789468-628: The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 and the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 . North Wales Coast Line The North Wales Main Line ( Welsh : Prif Linell Gogledd Cymru or Prif Linell y Gogledd ; lit. ' North Main Line ' ), also known as the North Wales Coast Line ( Welsh : Llinell Arfordir Gogledd Cymru ), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire , England , running from Crewe on
507-507: The Romans under Gaius Suetonius Paulinus , temporarily abandoned in order to consolidate forces against Boudicca , then held until the end of Roman Britain. With the withdrawal of the Roman forces, the area fell under the control of the early medieval Kingdom of Gwynedd . There has likely been a small Christian religious site, perhaps a monastic cell , in the area since the 7th century. Surveys of
546-520: The United Kingdom and one of the longest in the world at 58 characters (51 "letters" since " ch " and " ll " are digraphs , and are treated as single letters in the Welsh language ). The village is still signposted Llanfairpwllgwyngyll , marked on Ordnance Survey maps as Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll and the railway station is officially named Llanfairpwll , a form used by local residents. The name
585-555: The West Coast Main Line to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey . The line has 19 stations, with all except two, Chester and Crewe , being in Wales . The line is not currently electrified, so Avanti West Coast, the current operator of the West Coast Partnership franchise, currently uses Class 221 Super Voyagers and Class 805 Evero units, which they have done in the case of the former since December 2007 and
624-586: The American quiz show $ ale of the Century . Host Jim Perry later showed a giant cue card bearing the name of the village, he explained what each part of the name meant before joking "and it's pronounced...exactly the way you think it is!" In 1995, Welsh band Super Furry Animals released its debut EP , Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllantysiliogogogochynygofod (In Space) . In 2002,
663-912: The Chester to Crewe line was a Tier 2 priority for being electrified in the CP6 period (2019-2024). In 2023, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that electrification of the North Wales Coast line would receive £1 billion in funding as part of the Network North policy paper in conjunction with the scrapping of High Speed 2 north of Birmingham. Class 221 units currently operate long-distance services to Holyhead from London Euston for Avanti West Coast . They were replaced in part by Class 805 Evero units in June 2024. These new units are able to run using
702-475: The Crown . In Wales, all town councils are community councils. There are now three communities with city status: Bangor , St Asaph and St Davids . The chair of a town council or city council will usually have the title mayor (Welsh: maer ). However, not every community has a council. In communities with populations too small to sustain a full community council, community meetings may be established. The communities in
741-655: The Opposition Andrew RT Davies MS ( C ) Shadow Cabinet ( current ) Prime Minister Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP ( L ) Secretary of State for Wales Rt Hon Jo Stevens MP (L) Principal councils ( leader list ) Corporate Joint Committees Local twinning see also: Regional terms and Regional economy United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections (1979–2020) Local elections Police and crime commissioner elections Referendums A community ( Welsh : cymuned )
780-745: The community boundaries within their area every fifteen years. The councils propose changes to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales , which prepares a report and makes recommendations to the Welsh Government . If the Welsh Government accepts the recommendations, then it implements them using a statutory instrument . For example, in 2016 four new communities were created in the City and County of Cardiff . The legislation surrounding community councils in Wales has been amended significantly in
819-455: The hazel trees" or "the cave of St Tysilio the Red". The true originator and date of the longer version of the name is less certain, however: an ecclesiastical directory published a few years before the claimed renaming gives what it calls the "full" parish name in the slightly differing form of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerbwlltysiliogogo ("St Mary's church of
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#1732884599789858-460: The later medieval period show that the tenants of the township of Pwllgwyngyll, as it was then known, held a total of 9 bovates of land from the Bishop of Bangor under the feudal system. A church was built during the medieval period and dedicated to Mary , probably under Norman influence: the building, later demolished and replaced by a Victorian-era church, was unusual in having a semi-circular apse,
897-676: The latter since June 2024, on routes to Holyhead. Plans to electrify the line were announced in October 2023. The line contains several notable engineering structures, including Conwy railway bridge across the River Conwy , and Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait . The first section from Crewe to Chester was built by the Chester and Crewe Railway and absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway shortly before opening in 1840. The remainder
936-536: The location of his birthplace by mentioning the town. In the 1966 Stephen Sondheim -penned song " The Boy From... ", the singer details her unrequited love for a boy from the (fictional) island of Tacarembo la Tumbe del Fuego Santa Malipas Zatatecas la Junta del Sol y Cruz. The final verse includes the lyric: "Tomorrow he sails/He's moving to Wales/ To live in Llanfair;pwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch" (with
975-465: The mid 16th century, in Leland 's Itinerary . The suffixing of the township name to that of the church would have served to distinguish the parish from the many other sites dedicated to Mary in Wales. Longer versions of the name are thought to have first been used in the 19th century in an attempt to develop the village as a commercial and tourist centre. The long form of the name is the longest place name in
1014-406: The name means: "[The] church of [St.] Mary ( Llanfair ) [of the] pool ( pwll ) of the white hazels ( gwyn gyll ) near to [lit. "over against"] ( go ger ) the fierce whirlpool ( y chwyrn drobwll ) [and] the church of [St.] Tysilio ( Llantysilio ) of the red cave ( gogo[f] goch )". Various elements have occasionally been translated differently, for example "the white pool among
1053-491: The parish reached 385 by 1801. In 1826, Anglesey was connected to the rest of Wales by the construction of the Menai Suspension Bridge by Thomas Telford , and connected with London in 1850 with the building of the Britannia Bridge and the busy North Wales Coast railway line , which connected the rest of Great Britain to the ferry port of Holyhead . The old village, known as 'Pentre Uchaf' ("upper village")
1092-423: The pool of the white hazels over against the pool of St Tysilio Gogo [ Tysilio of the cave]"), while Llan-vair-pwll-gwyn-gyll-goger-bwll-dysilio-gogo appears in a paper on placenames published in 1849, its author noting that "the name was generally abridged" by locals. While the addition regarding the Swellies is supposed only to have been made in the 1860s, early 19th century guidebooks had already suggested
1131-487: The same Act. The principal areas of Wales are divided entirely into communities. Unlike in England, where unparished areas exist, no part of Wales is outside a community, even in urban areas . Most, but not all, communities are administered by community councils , which are equivalent to English parish councils in terms of their powers and the way they operate. Welsh community councils may call themselves town councils unilaterally and may have city status granted by
1170-569: The secret die with him. This form of the name adds a reference to the whirlpool in the Menai Strait known as the Swellies and to the small chapel of St. Tysilio , located on a nearby island. The final -gogogoch ("red cave") is supposed to have been an addition inspired by the Cardiganshire parish of Llandysiliogogo , rather than by any local features. Literally translated, the long form of
1209-551: The urban areas of the cities of Cardiff , Swansea and Newport do not have community councils. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census , there were 869 communities in Wales. 84 percent, or more than 730, have a council. They vary in size from Rhayader with an area of 13,945 hectares (34,460 acres) to Cefn Fforest with an area of 64 hectares (160 acres). They ranged in population from Barry with 45,053 recorded inhabitants to Baglan Bay with no permanent residents. The twenty-two principal area councils are required to review
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1248-408: The very last line of the song simply being the exhortation, "och!"). Part of the song's humour stems from the singer's attempts to catch her breath after repeatedly singing the unwieldy place names. In the 1968 movie Barbarella , Dildano proposes that the password for a meeting is "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch". The name
1287-468: The village's website was listed as the longest URL on the Internet. The computer game Civilization V awards the "Longest. Name. Ever." Steam achievement to players for having a city named Llanfairpwllgwyngyll . In September 2015, Channel 4 News weatherman Liam Dutton went viral around the world after accurately pronouncing the name of the town in one of his weather reports. In 2024 Volkswagen
1326-432: Was Pwllgwyngyll , meaning "the pool of the white hazels". Pwllgwyngyll was one of two townships making up the parish, the other being Treforion; its name was first recorded as 'Piwllgunyl' in an ecclesiastical valuation conducted in the 1250s for the Bishop of Norwich . The parish name was recorded as Llanfair y Pwllgwyngyll ( 'Llanfair' meaning "[St.] Mary's church"; y meaning "(of) the") as far back as
1365-433: Was at that point reachable only by boat across the Menai Strait . A largely destroyed, collapsed dolmen can be found from this period in the parish, located at Ty Mawr north of the present-day church; early Ordnance Survey maps show a long cairn on the site. The probable remains of a hillfort, with a fragmentary bank and ditch, were recorded on an outcrop known as Craig y Ddinas. The area was briefly invaded and captured by
1404-623: Was built between 1844 and 1850 by the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company as the route of the Irish Mail services to Dublin . The line was later incorporated into the London and North Western Railway . Between Chester and Saltney Junction , the line was, from the start, used by trains of the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway , later to be incorporated into the Great Western Railway . So important
1443-552: Was joined by new development around the railway station , which became known as 'Pentre Isaf' , the "lower village". The first meeting of the Women's Institute took place in Llanfairpwll in 1915, and the movement (which began in Canada) then spread through the rest of the British Isles . The original name of the medieval township , within whose boundaries the present-day village lies,
1482-405: Was submitted to Guinness World Records as the longest word to appear in a published cryptic crossword , having been used by compiler Roger Squires in 1979. The clue was "Giggling troll follows Clancy, Larry, Billy and Peggy who howl, wrongly disturbing a place in Wales (58)", where all but the last five words formed an anagram. In the 1980s, the village's name was the subject of a question on
1521-596: Was the line in the 19th and early 20th centuries to passenger, mail and freight traffic between Britain and Ireland that the world's first experimental and operational water troughs were installed at Mochdre , between Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction. Their purpose was to enable steam engines (especially on the Irish Mail) to collect water without stopping. Later, considerable stretches of line between Chester and Colwyn Bay were quadrupled to increase line capacity, but these sections have now been reduced to two tracks. In 2018,
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