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124-680: The Long Mynd ( Welsh : Cefn Hirfynydd ) is a heath and moorland plateau that forms part of the Shropshire Hills in Shropshire , England. The high ground, which is common land and designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , lies between the Stiperstones range to the west and the Stretton Hills and Wenlock Edge to the east. Much of it is owned by the National Trust , and

248-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under

372-586: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified

496-595: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had

620-477: A footprint is not a simple replica of the sole of the foot, and the resting trace of a seastar has different details than an impression of a seastar. Early paleobotanists misidentified a wide variety of structures they found on the bedding planes of sedimentary rocks as fucoids ( Fucales , a kind of brown algae or seaweed ). However, even during the earliest decades of the study of ichnology, some fossils were recognized as animal footprints and burrows. Studies in

744-547: A road that goes to the Gliding Club. A common misconception is that it goes over Pole Bank, but instead it bypasses the hill, following its contours. Very little Iron Age human activity has been recorded on the Long Mynd. However, this later period has a specific ancient site. Bodbury Ring Hill Fort , a hillfort above Cardingmill Valley, and sits on the top of Bodbury Hill at 380 m (1,250 ft). This feature dates from

868-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into

992-621: A winter's night on the Long Mynd when attempting to walk home after conducting a Sunday service and visiting an isolated parishioner. He spent 23 hours struggling to force a route to safety. The Long Mynd features in literature in the poetry of A. E. Housman , the novels of Mary Webb (in particular Gone to Earth ), Malcolm Saville 's Lone Pine series for children, and Sheena Porter 's The Knockers (1965). [REDACTED] Media related to Long Mynd at Wikimedia Commons Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )

1116-481: Is pollen evidence to show that trees began to be replaced by grass on the plateau of the Long Mynd from the Bronze Age over 2,000 years ago and written evidence of organised management as a grazed common from the 13th century over 700 years ago. The Longmynd commoners' ponies and sheep grazed here are hardy animals and are well adapted to the harsh conditions of life on the hill. They graze selectively and very close to

1240-476: Is 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) high. On its western side it is fronted by a 3 m (10 ft) wide ditch . At both ends of the Cross Ridge Dyke, it fades into the steep hillside. A gap in the dyke, 60 m (200 ft) from the south-east end, is thought to make room for a trackway along the ridge. Its purpose was to cut off Grindle Hill from the main plateau , and to create a barrier for access from

1364-995: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave

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1488-506: Is at approximately 230 metres (750 ft) above sea level and the hilly links course rises up to around 375 m (1,230 ft). It is the oldest 18-hole golf course in Shropshire, opened in 1898, and one of the highest in the country. Cycle racing's British National Hill Climb Championship was held on the Burway , the road ascending the Long Mynd from Church Stretton, in 1989. The title

1612-596: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. Ichnofossil Trace fossils may consist of physical impressions made on or in

1736-667: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to

1860-547: Is managed by the Longmynd Commoners. The Long Mynd is approximately 7 miles (11 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide, and is broadly characterised by steep valleys on its eastern flanks, and a long slope to the western side rising in a steep escarpment. In its vicinity are the principal settlements of Church Stretton , Little Stretton and All Stretton , Pulverbatch , Smethcott , Woolstaston , Asterton , Myndtown , Wentnor and Ratlinghope . The highest point on

1984-750: Is not applicable, and a comprehensive form of taxonomy has been erected. At the highest level of the classification, five behavioral modes are recognized: Fossils are further classified into form genera, a few of which are even subdivided to a "species" level. Classification is based on shape, form, and implied behavioural mode. To keep body and trace fossils nomenclatorially separate, ichnospecies are erected for trace fossils. Ichnotaxa are classified somewhat differently in zoological nomenclature than taxa based on body fossils (see trace fossil classification for more information). Examples include: Trace fossils are important paleoecological and paleoenvironmental indicators, because they are preserved in situ , or in

2108-536: Is part of the Shropshire Hills designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and is a popular tourist destination, particularly due to the many footpaths, varied terrain and impressive scenery and views. Two major footpaths are the Shropshire Way and the Jack Mytton Way . The Long Mynd's open spaces make it a popular place for horse riding and mountain biking on the bridleways . Carding mill Valley

2232-765: Is passed down the generations of sheep through the shepherding by the Longmynd commoners. The geology dates back to the Precambrian , and during at least part of that long period this area would have been around 60° south of the equator , the same as the current latitude of the Falkland Islands . Shropshire would have been at the very edge of a large continent near the sea, which was being buckled by tectonic activity, causing volcanoes to form. The area had broad rivers; evidence of mudflats has been found. The rivers would have flowed out to sea, creating large estuaries ; over time,

2356-703: Is punctuated by two events. One is called the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution (see Wilson & Palmer, 2006) and the other was in the Jurassic. For a comprehensive bibliography of the bioerosion literature, please see the External links below. The oldest types of tetrapod tail-and-footprints date back to the latter Devonian period. These vertebrate impressions have been found in Ireland , Scotland , Pennsylvania , and Australia . A sandstone slab containing

2480-417: Is roughly 1,500 years old. It was probably built to control the access along the ancient east to west route, which still crosses the Long Mynd today by means of a modern road. High Park Cross-Ridge Dyke , another dyke on the Long Mynd. At 380 m (1,250 ft) it is the longest on the Long Mynd. It is approximately 6 m (20 ft) wide, but in areas survives only as a crop mark. The highest point of

2604-498: Is the busiest location as it is home to the National Trust's centre for the area. The windward slopes to the west are popular with glider , hang-glider and paraglider pilots. In winter some valley slopes become makeshift ski slopes, but Long Mynd can be treacherous in severe weather, and has claimed many lives. In 2015 snow gates were installed at various points of access onto the Long Mynd, to deter motorists planning to use

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2728-505: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain

2852-516: Is volcanic in origin, and is thought to be a remnant of the great mountain chain. During the Cambrian , Shropshire was flooded by the sea, after the Global Ice Age ended 539 million years ago. Thick layers of beach pebbles and white sand were built up against the sea cliffs that were once molten lava. During this time, the shallow sea played host to the huge explosion of new life which occurred during

2976-704: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows

3100-494: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in

3224-461: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in

3348-421: The Cambrian got underway, new forms of trace fossil appeared, including vertical burrows (e.g. Diplocraterion ) and traces normally attributed to arthropods . These represent a "widening of the behavioural repertoire", both in terms of abundance and complexity. Trace fossils are a particularly significant source of data from this period because they represent a data source that is not directly connected to

3472-833: The Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction , to aid in understanding environmental factors involved in mass extinction events. Most trace fossils are known from marine deposits. Essentially, there are two types of traces, either exogenic ones, which are made on the surface of the sediment (such as tracks) or endogenic ones, which are made within the layers of sediment (such as burrows). Surface trails on sediment in shallow marine environments stand less chance of fossilization because they are subjected to wave and current action. Conditions in quiet, deep-water environments tend to be more favorable for preserving fine trace structures. Most trace fossils are usually readily identified by reference to similar phenomena in modern environments. However,

3596-525: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol

3720-454: The Iron Age , c. 500 BC, and is therefore much later than other ancient sites on the Long Mynd. Another hill fort nearby sits on the summit of Caer Caradoc . Bodbury Ring is now looked after by the National Trust . During the 18th century, Church Stretton began to grow in the wide valley between the Long Mynd and Caer Caradoc, as a market town , and later a spa. Historically the town

3844-727: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and

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3968-776: The Stiperstones , and into Wales; the Cambrian Mountains in Powys , notably the Berwyn range and as far as Snowdonia on clear days. The views east are obscured by other areas of the Shropshire Hills, Caer Caradoc, the Wrekin and the Clee Hills . From some locations there are views of the West Midlands . Views south are towards Clun Forest , Craven Arms and Ludlow . The highest points on

4092-618: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has

4216-463: The substrate by an organism. For example, burrows , borings ( bioerosion ), urolites (erosion caused by evacuation of liquid wastes), footprints , feeding marks, and root cavities may all be trace fossils. The term in its broadest sense also includes the remains of other organic material produced by an organism; for example coprolites (fossilized droppings) or chemical markers (sedimentological structures produced by biological means; for example,

4340-573: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for

4464-447: The 1880s by A. G. Nathorst and Joseph F. James comparing 'fucoids' to modern traces made it increasingly clear that most of the specimens identified as fossil fucoids were animal trails and burrows. True fossil fucoids are quite rare. Pseudofossils , which are not true fossils, should also not be confused with ichnofossils, which are true indications of prehistoric life. Charles Darwin 's The Formation of Vegetable Mould through

4588-589: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in

4712-522: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,

4836-481: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for

4960-484: The Cambrian. Shropshire has some of the most historically important evidence in the explosion of life and this is referred to in the naming and dividing of the Cambrian period. Trilobites that are found in the county are internationally important for deciding how the Cambrian is divided into smaller segments of time. The Ordovician had Shropshire back to volcanic activity, and saw the county temporarily split in two, along

5084-539: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published

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5208-420: The Long Mynd are as follows in order of highest to lowest, with comparisons of other nearby hills and the level of Church Stretton in bold . Long Mynd comprises a multitude of valleys , and the highest concentration lies along the eastern edge, near Church Stretton. Topographically, many of the larger valleys lie adjacent to each other and are aligned northwest to southeast. The main valleys include: Long Mynd

5332-408: The Long Mynd is Pole Bank (1,693 ft, 516 m); this and the adjacent hill of Caer Caradoc (1,506 ft, 459 m) are classed as Marilyns . The name Long Mynd means "long mountain", the second element being Brittonic in origin. In modern Welsh it is named Mynydd Hir [ˈmənɪð ˈhiːr] , which has the same meaning, or Cefn Hirfynydd , meaning "long mountain ridge". There

5456-513: The Pontesford – Linley fault line. Everything west of this line was ocean, while the east was dry land. The Iapetus Ocean was closing, bringing the two halves of Britain towards each other, and volcanic eruptions created the Cumbrian Mountains and Snowdonia . Shropshire also saw volcanic activity. To the west of the Pontesford – Linley fault, volcanic rocks have been found. The other side of

5580-489: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,

5704-673: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither

5828-641: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of

5952-515: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer

6076-481: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to

6200-606: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of

6324-637: The behaviour – not the biological affinity – of their makers. Accordingly, researchers classify trace fossils into form genera based on their appearance and on the implied behaviour, or ethology , of their makers. Traces are better known in their fossilized form than in modern sediments. This makes it difficult to interpret some fossils by comparing them with modern traces, even though they may be extant or even common. The main difficulties in accessing extant burrows stem from finding them in consolidated sediment, and being able to access those formed in deeper water. Trace fossils are best preserved in sandstones;

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6448-456: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of

6572-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within

6696-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of

6820-470: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over

6944-448: The different layers of ancient rock. From 2006, University of Cambridge scientists monitored seismic activity in the Long Mynd. The broadband seismometer was connected to the internet, and real-time traces viewable online. The Bronze Age period is by far the most recorded period of time on the Long Mynd. There are dozens of tumuli on the moorland. Some are small, the remains of chamber tombs for example. Others are quite large,

7068-588: The dyke, on the west side of the bank, stands at 1.2 m (4 ft) high, and reaches its widest point at 8 m (26 ft). A trackway, like that found on Barristers Plain Cross-Ridge Dyke, cuts through the dyke. Of the Long Mynd Barrows , over twenty scatter the plateau. The best examples are in the northern area of the Long Mynd. Robin Hood's Butts barrow, near Duckley Nap, are two well known barrows, and

7192-418: The edge of which is defined by a 5 m (16 ft) wide bank, which has been partially destroyed by a modern path. It had been dated to c. 1950–1700  BC . The Port Way is an ancient trackway, which runs the length of the Long Mynd massif, and is the largest historical feature on the Long Mynd, at just over 5 miles (8 km) long. It is still walked today, and is part of the Shropshire Way , and

7316-414: The end of long pathways of trace fossils matching their shape. The feeding was performed in a mechanical way, supposedly the ventral side of body these organisms was covered with cilia . The potential mollusc related Kimberella is associated with scratch marks, perhaps formed by a radula , further traces from 555  million years ago appear to imply active crawling or burrowing activity. As

7440-449: The environmental conditions in which the trace-making organisms dwelt. Water depth, salinity , hardness of the substrate, dissolved oxygen, and many other environmental conditions control which organisms can inhabit particular areas. Therefore, by documenting and researching changes in ichnofacies, scientists can interpret changes in environment. For example, ichnological studies have been utilized across mass extinction boundaries, such as

7564-401: The equator. The Triassic , Jurassic , Cretaceous and Tertiary were very quiet in Shropshire, and very little evidence can be found from these periods. The last ice age during the Quaternary has its effect on all of Shropshire, shaping the landscape as we see it today. The Long Mynd would have been under a thick ice sheet , several hundred metres thick. As the ice melted, it carved out

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7688-600: The fault line was quieter. The land was slowly eroded, and the sea gradually flooded it, so that only the tops of hills could be seen, such as the ancient Caer Caradoc. Towards the end of the Ordovician, the sea levels dropped, due to another ice age. An interesting observation of this erosion can be found in the stratigraphy as a sea stump (an eroded sea stack). The Silurian period, around 439 million years ago, has been well preserved nearby, in Wenlock Edge . During this time, Shropshire would have been flooded again by shallow sea. Wenlock Edge would have formed during this time, and

7812-400: The few remaining clubs in Europe to regularly launch gliders by bungee . One early distinguished past member was Amy Johnson , from 1937 to 1939. Historical grazing rights are held by the Long Mynd Commoners who graze sheep and ponies on the land. The grazing livestock slow the invasion of trees by pushing into the scrub and bracken helping to create and maintain the heath. They also graze in

7936-419: The first animals that appear to have been fully terrestrial dates to the Cambro-Ordovician and is in the form of trackways. Trackways from the Ordovician Tumblagooda sandstone allow the behaviour of other terrestrial organisms to be determined. The trackway Protichnites represents traces from an amphibious or terrestrial arthropod going back to the Cambrian. Less ambiguous than the above ichnogenera, are

8060-400: The first appearance of the trace fossil Treptichnus pedum . Trace fossils have a further utility, as many appear before the organism thought to create them, extending their stratigraphic range. Ichnofacies are assemblages of individual trace fossils that occur repeatedly in time and space. Palaeontologist Adolf Seilacher pioneered the concept of ichnofacies, whereby geologists infer

8184-431: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of

8308-457: The formation of stromatolites ). However, most sedimentary structures (for example those produced by empty shells rolling along the sea floor) are not produced through the behaviour of an organism and thus are not considered trace fossils. The study of traces – ichnology – divides into paleoichnology , or the study of trace fossils, and neoichnology , the study of modern traces. Ichnological science offers many challenges, as most traces reflect

8432-411: The fossils of ancient corals and shellfish can be found all along the edge, preserved in limestone . Towards the end of the Silurian the Iapetus Ocean would have fully closed, and England and Scotland were joined. The closing of this ocean was important to geology in Great Britain. It caused most of our hills and mountains to align along the fault, northeast to the southwest. During the Devonian ,

8556-427: The front limbs touched the ground or not. However, most trace fossils are rather less conspicuous, such as the trails made by segmented worms or nematodes . Some of these worm castings are the only fossil record we have of these soft-bodied creatures. Fossil footprints made by tetrapod vertebrates are difficult to identify to a particular species of animal, but they can provide valuable information such as

8680-403: The grain size and depositional facies both contributing to the better preservation. They may also be found in shales and limestones. Trace fossils are generally difficult or impossible to assign to a specific maker. Only in very rare occasions are the makers found in association with their tracks. Further, entirely different organisms may produce identical tracks. Therefore, conventional taxonomy

8804-491: The ground, leaving patches of long vegetation which benefits insects and small mammals. This grazing pattern has resulted in a special ecology and the Long Mynd Common is therefore designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest . To enhance the ecology the Longmynd commoners have, since 1999 been in an environmental stewardship scheme that also supports sustainable farming practices. Livestock grazing plays an important role in maintaining species-rich habitats by controlling

8928-463: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval

9052-469: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to

9176-451: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period

9300-587: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for

9424-496: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to

9548-546: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c.  600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )

9672-452: The largest on the Long Mynd, being approximately 36 m (118 ft) in diameter and 4 m (13 ft) high. The Shooting Box Barrow is named after a grouse-shooting hut that stood on the site until it was removed in 1992. It is the only known example of a disc barrow in Shropshire. 21 m (69 ft) in diameter and 2.3 m (8 ft) high, it is in the centre of a flat circular enclosure 54 m (177 ft) in diameter,

9796-486: The life position of the organism that made them. Because identical fossils can be created by a range of different organisms, trace fossils can only reliably inform us of two things: the consistency of the sediment at the time of its deposition, and the energy level of the depositional environment . Attempts to deduce such traits as whether a deposit is marine or non-marine have been made, but shown to be unreliable. Trace fossils provide us with indirect evidence of life in

9920-511: The material would be spun, and then weaved into the final product. The mill was irreparably damaged in a flood around the turn of 20th century. The factory that served the mill is still in the valley today, and after being turned into a hotel for many years has now been converted into luxury apartments. The Long Mynd Hotel in Church Stretton was built in 1901, originally as the Hydro, at a time when

10044-465: The millennia to create an approximately 23,000 ft (7,000 m) thick layer composed of sand, mud, silt and very occasional thin ash bands. The stratigraphy, mineral compositions and surrounding volcanology suggests an infilling island arc basin. Towards the end of the Precambrian, the volcanoes ceased their eruptions, and the rivers had dried up. Instead the forces that created the volcanoes caused

10168-610: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in

10292-529: The more aggressive plant species which would otherwise dominate the area. Other than the boundary fence which is largely maintained by the Longmynd commoners, there is no other fencing on the hill that restricts the movement of livestock. Therefore, to undertake routine husbandry tasks, Longmynd commoners use dogs to gather their flocks together before driving them off the hill back to the farm. The sheep from each farm know instinctively where their flock's grazing boundary is. This ancient practice, known as hefting ,

10416-435: The most spectacular trace fossils are the huge, three-toed footprints produced by dinosaurs and related archosaurs . These imprints give scientists clues as to how these animals lived. Although the skeletons of dinosaurs can be reconstructed, only their fossilized footprints can determine exactly how they stood and walked. Such tracks can tell much about the gait of the animal which made them, what its stride was, and whether

10540-499: The mudflats would have built up, and volcanic eruptions deposited ash in layers between the sand and mud. The primary rock of the Long Mynd is sandstone, usually coloured purple or grey. The volcanoes created the nearby Stretton Hills and the Wrekin , and eruptions would have been frequent. There are layers in the rocks of the Long Mynd that were previously described as raindrop marks. Unpublished research, including electron micrographs, by

10664-460: The new rocks to lift and fold, creating mountains and valleys in the area. Much of the rock was melted during this period, underneath the Earth's crust , causing the mountains to continually change towards the latter part of the Precambrian. The Church Stretton Fault Zone probably formed during this period. It is still active today. The hill of Caer Caradoc adjacent to the Long Mynd and from the same time

10788-538: The newly formed Scottish mountains had rivers flowing all over the land. Shropshire was no exception; these new rivers caused thick deposits in the area. Most of the rocks from this era are red sandstones, with iron in the rock. The area was known as the Old Red Sandstone Continent. These river sediments have traces of fossilised fish. Shropshire would have remained above water until the end of the Devonian, when

10912-536: The north were being worn down by rivers, creating enormous deltas that were colonised by plant life. A tropical forest took hold all over Shropshire, with ancient tree ferns and horsetails . Shropshire eventually crossed the equator during this era, and became a part of Pangaea during the Permian ; the area would have been very similar to the Sahara Desert , and would have been in the vicinity, around 20° to 30° north of

11036-608: The now deceased Professor Martin Brasier, showed that these are actually ichnofossils created by an unknown Ediacaran biota. Field observations of the stratigraphy present, and its laminar nature, leave no doubt that they are in a marine environment; the absence of infilled or mineralised syncresis (shrinkage cracks) adds to this. Examples of these fossilised marks can be viewed today in the National Trust tearoom exhibition, in Carding Mill Valley . The layers of rock built up over

11160-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,

11284-471: The past , such as the footprints, tracks, burrows, borings, and feces left behind by animals, rather than the preserved remains of the body of the actual animal itself. Unlike most other fossils, which are produced only after the death of the organism concerned, trace fossils provide us with a record of the activity of an organism during its lifetime. Unlike body fossils, which can be transported far away from where an individual organism lived, trace fossils record

11408-464: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to

11532-534: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,

11656-456: The pools, eating the pondweed and consequently there is a healthy population of brown trout ( Salmo trutta ) and otter ( Lutra lutra ). Tree pipit ( Anthus trivialis ) and red grouse ( Lagopus lagopus scotica ) are found here as well as the recent arrival of the grayling butterfly ( Hipparchia semele ). The Revd E. D. Carr's A Night in the Snow describes his experience, in 1865, of surviving

11780-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase

11904-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over

12028-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by

12152-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in

12276-568: The presence of easily fossilized hard parts, which are rare during the Cambrian. Whilst exact assignment of trace fossils to their makers is difficult, the trace fossil record seems to indicate that at the very least, large, bottom-dwelling, bilaterally symmetrical organisms were rapidly diversifying during the early Cambrian . Further, less rapid diversification occurred since, and many traces have been converged upon independently by unrelated groups of organisms. Trace fossils also provide our earliest evidence of animal life on land. Evidence of

12400-409: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of

12524-399: The ridge. The club owns 136 hectares (340 acres) of land on the south end and flies throughout the year. It runs residential training courses and offers members of the public trial lesson flights, see Midland Gliding Club. [ [1] ] Many long glider flights have started from the Long Mynd, for instance one of 750 kilometres (470 mi) during the summer of 2007. The gliding club is one of

12648-612: The routes in wintry conditions. The Longmynd Hike is a 50-mile (80 km) competitive race that crosses over the Long Mynd twice and must be completed in under 24 hours. It has been running since 1967 and takes place annually, usually on the first weekend in October. There is a golf course , the Church Stretton Golf Club , located near the Cardingmill Valley, on the slopes of Stanyeld Hill and Bodbury Hill. The clubhouse

12772-464: The salinity and turbidity of the water column. Some trace fossils can be used as local index fossils , to date the rocks in which they are found, such as the burrow Arenicolites franconicus which occurs only in a 4 cm ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) layer of the Triassic Muschelkalk epoch, throughout wide areas in southern Germany . The base of the Cambrian period is defined by

12896-481: The seas rose once again. The Carboniferous was a time of great change for the area. Shropshire would have been near the equator, and the Old Red Sandstone continent had been eroded away; in the early part of the period, the county was under a shallow sea. However, tectonic activity pushed Britain out of the sea. South of Shropshire this effect was felt greatly, though Shropshire was relatively quiet. Mountains to

13020-627: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in

13144-413: The sites on the Long Mynd, from the Bronze Age, include dykes , cross-ridge dykes and barrows . Barristers Plain Cross-Ridge Dyke runs southwest to northeast, almost in a straight line for 170 m (560 ft). It runs across the narrowest area of a ridge between Grindle Hill and Round Hill. The remains of the dyke is now covered in heather, and is approximately 5.5 m (18 ft) wide, and

13268-532: The speed, weight, and behavior of the organism that made them. Such trace fossils are formed when amphibians , reptiles , mammals , or birds walked across soft (probably wet) mud or sand which later hardened sufficiently to retain the impressions before the next layer of sediment was deposited. Some fossils can even provide details of how wet the sand was when they were being produced, and hence allow estimation of paleo-wind directions. Assemblages of trace fossils occur at certain water depths, and can also reflect

13392-420: The state of a sedimentary system at its time of deposition by noting the fossils in association with one another. The principal ichnofacies recognized in the literature are Skolithos , Cruziana , Zoophycos , Nereites , Glossifungites, Scoyenia , Trypanites , Teredolites , and Psilonichus . These assemblages are not random. In fact, the assortment of fossils preserved are primarily constrained by

13516-532: The structures made by organisms in recent sediment have only been studied in a limited range of environments, mostly in coastal areas, including tidal flats . The earliest complex trace fossils, not including microbial traces such as stromatolites , date to 2,000 to 1,800 million years ago . This is far too early for them to have an animal origin, and they are thought to have been formed by amoebae . Putative "burrows" dating as far back as 1,100 million years may have been made by animals which fed on

13640-435: The town was popular as a spa. A large area of the Long Mynd (almost all its upland area) was bought by the National Trust in 1965, and was designated an AONB as part of the Shropshire Hills in 1958. The Long Mynd comprises many hills and moors. From the summit of nearly every hill, there are extensive views of the surrounding area and surrounding counties. North, one can see as far as Cheshire ; west commands views over

13764-425: The traces and burrows basically are horizontal on or just below the seafloor surface. Such traces must have been made by motile organisms with heads, which would probably have been bilateran animals . The traces observed imply simple behaviour, and point to organisms feeding above the surface and burrowing for protection from predators. Contrary to widely circulated opinion that Ediacaran burrows are only horizontal

13888-459: The traces left behind by invertebrates such as Hibbertopterus , a giant "sea scorpion" or eurypterid of the early Paleozoic era. This marine arthropod produced a spectacular track preserved in Scotland. Bioerosion through time has produced a magnificent record of borings, gnawings, scratchings and scrapings on hard substrates. These trace fossils are usually divided into macroborings and microborings. Bioerosion intensity and diversity

14012-479: The track of tetrapod, dated to 400 million years, is amongst the oldest evidence of a vertebrate walking on land. Important human trace fossils are the Laetoli ( Tanzania ) footprints, imprinted in volcanic ash 3.7 Ma (million years ago) – probably by an early Australopithecus . Trace fossils are not body casts. The Ediacara biota , for instance, primarily comprises the casts of organisms in sediment. Similarly,

14136-399: The type of environment an animal actually inhabited and thus can provide a more accurate palaeoecological sample than body fossils. Trace fossils are formed by organisms performing the functions of their everyday life, such as walking, crawling, burrowing, boring, or feeding. Tetrapod footprints, worm trails and the burrows made by clams and arthropods are all trace fossils. Perhaps

14260-477: The undersides of microbial mats, which would have shielded them from a chemically unpleasant ocean; however their uneven width and tapering ends make a biological origin so difficult to defend that even the original author no longer believes they are authentic. The first evidence of burrowing which is widely accepted dates to the Ediacaran (Vendian) period, around 560  million years ago . During this period

14384-518: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from

14508-432: The valleys and hills of the Long Mynd massif we see today. The small rivers, streams and brooks still very slowly carve out the valleys. Today the steep and narrow valleys are covered in a thin layer of acidic soil, able to support only strong grasses , rushes and heathers . Beneath the soil the evidence of the ancient and chequered past can be seen, and the rocky outcrops and scree slopes are excellent places to view

14632-589: The vertical burrows Skolithos are also known. The producers of burrows Skolithos declinatus from the Vendian (Ediacaran) beds in Russia with date 555.3  million years ago have not been identified; they might have been filter feeders subsisting on the nutrients from the suspension. The density of these burrows is up to 245 burrows/dm . Some Ediacaran trace fossils have been found directly associated with body fossils. Yorgia and Dickinsonia are often found at

14756-437: The west. Devil's Mouth Cross-Ridge Dyke lies between Cardingmill Valley and Townbrook Valley. The dyke is 140 m (460 ft) long, but is cut though by the Burway road and a small car park, 35 m (110 ft) of the dyke is now missing. Both ends of the dyke end on steep slopes! It was built with stone and earth, and is 6 m (20 ft) wide, and 1.5 m (5 ft) high, with shallow ditches either side. It

14880-608: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to

15004-510: Was known for its textiles, specifically in Cardingmill Valley. Carding Mill was built in the 18th century, and named after a stage in making cloth, the three stages being carding , spinning and weaving . Carding would have been done by children, and involved using a hand-card that removed and untangled short fibres from the mass of raw material. The cards were wooden blocks with handles and covered in metal spikes, which were angled, (to make it easier to untangle) and set in leather. When untangled,

15128-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through

15252-505: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern

15376-471: Was won by Chris Boardman , the second of his four National Hill Climb titles, who went on to win a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics and have a successful professional cycling career. The Long Mynd has been home to the Midland Gliding Club since 1934, utilising the slope of the ground in a Westerly wind for gliders to continue flight (for many hours if required) in the rising air over and above

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