Coordinates: 52°56′13″N 3°39′32″W / 52.937°N 3.659°W
North Wales (Welsh: Gogledd Cymru) is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England.
It comprises the island of Anglesey, the Llŷn peninsula and the Snowdonia mountain range, together with the catchments of the Rivers Conwy, Clwyd and Dee with the River Dyfi often said to form the southern boundary along part of its course.
However, northern Powys is the same distance north as south Gwynedd so that could also be classed as North Wales.
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North Wales is steeped in history. In 1210, English King John invaded Gwynedd a county of North Wales, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, one of the greatest of the medieval Welsh kings was forced to retreat to the mountainous areas to the West. When John found himself embroiled in struggles with his Barons and the Pope, Llywelyn was able to reassert his authority in North Wales. In 1216, Llywelyn went on to preside over a Welsh Parliament, a position confirmed at the Peace of Worcester in 1218, by Henry III.[1]
North Wales is home to five of the six UNESCO World Heritage sites in Wales, including:Caernarfon Castle, Beaumaris Castle,[2] Conwy Castle, Harlech Castle[3] and Pontcysyllte aqueduct.[4]
Traditionally, most of North Wales was covered by the kingdom of Gwynedd.
The region is approximately made up of the following administrative areas:
North Wales was a European Parliament constituency until 1999. Currently, there is an electoral region for the National Assembly for Wales with the name (used, in parallel with the smaller constituencies, to elect top-up members under the Additional Member System), which covers the North-East of Wales (specifically the entire area of the former pre-1996 county of Clwyd) as well as the Northern-most coastal areas of north-western Wales; the rest of North Wales is covered by Mid and West Wales (National Assembly for Wales electoral region).
The area is mostly rural with many mountains and valleys. This, in combination with its coast (on the Irish Sea), has ensured that tourism is the principal industry. Farming, which was once the principal economic force in the area, is now much reduced in importance. The average income per capita of the local population is the lowest in the UK and much of the region has EU Objective 1 status.[5]
The eastern part of North Wales contains the most populous areas, with more than 300,000 people living in the areas around Wrexham and Deeside. Wrexham is North Wales' largest town, with a population of 68,000 in 2005. The majority of other settlements are along the coast, including some popular resort towns, such as Rhyl, Llandudno and Pwllheli. The A55 expressway links these towns with the north of England and the port of Holyhead for ferries to Ireland; few routes connect North Wales with South Wales. There are two cathedral cities – Bangor and St. Asaph – and a number of mediaeval castles (e.g., Criccieth, Dolbadarn, Harlech, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Conwy).
North Wales has a very diverse and complex geology with precambrian schists along the Menai Strait and the great Cambrian dome behind Harlech and underlying much of western Snowdonia. In the Ordovician period much volcanism deposited a range of minerals and rocks over the north western parts of Gwynedd whilst to the east of the River Conwy lies a large area of upland rolling hills underlain by the Silurian mud-stones and grits comprising the Denbigh and Migneint moors. To the east, around Llangollen,to the north on Halkyn mountain and the Great Orme and in eastern Anglesey are deep beds of limestone from which metals have been mines since pre-Roman times. Added to all this are the complexities posed by Parys Mountain and the outcrops of unusual minerals such as Jasper and Mona Marble which make the area of special interest to geologists.
North Wales has a distinct regional identity. Its dialect of the Welsh language differs from that of other regions such as South Wales in some ways; for example llefrith is used in most of the North instead of llaeth for "milk"; a simple sentence such as go upstairs now might be Dos i fyny'r grisiau rwan in North Wales, where it might be Cer lan y stâr nawr in South Wales. Colloquially, a person from North Wales (especially one who speaks with this dialect or accent) is known as a North Walian, or a Gog (from the Welsh gogledd, meaning "north").
In September 2008 it was announced by the Welsh Rugby Union that a development team based in North Wales would be created, with a long term goal of becoming the fifth Welsh Region in the Celtic League.[6] It was envisaged that this would both help the growth of the game in the area, and provide a larger pool of players for the Welsh national team to be selected from.[7][8] Rugby league is represented by the Wrexham based Crusaders Rugby League team who currently play in the European Super League
In 2000, The Wales Tourist Board tourist identified the top 10 most visited attractions in the region.[9] They included:
North Wales is in the United Kingdom.
| Anglesey | |
| Gwynedd | |
| Conwy | |
| Denbighshire | |
| Flintshire | |
| Wrexham |
North Wales has many picturesque towns. Below is a list of the most notable. For others, please see specific county articles.
Three of Wales' five AONB's are in North Wales.
North Wales is bilingual. While almost 100% of the people you meet can speak and understand English, you are also quite likely to hear Welsh being spoken, especially as you travel further west within the region. According to the census of 2005, 68.7% of the people in Gwynedd can speak Welsh. You're least likely to encounter Welsh speakers on the north coast east of Conwy.
Mainline train services within North Wales are run by Arriva Trains Wales [1].
An air service connecting RAF Valley in Anglesey to Cardiff International Airport in South Wales has recently opened charging £50 each way, and the journey takes about an hour. For flights from other destinations Manchester and Liverpool airports, across the border in England are the closest bet, or Birmingham airport for the Cambrian Coast area.
The main roads into North Wales are the A55 which runs along the north coast, connecting with the M56 and M53 near Chester, and the A5, which leaves the M54 at Shrewsbury and heads west to Betws y Coed and then north-west to Bangor
(See also Get In above for details of lines into and across North Wales)
There are a number of castles from the 12th and 13th centuries spread across North Wales. These date back to the time of the battles by the Welsh Princes of Gwynedd to resist the rule of King John, and more significantly, King Edward I of England. Most of the castles are in the care of Cadw[8], the historic environment service of the Welsh Assembly Government.
For many visitors to North Wales, the main draw is the number of historic steam railways in the area. Some, such as the Bala Lake Railway and Llangollen Railway, run on stretches of lines that were part of the national railways network until the infamous Beeching cuts closed many lines in the 1960s. Others, including the Talyllyn and Ffestiniog Railways, were built by mine or quarry owners to transport their produce (usually slate) down to a port or to a mainline train station. Most of the railways are owned and run by societies of volunteer enthusiasts.
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