Gwynedd - WikiHQ

thumb|View of [[Tremadog Bay]]

Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.

Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of and an estimated population of in . Bangor and Caernarfon are both in the north of the county, on the Menai Strait. The county's south-west coast is part of Cardigan Bay, and the towns of Pwllheli, Porthmadog, Barmouth, and Tywyn lie on it. Inland towns include Bethesda in the north, Blaenau Ffestiniog in the centre, and Bala in the east. Gwynedd is a heartland of the Welsh language; at the 2021 census, 64.4 per cent of the population reported being able to speak it, the highest percentage of Welsh local authority.

The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. The county contains much of Snowdonia, or Eryri, which occupies most of the centre and south of the county and has been designated a national park. The northern part, shared with Conwy County Borough, contains all 15 mountains in Wales with a height of over . These include Snowdon, or Yr Wyddfa, which at is Wales' highest mountain. The mountains enclose several lakes and reservoirs, and the largest lake in Wales, Llyn Tegid, lies in the east. In the west, the Llŷn Peninsula separates Tremadog Bay from the wider Irish Sea and has been designated a national landscape for its scenic coastline. Several of the county's rivers discharge into the bay, having risen in Snowdonia, and its coast is indented by the estuaries of the Glaslyn and Dwyryd, Mawddach, and Dyfi. The last forms part of the border with Ceredigion and Powys.

The area that is now Gwynedd has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales, which under the House of Aberffraw maintained its independence from the Kingdom of England until Edward I's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech, which form part of a World Heritage Site, the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd. During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire.

Toponymy

In the past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish , meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish , an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to , 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps ('strive, hope, wish') is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed, at the end of the Roman era. was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from which reads: ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd').

Geography

Gwynedd is a mountainous county. It contains the majority of Snowdonia, or Eryri, a large upland area that stretches the length of the county from its northern coast to the River Dyfi in the south. The northern part, shared with Conwy County Borough, contains all 15 mountains in Wales with a height of over . They are part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges and include Snowdon, or Yr Wyddfa, which at is Wales' highest mountain. The lower Moelwynion range and Moel Hebog and Cnicht massifs lie immediately to the south, and further south again are the Rhinogydd range, the Cadair Idris, Arenig, and Aran massifs, and the Dyfi Hills. The mountains enclose several lakes and reservoirs, and the largest lake in Wales, Llyn Tegid, lies in the east.

Snowdonia is fringed to the north west by Arfon, an undulating coastal plain separated from Anglesey by the Menai Strait. Its landscape is characterised by pastoral fields which gradually give way to the Snowdonia uplands. To the south-west lies Llŷn, a large peninsula that projects into the Irish Sea. Its northern coast is rugged, and the three peaks of Yr Eifl are prominent. A number of islands lie off the south coast, including Bardsey.

Llŷn defines the western edge of Tremadog Bay, the northern part of the larger Cardigan Bay. The bay is backed by lowlands, which in the west form a broad pastoral area. In the north-west corner the rivers Glaslyn and Dwyryd discharge into a wide, shared estuary, and beyond is a narrow coastal strip that runs south to the estuary of the Mawddach It is characterised by dune systems that soon give way to the hills of the Rhinogydd range. Further south, the area around the Dysynni and Dyfi estuaries is also lowland, separated from that to the north by the Cadair Idris massif.

Economy

The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park, which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in the south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter.

Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy.

The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in the slate quarries.

Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county.

The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, and , both now part of .

Welsh speakers

thumb|upright|The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.

Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh. According to the 2021 census, 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh, while 65.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census.

It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales. The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5 and 15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011. from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%.

Sasha (born 1969), disc jockey, born in Bangor, Gwynedd
Sir Bryn Terfel (born 1965), bass-baritone opera and concert singer from Pant Glas
Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), architect of Portmeirion
Owain Fôn Williams, (born 1987), footballer; born and raised in Penygroes, Gwynedd.
Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), poet from the village of Trawsfynydd; killed in WWI

File:Te lawrence.jpg|T. E. Lawrence, 1918

File:Bryn Terfel in Stockholm 2013-22.jpg|Bryn Terfel, 2013

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References

External links

Bangor University