North Wales

North Wales (Welsh: Gogledd Cymru) is the northernmost region[lower-roman 2] of Wales. It is bordered by the counties of Ceredigion, Powys, and the rest of Wales to the south, England and its counties of Shropshire, and Cheshire to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. It is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia National Park, known for its mountains, waterfalls, and trails, located wholly within the region. North Wales has no official designation, it is mostly used for organising the 6 northern principal areas for the public purposes of health, policing, and emergency services, and for statistical, economic, and cultural purposes.

For other uses, see North Wales (disambiguation).
North Wales

Gogledd Cymru

North of Wales, Gwynedd (historic)
Undefined Region
Map of the most common definition of North Wales, following principal area boundaries, Montgomeryshire is sometimes considered North Wales.
Satellite Map of North Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country Wales
Historic counties
Principal areasCounties & County Boroughs
  • part of Powys (historically)
Preserved counties
Localities
List of Localities (including Urban area)
Population
 • Estimate (2017)696,300
Demonym(s)North Welsh, North Walian, "gogs" (informally)
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)

Historically, for most of North Wales, the region can be referred to as simply “Gwynedd” [lower-roman 3][1], named after one of the last independent Welsh kingdoms, the Kingdom of Gwynedd. This has led to a stronger sense of Welsh identity and home to more Welsh-language speakers, especially in North West Wales, than the rest of Wales. Those from North Wales are sometimes referred to as “Gogs” from “gogledd” – the Welsh word for “north” [2], in comparison, those from South Wales are sometimes called “Hwntws” by those from North Wales.

The region includes the localities of Wrexham, Deeside, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Flint, Bangor, Llandudno, and Holyhead. The largest localities in North Wales is the town of Wrexham and the conurbations of Deeside, and Rhyl/Prestatyn, where the main retail, cultural, educational, tourism and transport infrastructure and services of North Wales are located.

The boundaries and status of North Wales are undefined (compared to regions of England), definitions and the boundary of North Wales with South or Mid Wales differs between organisations. It is strongly used culturally for comparison to the more urban South Wales. The most common definition for statistical and administrative purposes of North Wales contains the 6 principal areas of: Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, and Wrexham. Of which have a combined estimated population in 2017 of: 696,300 people[3]. Other definitions, especially historical, commonly include Montgomeryshire, one of the historic counties of Wales, to be part of North Wales. The definitions of North and Mid Wales constantly overlap, with Meirionnydd (modern southern part of the principal area of Gwynedd) sometimes considered Mid Wales.

History
See also: Kingdom of Gwynedd

The region is steeped in history and was for almost a millennium known as the Kingdom of Gwynedd. The mountainous stronghold of Snowdonia formed the nucleus of that realm and would become the last redoubt of independent Medieval Wales — only overcome in 1283. To this day it remains a stronghold of the Welsh language and a centre for Welsh national and cultural identity.

Historical divisions

The north of Wales was traditionally divided into three regions: Upper Gwynedd (or Gwynedd above the Conwy), defined as the area north of the River Dyfi and west of the River Conwy); Lower Gwynedd (or Gwynedd below the Conwy, also known as the Perfeddwlad and defined as the region east of the River Conwy and west of the River Dee; and Ynys Môn (or Anglesey), a large island off the north coast. The division with the rest of Wales is arbitrary and depends on the particular use being made. For example, the boundary of North Wales Police differs from the boundary of the North Wales area of the Natural Resources Wales and the North Wales Regional Transport Consortium (Taith).

The historic boundary follows the pre-1996 county boundaries of Merionethshire and Denbighshire which in turn closely follow the geographic features of the River Dyfi to Aran Fawddwy, then crossing the high moorlands following the watershed until reaching Cadair Berwyn and then following the River Rhaeadr and River Tanat to the Shropshire border.

World Heritage & Biosphere Sites

The area is home to two of the three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales. These are Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and canal[4] and, collectively, the Edwardian castles and town walls of the region[5] which comprise those at Caernarfon, Beaumaris,[6] Conwy and Harlech. It also shares with Powys and Ceredigion the distinction of hosting the only UNESCO Biosphere (from Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme to promote sustainable development) reserve in Wales, namely, Biosffer Dyfi Biosphere.

Llanddwyn Island's old lighthouse
Snowdonia in background

Political divisions

The region is made up of the following administrative areas:

  • the county borough of Wrexham (Wrecsam)
  • the county of Flintshire (Sir y Fflint)
  • the county of Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)
  • the county borough of Conwy
  • the county of Gwynedd
  • the county of the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)

In addition to the six Local Authority divisions, North Wales is also divided into the following preserved counties for various ceremonial purposes:

North Wales was a European Parliament constituency until 1999. Currently, there is an electoral region for the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) with the name (used, in parallel with the smaller constituencies, to elect top-up members under the Additional Member System), which covers the northeast 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.

Geography

The area is mostly rural with many mountains and valleys. This, in combination with its coast (on the Irish Sea), means 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.[7]

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, with a population of 63,084 in 2001 is the largest town. The total population of North Wales is 696,300 (2017). The majority of other settlements are along the coast, including some popular resort towns, such as Rhyl, Llandudno, Pwllheli, Prestatyn and Tywyn. The A55 road links these towns to cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham and the port of Holyhead for ferries to Ireland; The A470 runs from Llandudno to Cardiff; and the A483 from Wrexham to Swansea. There are two cathedral cities – Bangor and St. Asaph – and a number of medieval castles (e.g. Criccieth, Dolbadarn, Dolwyddelan, Harlech, Caernarfon Castle, Beaumaris, Conwy) The area of North Wales is about 6,172 square kilometres, making it slightly larger than the country of Brunei, or the island of Bali.

The highest mountain in Wales, England and Ireland, Snowdon, in northwest Wales.

Railways

The most important line is the North Wales Coast Line which branches off the West Coast Main Line from London Euston at Crewe proceeding west via Chester, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor to Holyhead, connecting with Irish Ferries and Stena Line ferry services to Dublin Port.

At Llandudno Junction the Conwy Valley line branches, heading north to Llandudno and south to Blaenau Ffestiniog. The Ffestiniog Railway connects Blaenau Ffestiniog to Minffordd on the Cambrian Coast Line as Porthmadog Harbour and the Welsh Highland Railway to Caernarfon.

From Chester, direct trains run to Liverpool Lime Street as well as the Merseyrail, likewise Wrexham Central, Wrexham General and Hawarden Bridge (for the North Wales Coast Line stopping trains) links to Bidston and the Merseyrail. Direct Northern trains run from Chester to Manchester Piccadilly.

The Welsh Marches Line connects Chester and Crewe to Shrewsbury before continuing to Cardiff Central. Wrexham, Chirk, Ruabon and Gobowen are between Chester and Shrewsbury. At Shrewsbury the Cambrian Coast Line connects Machynlleth to Aberystwyth and to Tywyn Harlech, Minffordd, Porthmadoc and Pwllheli.

On the Cambrian Coast:

At Tywyn there is Tywyn Wharf and the Talyllyn Railway.

At Fairbourne there is the Fairbourne Railway.

At Welshpool there is the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway.

Inland from the rest of the railway network:

There is the Llanberis Lake Railway the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Llanberis.

The Bala Lake Railway served Bala.

Not connected to Ruabon is the Llangollen Railway which so far links Llangollen to Corwen.

The Gobowen to Oswestry, Cambrian Railways is working on reopening the lines.

The Anglesey Central Railway is also being slowly restored.

Tramways

In Llandudno the Great Orme Tramway links the Great Orme.

Geology
See also: Geology of Wales

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 mudstones 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 beds of limestone from which metals have been mined 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.

Language

North Wales has a distinct regional identity.[8] 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 rŵan in North Wales, and 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"). There are Welsh medium schools scattered all across North Wales, ranging from primary to secondary schools.

Economy

North Wales Growth Deal

In 2016 the UK Government invited North Wales to submit a Growth Deal Bid, to "create thousands of jobs, boost the economy, improve transport and communication links, focus on renewable energy, support tourism and more". A bid was prepared by the North Wales Business Council, which consists of the Leaders and Chief Executives of the 6 councils, the Vice Chancellors of Wrexham Glyndŵr University and Bangor University the Chief Executives of Coleg Cambria and Grwp Llandrillo Menai, and North Wales Mersey Dee Business Council.[9] In the 2018 budget Philip Hammond announced that £120M would be made available by the UK Government to support the Growth Deal.[10] In December 2018, Ken Skates confirmed that the Welsh Government would match the UK Government funding, and also offered to match any additional funding support which the UK Government might make available.[11] In November 2019 the Heads of Terms Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal was signed by the representatives of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, Alun Cairns the UK Government Secretary of State for Wales, and Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely on behalf of Welsh Government.[12]

Local media

Local newspapers

Two daily newspapers are published in the region. The region-wide "North Wales edition" of the Daily Post, based at Bryn Eirias on Colwyn Bay's Abergele Road,[13] is distributed from Monday to Saturday, whilst The Leader (formerly the Evening Leader) publishes two editions for Wrexham and Flintshire and is based at the headquarters of Newsquest in Mold after NWN Media Ltd dissolved after existing since 1920.[14]

Additionally, nine weekly newspapers provide local and community news:

The weekly Aberystwyth-based Cambrian News covers southern Gwynedd and publishes separate editions for the Arfon/Dwyfor and Meirionydd districts.

A weekly Welsh-language newspaper, Y Cymro is published each week by the Cambrian News from its Porthmadog office alongside two localised Welsh titles, Y Cyfnod (Bala) and Y Dydd (Dolgellau). Yr Herald Gymraeg is distributed by Trinity Mirror as a pull-out section in the Wednesday edition of the Daily Post. There are also 24 Papurau Bro (area papers) providing community news and generally published each month.

Online

A number of hyper-local websites in the area provide locally sourced news online. In Conwy county, BaeColwyn.com gives Welsh language coverage of the Colwyn Bay area since 2011 and AbergelePost.com has been serving the Abergele area since 2010. Wrexham.com is a full-time operation covering Wrexham and the surrounding area, and is based at offices in Wrexham town centre. A full-time citizen led online news site Deeside.com started in early 2013 and covers Connah's Quay, Mancot, Pentre, Shotton, Queensferry, Sealand, Broughton, Hawarden, Ewloe, Sandycroft and parts of Saltney.

Radio

Although no BBC local radio stations exist in Wales, the Corporation's national services BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru cover the region from their broadcasting centres in Bangor, and Wrexham. The Bangor studios produce a large number of Radio Cymru programmes with some music and feature output for Radio Wales originating from Wrexham.

Three commercial radio stations serve the area — Capital North West and Wales broadcasts local drivetime programming for Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy county as well as Cheshire and the Wirral with a Welsh language opt-out service for the former Coast FM area on 96.3 FM. Capital Cymru airs an extended local programming service, predominantly in the Welsh language, for Gwynedd and Anglesey. Across the entire region, Heart North Wales also airs local peak-time programming in English, including an extended news programme on weeknights. All three stations broadcast from studios in Gwersyllt on the outskirts of Wrexham.

Three community radio stations broadcast on FM — Calon FM serving Wrexham County Borough and parts of southern Flintshire, Tudno FM broadcasting to Llandudno & surrounding areas and Môn FM across the Isle of Anglesey and parts of Gwynedd. Radio Glan Clwyd - an extension of hospital service Radio Ysbyty Glan Clwyd - broadcasts on 1287 AM in the Bodelwyddan, St Asaph, Rhuddlan, Towyn and Kinmel Bay areas.

Towards the western side of North Wales, local hills mean national BBC FM coverage can be quite poor, often suffering interference from Irish stations from the west.

Television

News coverage of North Wales is generally provided within the BBC's Wales Today, Newyddion and Ffeil programmes (the latter two broadcast on S4C) and on ITV's ITV News Cymru Wales. BBC Cymru Wales news teams are based at the Corporation's Bangor and Wrexham studios while ITV Cymru Wales runs a newsroom in Colwyn Bay.

S4C has an administrative office in Caernarfon, where a cluster of independent production companies are also based or partly based including Rondo Media, Cwmni Da, Antena, Owain Roberts Animations and Tinopolis.

Sport

Football

Wrexham A.F.C. play in the English football league system; having been a member of the Football League for over 80 years, in 2008 they were relegated into the Conference National for the first time in their existence. They now play in the Vanarama National League. They remain the highest ranked team in the region, and play at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham and train at Colliers Park, Gresford.

There are a number of teams including Bangor City F.C. who have appeared in UEFA competitions, playing within the semi-professional domestic leagues the Welsh Premier League and the Cymru Alliance.

Due to the close proximity of North Wales to the North West of England, support for the English clubs of Liverpool F.C., Everton F.C. and Manchester United F.C. has been historically strong.

Rugby League

Wales was represented in the Super League by the Crusaders RL, they re-located to Wrexham for the 2010 season from south Wales. They played at the Racecourse Ground and trained at Stansty Park both in Wrexham before folding in 2011. They have now been replaced by the Championship 1 side, North Wales Crusaders.

North Wales has its own amateur league, the North Wales Championship.

Rugby Union

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 team in the Celtic League.[15] 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.[16] The team was named RGC 1404.

See also

Notes
  1. Sometimes considered part of the Wrexham Urban Area
  2. Not officially defined. Alternatively known as a "part", or "grouping/combination" of Welsh principal areas.
  3. Especially, North West Wales. Some borderlands of Wrexham and Flintshire were historically part of Powys Fadog or England.

References
  1. of Llancarvan, Caradoc; Powell, David (1812). The History of Wales. The University of Chicago Library: LONG MAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND Brown ; AND CRADOCK AND JOY, PATERNOSTER-ROW. pp. 40, 45, 48, 117.
  2. Peter Garrett; Nikolas Coupland; Angie Williams (15 July 2003). Investigating Language Attitudes: Social Meanings of Dialect, Ethnicity and Performance. University of Wales Press. pp. 189–. ISBN 978-1-78316-207-9.
  3. Large, Rebecca (30 May 2019). "Summary statistics for Welsh economic regions North Wales" (PDF). gov.wales. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  4. Pontcysyllte Aqueduct World Heritage Site, UNESCO
  5. Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site, UNESCO
  6. Beaumaris Castle, Anglesey, A World Heritage Site
  7. Structural Funds: Eligible areas in region West Wales & The Valleys for Objective 1 between 2000 and 2006, European Commission Regional Policy, archived from the original on 2007-09-22
  8. "Heritage, Language & Culture". Visit North Wales. Visit North Wales. Retrieved 2016-05-09.
  9. "£1.3bn North Wales Growth Bid – The 10 Things You Need to Know". Business News Wales. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  10. "Budget 2018: Extra £550m for Welsh Government, chancellor says". BBC. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  11. "North Wales Growth Deal: Welsh Government confirms £120m". BBC. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  12. "Green light for £1bn North Wales Growth Deal". Insider Media. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  13. Morris-NW, Lydia (16 August 2018). "End of an era as landmark demolition nears final stages". northwales.
  14. "Wrexham Leader circulation drops to 3,825 copies – NWN Media Ltd dissolves just short of 100th birthday". Wrexham.com. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  15. "WRU plan for northern development team". The Independent. 9 September 2008.
  16. Crump, Eryl; Rob Griffiths (9 September 2008). "Strongest hint yet that North Wales will be fifth rugby region". Daily Post.

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