Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (short form Llanfairpwllgwyngyll), also spelled Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll and commonly known as Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll, is a village and community on the island of Anglesey in Wales, situated on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor. A community ( Welsh: cymuned) is the lowest level of local government structure in Wales, corresponding to a Civil parish in England History There are numerous Megalithic monuments and Menhirs present on Anglesey testifying to the presence of mankind in prehistory The Menai Strait ( Afon Menai, the "River Menai" is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about 14 miles (23 km long which separates the island of Anglesey Britannia Bridge ( Welsh: Pont Britannia) is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland Bangor, in Gwynedd, North Wales, is one of the smallest cities in the United Kingdom.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
Welsh: Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
Llanfairpwllgwyngyll shown within the United Kingdom
Population	3,040 (2001 UK census)
Principal area	Anglesey
Ceremonial county	Gwynedd
Constituent country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLL
Postcode district	LL61
Dialling code	01248
Police	North Wales
Fire	North Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
European Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Ynys Môn
List of places: UK • Wales • Anglesey

Coordinates: 53°13′N 4°12′W / 53.22, -4.2 According to the 2001 census, the population of the community is 3,040,^[1] 76% of whom speak Welsh fluently; the highest percentage of speakers is in the 10–14 age group, where 97. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology A nationwide Census, commonly known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 29 April 2001 For Local government purposes Wales is divided into 22 Unitary authorities, which are responsible for the provision of all local government services including education History There are numerous Megalithic monuments and Menhirs present on Anglesey testifying to the presence of mankind in prehistory The Preserved counties of Wales are the current areas used in Wales for ceremonial purposes such as Lieutenancy. History Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th Century when it was conquered and subjugated by England Constituent country is a phrase used often by official institutions in contexts in which a country makes up a part of a larger entity or grouping This list of sovereign states, alphabetically arranged gives an overview of States around the world with information on the extent of their Sovereignty. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system UK Postal codes are known as postcodes. UK postcodes are Alphanumeric. The, also known as the Llandudno postcode area, is a group of UK Postal districts covering North Wales (but excluding areas near the English The UK Telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, is the system used for assigning Telephone numbers in the United There are a number of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom. North Wales Police (Heddlu Gogledd Cymru is the Territorial police force responsible for policing North Wales. The fire service in the United Kingdom operates under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and The North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru is the fire and rescue service covering the predominantly rural principal areas The Welsh Ambulance Service (also called the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust or Ymddiriedolaeth GIG Gwasanaethau Ambiwlans Cymru) was established on April 1 1998 Wales is a Constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 4 MEPs using the D'Hondt method of Party-list proportional representation This is a list of the 646 constituencies currently represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as at the 2005 general election Ynys Môn (pronounced /ˌənɨ̞s 'moːn/ until 1983 formerly called Anglesey in English) is a constituency of the House of Commons of the A Gazetteer of place names in the United Kingdom showing each place's County, Unitary authority or council area and its geographical coordinates List of places --> List of cities in the United Kingdom List of towns in Wales Lists of This is a list of cities, Towns and Villages in the principal area of Anglesey, Wales. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic 1% are able to speak Welsh. It is the fifth largest settlement on the island by population. This is a guide to the size of settlements in Anglesey based on the data from the article on each town

The long form of the name is the longest officially recognised place name in the United Kingdom and one of the longest in the world, being 58 letters in length (51 letters in the Welsh alphabet, where "ch" and "ll" count as single letters). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The longest word in English depends upon the definition of what constitutes an English word. Ch is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. It is treated as a letter of its own in the Ll / ll is a digraph which occurs in several natural Languages In English In English, ll represents the same sound The name is Welsh for "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave". St Tysilio was a Welsh bishop prince and scholar son of the reigning King of Powys, Brochwel Ysgithrog, maternal nephew of the great Abbot Dunod

Name

This village was originally known as Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll (and is sometimes still referred to as Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) and was given its long name in the 19th century in an attempt to develop the village as a commercial and tourist centre (see Significance of the name below). Today the village is still signposted as Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, marked on Ordnance Survey maps as Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll and is known to locals as Llanfairpwll or simply Llanfair. Ordnance Survey (OS is an Executive agency of the United Kingdom government

The name is also seen shortened to Llanfair PG, which is sufficient to distinguish it from the many other Welsh villages with Llanfair in their names. Other variant forms use the full name but with tysilio mutated to dysilio, and/or with a hyphen between drobwll and llan. The morphology of the Welsh language shows many characteristics perhaps unfamiliar to speakers of English or continental European languages like French In Welsh, the initial Ll may be mutated to a single L in some contexts. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic

Visitors stop at the railway station to be photographed next to the station sign, visit the nearby Visitors' Centre, or have 'passports' stamped at a local shop. Llanfairpwll railway station is a station on the North Wales Coast Line from London Euston station to Holyhead on Anglesey. Another tourist attraction is the nearby Marquess of Anglesey's Column, which at a height of 27 metres offers views over Anglesey and the Menai Strait. Designed by Thomas Harrison, the monument celebrates the heroism of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey at the Battle of Waterloo. Thomas Harrison ( August 7 (baptised 1744 &ndash 29 March 1829) was an English Architect and Engineer. Field Marshal Henry William Paget 1st Marquess of Anglesey KG GCB GCH ( 17 May 1768 &ndash 29 April In the Battle of Waterloo (Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo Belgium

History

The Marquess of Anglesey's Column

A settlement has existed on the site of the village since the Neolithic era, with subsistence agriculture and fishing the most common occupations for much of the village's early history. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficient farming in which farmers grow only enough food to feed the family and to pay taxes or feudal dues For the computer security term see Phishing. Fishing is the activity of catching Fish. The island of Anglesey was at that point only reachable by boat across the Menai Strait. History There are numerous Megalithic monuments and Menhirs present on Anglesey testifying to the presence of mankind in prehistory The Menai Strait ( Afon Menai, the "River Menai" is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about 14 miles (23 km long which separates the island of Anglesey The area was briefly invaded and captured by the Romans under Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, temporarily abandoned in order to consolidate forces against Boudicca, then held With the withdrawal of the Roman forces, the area fell under the control of the Kingdom of Gwynedd, an early Medieval kingdom. Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410 Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, also spelled Paullinus, (flourished 1st century) was a Roman general Boudica (also spelled Boudicca, formerly known as Boadicea, and known in Welsh culture and legends as "Buddug" (d Gwynedd (pr) is one of several Welsh Successor states that emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain. Under this feudal system, the residents worked small farms for the king. Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed The rural nature of the settlement meant that the village had a population of only around 80.

However, with the introduction of estates in the 16th century, much of the land was absorbed into the Earldom of Uxbridge, currently under the Marquess of Anglesey, and the population forced to work as tenants on enclosures. Marquess of Anglesey is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Enclosure or inclosure (the latter is used in Legal documents and Place names is the term used in England and Wales The population of the village boomed, with a population of 385 in the 1801 census.

In 1826 the village 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 London to the ferry port of Holyhead. The Menai Suspension Bridge, or Pont Grog y Borth in Welsh, is a Suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 - 2 September 1834 was born in Westerkirk, Scotland. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Britannia Bridge ( Welsh: Pont Britannia) is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Holyhead ( IPA /ˈhɒlihɛd/ Welsh: Caergybi, "the fort of Saint Cybi " is the largest town in the county of The village decentralised, splitting into Upper Village (Pentre Uchaf), which was made up mainly of the older houses and farms, and the new Lower Village (Pentre Isaf), built around the railway station and consisting mostly of shops and workshops. The village became a hub of commerce, as the railways and road network brought traders and customers from across north Wales.

The first ever 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.

Significance of the name

A sign showing the name and English translation of the town

The village's long name cannot be considered an authentic Welsh-language toponym. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic Toponymy refers to the scientific study of place-names ( toponyms) their origins meanings use and Typology. It was artificially contrived in the 1860s to bestow upon the station the honour of having the longest name of any railway station in the United Kingdom: an early example of a publicity stunt. A publicity stunt is an event designed to attract the public 's attention to the promoters or their causes The village's own web site credits the name to a cobbler from the local village of Menai Bridge. According to Sir John Morris-Jones the name was created by a local tailor, whose name he did not confide, letting the secret die with him. Sir John Morris-Jones ( October 17, 1864 - April 16, 1929) was a Welsh grammarian and poet

The eponymous St Mary's Church

The village was originally known as 'Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll' "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel. " 'Pwllgwyngyll' was the name of the original medieval township where the village stands today. A township (or Municipality) is a settlement which has the status and powers of a unit of local government ^[2] Although when written and read in English, the name has 58 letters, in Welsh it has only 51 because ll and ch are each regarded as a single letter. Ll / ll is a digraph which occurs in several natural Languages In English In English, ll represents the same sound Ch is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. It is treated as a letter of its own in the

The name was used in the movie Barbarella as the password for the headquarters of Dildano, the comical revolutionary. Barbarella is a 1968 erotic sci-fi film directed by Roger Vadim and based on the French Barbarella comics

The village is split into two smaller villages, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-uchaf (Upper Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) the original part of the village and Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-isaf (Lower Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) the newer area nearer the railway station.

Pronunciation

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch pronunciation

Pronunciation of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch with a South Wales accent

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

The full name of the village is pronounced IPA: [ˌɬan.vair.puɬ.ˌɡwɪ̈n.ɡɪ̈ɬ.ɡo.ˌɡɛr.ə.ˌχwərn.ˌdro.buɬ.ˌɬan.tɪ̈.ˌsil.jo.ˌɡo.ɡo.ˈɡoːχ], or with [ɪ] for [ɪ̈], [pʊɬ, bʊɬ] for [puɬ, buɬ], depending on the speaker's accent.

The approximate pronunciation in English orthography is given at the station as: Llan-vire-pooll-guin-gill-go-ger-u-queern-drob-ooll-llandus-ilio-gogo-goch, although "chwurn" would be a far better representation of the middle syllable than "queern", and "llantus" would be more accurate than "llandus". The ch is a voiceless uvular fricative [χ] or voiceless velar fricative as in "Bach" ([bax]: see ach-laut) in most varieties of German. The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiceless velar fricative, informally known as the hard ch, is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the German phonology describes the Phonology of Standard German. Since German is a Pluricentric language, there are a number of different pronunciations The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.

The ll is a voiceless lateral fricative [ɬ], a sound that does not occur in English and is sometimes approximated (rather poorly) as [θl] (thl as in athlete) or even [xl] by English speakers. The voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

The sign at the railway station gives an approximation of the correct pronunciation for English speakers

Station building with English translation of the name. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

Rival names

There have been several attempts to steal the village's record. The Carmarthenshire village of Llanfynydd unofficially adopted the name Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole in 2004 in protest at plans to erect a wind farm nearby (the name means "a quiet beautiful village; a historic place with rare kite under threat from wretched blades" in English). Geography The county is bounded to the north by Ceredigion, to the east by Powys, Neath Port Talbot and Swansea, to the south by the See also Llanfynydd Flintshire Llanfynydd is a village in Carmarthenshire, Wales. A wind farm is a group of Wind turbines in the same location used for production of electric power A station on the Fairbourne Railway was named Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddollônpenrhynareurdraethceredigion (translated as "the Mawddach station and its dragon teeth at the Northern Penrhyn Road on the golden beach of Cardigan Bay") for promotional purposes. The Fairbourne Railway is a gauge miniature railway running for 2 miles from the village of Fairbourne on the Mid-Wales coast alongside the beach Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddollônpenrhynareurdraethceredigion ( Welsh: /ɡɔrsavauðaχaɪdraɪɡɔdanhɛðɔɡlɛðɔɬoːnpɛnr̥ɪnarɛɨrdraːɨθkɛrɛdɪɡɪɔn/ The River Mawddach (Afon Mawddach is a River in North Wales which has its source in a wide area north of Dduallt in Snowdonia. Cardigan Bay (Bae Ceredigion is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between the Llŷn and Pembrokeshire peninsulas No such attempts have gained widespread recognition amongst official bodies or transport authorities.

See also

• Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
• Llanfairpwll F.C., the Town's Football Club
• Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, a hill in New Zealand
• Longest word in English

References

External links

• Village website, listed in the 2002 Guinness Book of Records as the world's longest valid Internet domain name
• BBC Article at H2G2
• Flickr photos