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Croeso I Cymru!*
by
Lauren Roberts
* Welcome to Wales!
It possesses the longest single word .com domain name in the world, this tiny village located on the eastern coast of Wales or, if you prefer, at http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com/. Its official web site proudly proclaims those 58 letters as “The longest URL on the web!" (In Welsh, it only has 51 because ll and ch are regarded as single letters.) Though the town has been around for a long time, it wasn’t until October 21, 1999 that it became a registered URL. Prior to that date, domain names longer than 26 characters (including four for the .com suffix) could not be registered.
To get a feel for how the Welsh name translates, here is a breakdown of
the name’s various parts and a translation of Welsh words:
LLANFAIRpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
LLAN originally meant an “enclosure,” though it has come to mean
“church,” and is usually followed by the name of a saint, in this case
St. Mary.
LlanfairPWLLgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
PWLL is Welsh for “hollow.”
LlanfairpwllGWYNgyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
GWYN is Welsh for “white.”
LlanfairpwllgwynGYLLgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
GYLL comes from the Welsh for “hazel.”
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgoGERychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
GER is Welsh “near” or “by.”
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogeryCHWYRNdrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
CHWYRN is Welsh for "rapid".
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrnDROBWLLllantysiliogogogoch
DROBWLL comes from the word trobwll which is the Welsh for “whirlpool.”
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllLLANTYSILIOgogogoch
LLANTYSILIO comes from the words llan meaning “parish” and St. Tysilio.
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogOGOgoch
OGO comes from the word ogof meaning “cave” in Welsh.
LlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogoGOCH
GOCH means red.
The town was originally called Llanfairpwllgwyngyll (which translates
as “St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel”), but it was
renamed in the 19th century in an attempt to develop the village as a
commercial and tourist center. A nearby hamlet called Llantysilio
Gogogoch (meaning “the church of St. Tysolio of the red cave”) provided
an opportunity to double its promotional possibilities, and the names
were linked by chwyrn drobwll or rapid whirlpool.
This village, whose name is more commonly shortened to Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwll, is situated on the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn
in Welsh). It is separated from the Welsh mainland by the Menai Strait,
a channel of the Irish Sea that is approximately 14 miles long. For
centuries, travel between the island and the mainland was a dangerous
journey. The currents are tricky, and numerous boats and lives were
lost. One of the most dramatic losses occurred in 1785 when a boat
carrying 55 people became stranded on a sandbar. Only one person
survived the high winds and rising tide. Then, in 1810-11, a man named
Thomas Telford proposed to build a bridge across the strait, and
several years later presented the design for an iron suspension bridge.
The first stone of the Menai Suspension Bridge was laid at noon on
August 10, 1820 and the opening of the bridge took place on January
30th, 1826. Though it continues to be used today, much of the major
traffic is now carried by the Britannia Bridge which opened in 1850.
Around the time the Menai Bridge, the Britannia Bridge and North Wales
Coast railway line opened Llanfairpwll to the mainland, the village
decentralized. Older houses and farms became part of the Upper Village (Pentre Uchaf). The newer part, known as the Lower Village (Pentre Isaf)
developed into a commercial center around the railway station. A number
of craftsmen and shopkeepers moved into this area and soon a post
office, schools, pubs, a brewery, hotel and grocers appeared to cater
to the village’s population which now numbered nearly 1,000 as well as
the surrounding towns.
According to the BBC, the village’s long name was artificially
contrived. “A local committee was put together to try and encourage
trains, travellers and 19th century tourists to stop at the village in
order to help develop the village as a commercial and tourist centre.
It is believed that the name . . . was invented by a cobbler from Menai
Bridge; little did he know that he had implemented one of the most
successful tourist marketing plans of all time.”
Despite extensive building in the 1960s and 1970s which increased its
population (to a total of 3,101 in 1991), Llanfairpwll still retains
its village feel. One of its important attractions is the old station
house, which in 1995 was restored to its Victorian-era appearance by
James Pringle Weavers, a shop that stands next to it. This store is now
the main stopping point for visitors. Inside is a signpost that points
to the hometowns of many of its international visitors, a variety of
Welsh crafts and gifts and two 15-inch gauge Atlantic Class steam
locomotives built in Wales more than 65 years ago.
The village is also home to the Marquess of Anglesey’s Column, which
was erected in 1816-17 as a tribute to the Marquess, Henry Paget,
(1768-1854) who lost a leg at the battle of Waterloo. The 115-step
column, surrounded by bluebell woods, stands on a rock (which was a
hillfort in ancient times) that can be climbed. Just south of
Llanfairpwll is the aforementioned Menai Strait. As noted, the strait
is mostly peaceful, but certain weather and tide conditions can make it
dangerous. And at the foot of a very steep lane is the parish church of
Saint Mary's which is the focal point of the town’s name.
Visiting Llanfairpwll is not difficult, but its tiny size means that
visitor accommodations are limited. In fact, I found only nine places
in the village itself, but hundreds for the Isle of Anglesey. They can
be found at the North Wales Tourism site.
Wales is home not only to this tiny town with the long name, but also to Hay-on-Wye,
a town with more than 30 bookshops. a paradise for any booklover. In
addition, several well-known people are natives of or connected with
Wales including King Arthur, whose power base may have been in Wales;
Merlin, wizard and King Arthur's counselor; Dylan Thomas, poet; Roald
Dahl, author; Richard Burton, actor; Anthony Hopkins, actor; and Tom
Jones, singer.
Finally, to leave you with the same affection for this town that I
developed during my research, I am enclosing a special Welsh
recipe—Cawl Cennin, a leek broth. The leek is a plant adopted as the
symbol of Wales since St. David was rumored to live on leeks, and the
Welsh word for daffodil (Wales’ national flower) is similar to the word
for leek.
Cawl Cennin
A piece of salt bacon
1 pound (450g) carrots, finely diced
1 pound (450g) potatoes, finely diced
2 large leeks, sliced
White cabbage, finely shredded
15 tablespoons (ml) chopped parsley
2 tablespoons (30 ml) oatmeal (optional)
Put the bacon, carrots and potatoes into sufficient boiling water to
cover them.Boil for one and a half hours, topping up with water as it
boils down. Take out the bacon and add the leeks together with some
finely shredded cabbage. When the two vegetables are cooked, add the
chopped parsley and serve. The cawl can be thickened by adding two
tablespoons of oatmeal mixed into a paste with cold water. This could
be added at the same time as the leeks.
And now I bid you bore da (good morning), dydd da (good day), prynhawn da (good afternoon), noswaith dda (good evening) or nos da (good night), depending, of course, on when you are reading this.
Bookmark specifications: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Dimensions: 8 1/2” x 2 1/4”
Material: Leather
Manufacturer: Someone in Llanfair
Date: Unknown, but of recent origin
Acquired: eBay
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Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has
been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That
“talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book
reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as
well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper
and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines
has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about
books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including
three cats, nearly 1,000 bookmarks and approximately 1,200 books that,
whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is
a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) and Book
Publicists of Southern California as well as a longtime book design
judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards.
You can reach her at
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