Cymru am byth
1. Wales
2. Etymology
3. Cardiff
4. Colonisation
5. Medival Wales
6. Nationalist Revival
7. Politics
8. Law
9. Geography
10. Economy
11. Healthcare
12. Demography
13. Language
14. Religion
15. Sport
16. Transport
17. National Symbols
18. Photos of Wales
Capital Cardiff
Largest city Cardiff
Official languages Welsh, English
Demonym Welsh (Cymry)
Government Constitutional monarchy
Queen (of the UK) Queen Elizabeth II
Prime Minister (of the UK) Gordon Brown
First Minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan
Deputy First Minister for Wales Ieuan Wyn Jones
Secretary of State Paul Murphy
Area
Location of Wales (orange) in the United Kingdom (camel)
- Total 20,779 km² (8,022 sq mi )
GDP (PPP) 2002 estimate Population
- Total US$48 billion
- Per capita US$19,546 - 2008 estimate 3,004,600 1
HDI (2003) 0.939 (high) - 2001 census 2,903,085
Currency Pound sterling (GBP) - Density 140/km² (361/sq mi )
Time zone GMT (UTC0)
- Summer (DST) BST (UTC+1)
Internet TLD .uk²
Calling code +44
Patron saint David
1 Office for National Statistics - UK population grows to more than 60 million
2 Also .eu, as part of the European Union. ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is unused.
The English name "Wales" originates from the Germanic word Walha, meaning
"foreigner," probably derived from the term Volcae.[citation needed] The term also
appears in the "-wall" of Cornwall. The Welsh call their country Cymru in the Welsh
language, which most likely meant "compatriots" in Old Welsh. The name competed for a
long time in Welsh literature with the older name Brythoniaid (Brythons). Only after
1100 did the former become as common as the latter; both terms applied originally not
only to the inhabitants of what is now called Wales, but in general to speakers of the
Brythonic language and its descendants, many of whom lived in "the Old North": the
placenames Cymru (Welsh for Wales) and Cumbria are of the same origin. The Angles,
Saxons and Jutes were known indiscriminately as Saeson in Welsh (the term is cognate
with "Saxon"; compare Gaelic Sassenach); Sais, plural Saeson, is the modern Welsh word
for "Englishman."
There is also a medieval legend found in the Historia Regum Britanniae of Sieffre
o Fynwy (Geoffrey of Monmouth) that derives it from the name Camber, son of Brutus and,
according to the legend, the eponymous King of Cymru (Cambria in Latin); this, however,
is considered largely the fruit of Geoffrey's vivid imagination. Cumberland and Cumbria
in the North of England derive their names from the same Old Welsh word.
Cardiff is the capital and largest city of
Wales. It is Wales's major commercial, sporting,
tourism, transport, media and political centre.
According to recent local government estimates, the
population of the unitary authority area is 317,500.
The city of Cardiff is the county town of the
historic county of Glamorgan . Cardiff was made a
city in 1905, and proclaimed capital of Wales in 1955. Since the 1990s
Cardiff has seen significant development with a new waterfront area at
Cardiff Bay which contains the new Welsh Assembly Building, and the city
centre is currently undergoing a major redevelopment.
Location of the city of Cardiff (Light Flag
Green) within Wales (Dark Green) Coat of arms
Cardiff has many landmark buildings such as the Millennium Stadium,
Pierhead Building and the National Assembly for Wales. However Cardiff is also famous
for Cardiff Castle, St David's Hall, Llandaff Cathedral, the Wales Millennium Centre and
Cathays Park (including municipal buildings modelled on those in New Delhi, such as
Cardiff City Hall, the National Museum and Cardiff University). A prominent future
landmark in Cardiff Bay, Bay Pointe which is set to include Wales' tallest building, has
been granted planning permission.
Complementing Cardiff Castle is a second castle north of the city, called Castell
Coch (Welsh: "Red Castle"). The current castle is an elaborately decorated Victorian folly
designed by Burges for the Marquess and built in the 1870s. However, the Victorian castle
stands on the footings of a much older medieval castle possibly built by Ifor Bach, a
regional baron with links to Cardiff Castle also. The exterior has become a popular
location for film and television productions.
Situated on the narrowest part of the south Wales coastal plain, Cardiff had a crucial
strategic importance in the wars between the Normans (who had occupied lowland
Wales) and the Welsh who maintained their hold on the uplands. As a result Cardiff
claims to have the largest concentration of castles of any city in the world.[69] As well as
Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch, the remains of Twmpath Castle,[70] the Llandaff Bishop's
Palace and Saint Fagans Castle are still in existence, whilst the site of Treoda (or
Whitchurch Castle) has now been built over.
The first documented history was recorded during the Roman occupation of Britain. At
that time the area of modern Wales was divided into many tribes, of which the Silures in the
south-east and the Ordovices in the central and north-west areas were the largest and most
powerful.
The Romans established a string of forts across what is now South Wales, as far west as
Carmarthen (Caerfyrddin; Latin: Maridunum), and mined gold at Dolaucothi in
Carmarthenshire. There is evidence that they progressed even farther west. They also built the
legionary fortress at Caerleon (Latin: Isca Silurum), of which the magnificent amphitheatre is
the best preserved in Britain. The Romans were also busy in Northern Wales, and the mediaeval
Welsh tale Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig claims that Magnus Maximus (Macsen Wledig), one of the
last western Roman Emperors, married Elen or Helen, the daughter of a Welsh chieftain from
Segontium, present-day Caernarfon. It was in the 4th century during the Roman occupation
that Christianity was introduced to Wales.
After the Roman withdrawal from Britain in 410, much of the lowlands were overrun by
various Germanic tribes. However, Gwynedd, Powys, Dyfed and Seisyllg, Morgannwg, and Gwent
emerged as independent Welsh successor states. They endured, in part because of favourable
geographical features such as uplands, mountains, and rivers and a resilient society that did
not collapse with the end of the Roman civitas.
The Saxons at anchor on the sea always
The Cymry venerable until doomsday shall be supreme
They will not seek books nor be covetous of poets
The presage of this isle will be no other than this.
[ from The Omen of Prydein The Great, Book of Taliesin VI ]
This tenacious survival by the Romano-Britons and their descendants in the
western kingdoms was to become the foundation of what we now know as Wales. With the
loss of the lowlands, England's kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria, and later Wessex,
wrestled with Powys, Gwent, and Gwynedd to define the frontier between the two peoples.
Having lost much of the West Midlands to Mercia in the 6th century and early 7th
century, a resurgent late 7th century Powys checked Mercian advancement. Aethelbald of
Mercia, looking to defend recently acquired lands, had built Wat's Dyke. According to
John Davies, this endeavour may have been with Powys king Elisedd ap Gwylog's own
agreement, however, for this boundary, extending north from the valley of the River
Severn to the Dee estuary, gave Oswestry (Welsh: Croesoswallt) to Powys.[citation needed]
King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this consultative initiative when he created
a larger earth work, now known as Offa's Dyke (Welsh: Clawdd Offa). Davies wrote of Cyril
Fox's study of Offa's Dyke:
Offa's Dyke largely remained the frontier between the Welsh and English,
though the Welsh would recover by the 12th century the area between the Dee and the
Conwy known then as the Perfeddwlad. By the 8th century the eastern borders with the
Anglo-Saxons had broadly been set.
Following the successful examples of Cornwall in 722 and Brittany in 865, the
Britons of Wales made their peace with the Vikings and asked the Norsemen to help the
Britons fight the Anglo-Saxons of Mercia to prevent an Anglo-Saxon conquest of Wales. In
878 AD the Britons of Wales unified with the Vikings of Denmark to destroy an Anglo-
Saxon army of Mercians. Like Cornwall in 722, this decisive defeating of the Saxons gave
Wales some decades of peace from Anglo-Saxon attack. In 1063, the Welsh prince Gruffydd
ap Llywelyn made an alliance with Norwegian Vikings against Mercia which, as in 878
AD was successful, and the Saxons of Mercia defeated. As with Cornwall and Brittany,
Viking aggression towards the Saxons/Franks ended any chance of the Anglo-
Saxons/Franks conquering their Celtic neighbours.
The southern and eastern lands lost to English
settlement became known in Welsh as Lloegyr
(Modern Welsh Lloegr), which may have
referred to the kingdom of Mercia originally, and
which came to refer to England as a whole. The
Germanic tribes who now dominated these lands
were invariably called Saeson, meaning "Saxons".
The Anglo-Saxons, in turn, labelled the Romano-
British as Walha, meaning 'foreigner' or
'stranger'. The Welsh continued to call themselves
Brythoniaid (Brythons or Britons) well into the
Middle Ages, though the first use of Cymru and y
Cymry is found as early as 633 in the Gododdin of
Aneirin. In Armes Prydain, written in about 930,
the words Cymry and Cymro are used as often as
15 times. It was not until about the 12th century
however, that Cymry began to overtake
Brythoniaid in their writings.
From the year 800 onwards, a series of dynastic
marriages led to Rhodri Mawr's (r. 844-877) inheritance of Gwynedd and Powys. His sons
in turn would found three principal dynasties (Aberffraw for Gwynedd, Dinefwr for
Deheubarth, and Mathrafal for Powys), each competing for hegemony over the others.
Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda (r.900-950) founded Deheubarth out of his maternal and
paternal inheritances of Dyfed and Seisyllwg, oust the Aberffraw dynasty from Gwynedd
and Powys, and codify Welsh law in 930, finally going on a pilgrimage to Rome (and
allegedly having the Law Codes blessed by the Pope).
Maredudd ab Owain (r.986-999) of
Deheubarth (Hywel's grandson) would, (again)
temporarily oust the Aberffraw line for control of
Gwynedd and Powys. Maredudd's great-grandson
(through his daughter Princess Angharad)
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (r.1039-1063) would
conquer his cousins' realms from his base in Powys,
and even extend his authority into England.
Owain Gwynedd (1100-1170) of the Aberffraw line
was the first Welsh ruler to use the title princeps
Wallensium (prince of the Welsh), a title of
substance given his victory on the Berwyn
Mountains, according to historian John Davies.
The Aberffraw dynasty would surge to pre-
eminence with Owain Gwynedd's grandson
Llywelyn Fawr (the Great) (b.1173-1240),
wrestling concessions out of the Magna Carta in
1215 and receiving the fealty of other Welsh lords
in 1216 at the council at Aberdyfi, becoming the
first Prince of Wales. His grandson Llywelyn II also
secured the recognition of the title Prince of Wales from Henry III with the Treaty of
Montgomery in 1267. Later however, a succession of disputes, including the imprisonment
of Llywelyn's wife Eleanor, daughter of Simon de Montfort, culminated in the first
invasion by Edward I. As a result of military defeat, the Treaty of Aberconwy exacted
Llywelyn's fealty to England in 1277. Peace was short lived and with the 1282 Edwardian
conquest the rule of the Welsh princes permanently ended. With Llywelyn's death and his
brother prince Dafydd's execution, the few remaining Welsh lords did homage for their
lands to Edward I. Llywelyn's head was then carried through London on a spear; his baby
daughter Gwenllian was locked in the priory at Sempringham, where she remained until
her death fifty four years later.
To help maintain his dominance, Edward constructed a series of great stone
castles. Beaumaris, Caernarfon, and Conwy were built mainly to overshadow the Welsh
royal home and headquarters Garth Celyn, Aber Garth Celyn, on the north coast of
Gwynedd.
In the 20th century, Wales saw a revival in its national status. Plaid Cymru was
formed in 1925, seeking greater autonomy or independence from the rest of the UK. In
1955, the term England and Wales became common for describing the area to which
English law applied, and Cardiff was proclaimed as capital city. In 1962 the Welsh
Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) was formed in response to fears that the
language might soon die out. Nationalism grew, particularly following the flooding of
the Tryweryn valley in 1965, drowning the village of Capel Celyn to create a reservoir
supplying water to Liverpool. In 1966 the Carmarthen Parliamentary seat was won by
Plaid Cymru at a by-election, their first Parliamentary seat. A terror campaign was
waged for a short period by the Free Wales Army and Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (MAC -
Welsh Defence Movement). In the years leading up to the investiture of Prince Charles as
Prince of Wales in 1969, these groups were responsible for a number of bomb blasts
destroying water pipes and tax and other offices. In 1967, the Wales and Berwick Act 1746
was repealed for Wales, and a legal definition of Wales, and of the boundary with
England was stated.
A referendum on the creation of an assembly for Wales in 1979 (see Wales
referendum, 1979) led to a large majority for the "no" vote. However, in 1997 a
referendum on the same issue secured a "yes", although by a very narrow majority. The
National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was set up in 1999 (as a
consequence of the Government of Wales Act 1998) and possesses the power to determine
how the central government budget for Wales is spent and administered (although the
UK parliament reserves the right to set limits on the powers of the Welsh Assembly). The
1998 Act was amended by the Government of Wales Act 2006 which enhanced the
Assembly's powers, giving it legislative powers akin to the Scottish Parliament and
Northern Ireland Assembly. Following the 2007 Assembly election, the One Wales
Government was formed under a coalition agreement between Plaid Cymru and the
Welsh Labour Party, under that agreement, a convention is due to be established to
discuss further enhancing Wales' legislative and financial autonomy.
The head of state in Wales, a
constituent part of the United Kingdom, is the
British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II
(since 1952). Executive power is derived by the
Queen, and exercised by the Parliament of the
United Kingdom at Westminster, with some powers
devolved to the National Assembly for Wales in
Cardiff. The United Kingdom Parliament retains
responsibility for passing primary legislation in
Wales. The National Assembly has regulatory
authority over laws passed that are applicable to
Wales, and has limited power to vary these by
secondary legislation. The National Assembly is
not a sovereign authority, and the UK Parliament
could, in theory, overrule or even abolish it at any
time. However, its powers are set to increase as the
Government of Wales Act 2006 will allow it to speed
up the passage of 'Assembly Measures'.
In the British House of Commons, Wales is represented by 40 MPs (out of a total of
646) in the Welsh constituencies. Currently, Welsh Labour represents 29 of the 40 seats, the
Liberal Democrats hold four seats, Plaid Cymru three and the Conservatives three. A
Secretary of State for Wales sits in the UK cabinet and is responsible for representing
matters that pertain to Wales. The Wales Office is a department of the United Kingdom
government, responsible for Wales. The current Secretary of State for Wales is Paul Murphy,
who replaced Peter Hain on 24 January 2008 over an investigation on undeclared
donations.
England fully annexed Wales under the Laws in Wales Act 1535, in the reign of King
Henry VIII. Prior to that Welsh Law had survived de facto after the conquest up to the 15th
century in areas remote from direct English control. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 provided
that all laws that applied to England would automatically apply to Wales (and Berwick-upon-
Tweed, a town located on the Anglo-Scottish border) unless the law explicitly stated otherwise.
This act, with regard to Wales, was repealed in 1967. However, Wales and England, as part of the
legal entity England and Wales, share the same legal system — except for a few changes to
accommodate the autonomy recently afforded to Wales. In this sense, English law is the law of
Wales.
English law is regarded as a common law system, with no major codification of the law,
and legal precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive. The court system is headed by the
House of Lords which is the highest court of appeal in the land for criminal and civil cases
(although this is due to be replaced by a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom). The Supreme
Court of Judicature of England and Wales is the highest court of first instance as well as an
appellate court. The three divisions are the Court of Appeal; the High Court of Justice and the
Crown Court. Minor cases are heard by the Magistrates' Courts or the County Court.
Wales is located on a peninsula in central-west
Great Britain. Its area, the size of Wales, is about 20,779 km²
(8,023 square miles - about the same size as Massachusetts,
Slovenia or El Salvador and about a quarter of the size of
Scotland). It is about 274 km (170 miles) north-south and 97
km (60 miles) east-west. Wales is bordered by England to the
east and by sea in the other three directions: the Môr Hafren
(Bristol Channel) to the south, St. George's Channel to the
west, and the Irish Sea to the north. Altogether, Wales has
over 1,200 km (750 miles) of coastline. There are several
islands off the Welsh mainland, the largest being Ynys Môn
(Anglesey) in the northwest.
Much of Wales' diverse
landscape mountainous,
particularly in the north
and central regions. The
mountains were shaped
during the last ice age,
the Devensian glaciation.
The highest mountains in
Wales are in Snowdonia (Eryri), and include Snowdon
(Yr Wyddfa), which, at 1085 m (3,560 ft) is the highest
peak in Wales.
Parts of Wales have been heavily industrialised since the 18th century and the
early Industrial Revolution. Coal, copper, iron, silver, lead, and gold have been
extensively mined in Wales, and slate has been quarried. By the second half of the 19th
century, mining and metallurgy had come to dominate the Welsh economy, transforming
the landscape and society in the industrial districts of south and north-east Wales.
From the early 1970s, the Welsh economy faced massive restructuring with large
numbers of jobs in traditional heavy industry disappearing and being replaced
eventually by new ones in light industry and in services. Over this period Wales was
successful in attracting an above average share of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the
UK. However, much of the new industry has essentially been of a 'branch factory' type,
often routine assembly employing low skilled workers.
In 2002, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
of Wales was just over £26 billion ($48 billion), giving
a per capita GDP of £12,651 ($19,546). As of 2006, the
unemployment rate in Wales stood at 5.7% - above the
UK average, but lower than in the majority of EU
countries.
Due to poor-quality soil, much of Wales is
unsuitable for crop-growing, and livestock farming
has traditionally been the focus of agriculture. The
Welsh landscape (protected by three National Parks)
and 42 Blue Flag beaches, as well as the unique
culture of Wales, attract large numbers of tourists,
who play an especially vital role in the economy of
rural areas.
Public healthcare in Wales is provided by NHS Wales which was originally formed
as part of the same NHS structure created by the National Health Service Act 1946 but with
powers over the NHS in Wales coming under the Secretary of State for Wales in 1969. In
turn, responsibility for NHS Wales was passed to the Welsh Assembly and Executive under
devolution in 1999. NHS Wales provides public healthcare in Wales and employs some
90,000 staff, making it Wales’ biggest employer.The Minister for Health and Social Services
is the person within the Welsh Assembly Government who holds cabinet responsibilities for
both health and social care in Wales.
The population of Wales in the 2001 census was 2,903,085, which has risen to
2,958,876 according to 2005 estimates. This would make Wales the 132nd largest country
by population if it were a sovereign state.
According to the 2001 census, 96% of the population was White British, and 2.1%
non-white (mainly of Asian origin).[31] Most non-white groups were concentrated in the
southern cities of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. Welsh Asian communities developed
mainly through immigration since World War II. More recently, parts of Wales have seen
an increased number of immigrants settle from recent EU accession countries such as
Poland - although some Poles also settled in Wales in the immediate aftermath of World
War II.
In the 2001 Labour Force Survey, 72% of adults in Wales considered their national
identity as wholly Welsh and another 7% considered themselves to be partly Welsh (Welsh
and British were the most common combination). A recent study estimated that 35% of
the Welsh population have surnames of Welsh origin (5.4% of the English population and
1.6% of the Scottish also bore 'Welsh' names).[32] However, some names identified as
English (such as 'Greenaway') may be corruptions of Welsh ('Goronwy'). Other names
common in Wales, such as 'Richards', may have originated simultaneously in other parts
of Britain.
In 2001 a quarter of the Welsh population were
born outside Wales, mainly in England; about 3% were born
outside the UK. The proportion of people who were born in
Wales differs across the country, with the highest percentages
in the South Wales Valleys, and the lowest in Mid Wales and
parts of the north-east. In both Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr
Tydfil 92% were Welsh-born, compared to only 51% in
Flintshire and 56% in Powys.[33] One of the reasons for this is
that the locations of the most convenient hospitals in which
to give birth are over the border in England.
The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that
the Welsh and English languages be treated on a basis of equality. However, even English
has only de facto official status in the UK (see Languages of the United Kingdom) and
this has led political groups like Plaid Cymru to question whether such legislation is
sufficient to ensure the survival of the Welsh language.
English is spoken by almost all people in Wales and is therefore the de facto main
language (see Welsh English). However, northern and western Wales retain many areas
where Welsh is spoken as a first language by the majority of the population and English is
learnt as a second language. 21.7% of the Welsh population is able to speak or read Welsh
to some degree (based on the 2001 census), although only 16% claim to be able to speak,
read and write it, which may be related to the stark differences between colloquial and
literary Welsh. According to a language survey conducted in 2004, a larger proportion
that 21.7% claim to have some knowledge of the language. Today there are very few truly
monoglot Welsh speakers, other than small children, but individuals still exist who may
be considered less than fluent in English and rarely speak it. There were still many
monoglots as recently as the middle of the 20th century. Road signs in Wales are
generally in both English and Welsh; where place names differ in the two languages, both
versions are used (e.g. "Cardiff" and "Caerdydd").
During the 20th century a number of small communities of speakers of languages
other than English or Welsh, such as Bengali or Cantonese, have established themselves in
Wales as a result of immigration. This phenomenon is almost exclusive to urban Wales.
The Italian Government funds the teaching of Italian to Welsh residents of Italian
ancestry. These other languages do not have legal equality with English and Welsh,
although public services may produce information leaflets in minority ethnic languages
where there is a specific need, as happens elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
Code-switching is common in all parts of Wales, and the result is known by various
names, such as "Wenglish" or (in Caernarfon) "Cofi".
The largest religion in Wales is Christianity, with 72% of the population describing
themselves as Christian in the 2001 census. The Presbyterian Church of Wales is the largest
denomination and was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century and
seceded from the Church of England in 1811. The Church in Wales is the next largest
denomination, and forms part of the Anglican Communion. It too was part of the Church
of England, and was disestablished by the British Government under the Welsh Church Act
1914 (the act did not take effect until 1920). The Roman Catholic Church makes up the
next largest denomination at 3% of the population. Non-Christian religions are small in
Wales, making up approximately 1.5% of the population. 18% of people declare no
religion. The Apostolic Church holds its annual Apostolic Conference in Swansea each
year, usually in August.
The patron saint of Wales is Saint David (Welsh:
Dewi Sant), with St David's Day (Welsh: Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant)
celebrated annually on March 1.
In 1904, there was a religious revival (known by some as the
1904-1905 Welsh Revival or simply The 1904 Revival) which started t
hrough the evangelism of Evan Roberts and took many parts of Wales by
storm with massive numbers of people voluntarily converting to
Christianity, sometimes whole communities. Many of the present-day
Pentecostal churches in Wales claim to have originated in this revival.
Islam is the largest non-Christian religion in Wales, with
over 30,000 reported in the 2001 census. There are also communities of
Hindus and Sikhs mainly in the South Wales cities of Newport, Cardiff
and Swansea, while curiously the largest concentration of Buddhists is
in the western rural county of Ceredigion. Judaism was the first non-
Christian faith (excluding pre-Roman animism) to be established in
Wales, however as of the year 2001 the community has declined to
approximately 2,000.
The most popular sports in Wales are Rugby Union
and football. Wales, like other constituent nations, enjoys
independent representation in major world sporting events
such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and in the
Commonwealth Games (however as Great Britain in the
Olympics). As in New Zealand, rugby is a core part of the
national identity, although football has traditionally been
more popular sport in the North Wales, possibly due to its
close proximity to England's north-west. Wales has its own
governing bodies in rugby, the Welsh Rugby Union and in
football, the Football Association of Wales (the third oldest
in the world) and most other sports. Many of Wales' top
athletes, sportsmen and sportswomen train at the Welsh
Institute of Sport and National Indoor Athletics Centre in
Cardiff, the Wales National Velodrome in Newport and the
Wales National Pool in Swansea. However the Cardiff
International Swimming Pool is the only Olympic standard
pool in Wales.
The main road artery linking cities and other settlements along the South Wales
coast is the M4 motorway which also provides a link with England and eventually
London. The Welsh section of the motorway, managed by the Welsh Assembly Government,
runs from the Second Severn Crossing to Pont Abraham in West Wales, connecting cities
such as Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. In North Wales the A55 expressway performs a
similar role along the north Wales coast providing connections for places such as
Holyhead and Bangor with Wrexham and Flintshire and also with England, principally
Chester. The main north-south Wales link is the A470 which runs from Cardiff to
Llandudno. Cardiff International Airport is the only large and international airport in
Wales, offering links domestically and to European and North American destinations,
located some 12 miles (19 km) south-west of Cardiff city centre, in the Vale of Glamorgan.
The country also has a significant railway network managed by the Welsh
Assembly Government which has a programme of reopening old railway lines and
extending rail usage. Cardiff Central and Cardiff Queen Street are the busiest and the
major hubs on the internal and national network. Beeching cuts in the 1960s mean that
most of the remaining network is geared toward east-west travel to or from England.
Services from North to South Wales operate through the English towns of Chester and
Shrewsbury. Valley Lines services operate in Cardiff, the South Wales Valleys and
surrounding area and are heavily used as commuter lines.
Arriva Trains Wales is the major
operator of rail services within Wales. It operates
routes from South East Wales to Crewe, Manchester
and Cheltenham. Virgin Trains operate services
from North Wales to London as part of the West
Coast Main Line. First Great Western operate
services from Cardiff and Swansea via Newport to
London and services from Cardiff and Newport to
southern England. CrossCountry offer services from
Cardiff to Nottingham and Newcastle upon Tyne
via the West Midlands, East Midlands and
Yorkshire.
Regular ferry services operate from
Holyhead and Fishguard to Ireland.
The Flag of Wales incorporates the red dragon (Y Ddraig Goch) of Prince
Cadwalader along with the Tudor colours of green and white. It was used by Henry VII at
the battle of Bosworth in 1485 after which it was carried in state to St. Paul's Cathedral. The
red dragon was then included in the Tudor royal arms to signify their Welsh descent. It was
officially recognised as the Welsh national flag in 1959. The British Union Flag
incorporates the flags of Scotland, Ireland and England but does not have any Welsh
representation. Technically, however, it is represented by the flag of England due to the
Laws in Wales act of 1535 which annexed Wales following the 13th century conquest.
The flag of Owain Glyndŵr, which has 4 squares alternating in red and yellow
and then a rampant lion in each square of the opposite colour. Some believe that this is the
true flag of Wales arguing that Owain Glyndŵr was the last real Prince of Wales.
The Dragon, part of the national flag design, is also a popular Welsh symbol. The
oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is from the Historia Brittonum, written
around 820, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur
and other ancient Celtic leaders. This myth is likely to have originated from Merlin's vision
of a Red (The Native Britons) and White (The Saxon Invaders) dragon battling, with the
Red dragon being victorious. Following the annexation of Wales by England, the dragon
was used as a supporter in the English monarch's coat of arms.
The leek is also a national emblem of Wales. According to legend, Saint David
ordered his Welsh soldiers to identify themselves by wearing the vegetable on their helmets
in an ancient battle against the Saxons that took place in a leek field. It is still worn on
St David's Day each March 1
The daffodil is the national flower of Wales, and is worn on St David's Day each
March 1. (In Welsh, the daffodil is known as "Peter's Leek", cenhinen Bedr.)
The Sessile Oak is the national tree of Wales.
The Flag of Saint David is sometimes used as an alternative to the national flag
(and used in part of Cardiff City FC's crest), and is flown on St David's Day.
The Coat of Arms of the Principality of Wales which are the historic arms of the
Kingdom of Gwynedd are used by Charles, Prince of Wales in his personal standard.
The Prince of Wales's feathers, the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales is
sometimes adapted by Welsh bodies for use in Wales. The symbolism is explained on the
article for Edward, the Black Prince, who was the first Prince of Wales to bear the emblem;
see also John, King of Bohemia. The Welsh Rugby Union uses such a design for its own
badge. The national sport is often considered rugby union, though football is very
popular too.
The red kite is sometimes named as the national symbol of
wildlife in Wales.
Patriotic anthems for "the land of Song" include "God Bless
the Prince of Wales", "Hen Wlad fy Nhadau" ("Land of My Fathers")
(national anthem), "Men of Harlech", "Cwm Rhondda" (national
hymn), "Delilah", "Calon Lan", "Sosban Fach".
Flag of Wales Coat of Arms
I choose this topic because it’s very interesting and
urgent for me now. This subject is closely connected with
my future profession. People of different countries have
their own traditions. And I think, it’s very important to
know customs and traditions to that country, which you
are going to visit. The national traditions absorb and
reflect the historic experience of the post generations.
The aim of my work is to describe is traditions and
customs of Wales in details.
Now I shall read the most interesting passages from
my project.