This is a good article. Follow the link for more information.

Page semi-protected
Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about the country. For other uses, see Wales (disambiguation).
Wales
Cymru (Welsh)
Flag of Wales
Flag
Motto: "Cymru am byth" (Welsh)
"Wales Forever" or "Long live Wales"[1]
Anthem: "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau"
"Land of My Fathers"
Location of Wales (dark green)– in Europe (green & dark grey)– in the United
Kingdom (green)
Location of Wales (dark green)
– in Europe (green & dark grey)
– in the United Kingdom (green)
Status Country
Capital
and largest city Cardiff (Caerdydd)
Coordinates: 52.3°N 3.6°W
Official languages
Welsh English
Demonym Welsh (Cymry)
Sovereign state
Legal jurisdiction
United Kingdom
England and Wales
Government Devolved parliamentary legislature within parliamentary constitutional
monarchy
• Monarch
Elizabeth II
• First Minister
Carwyn Jones
• Deputy First Minister
Vacant
Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Secretary of State Alun Cairns
• House of Commons 40 MPs (of 650)
Legislature
National Assembly
UK Parliament
Formation
• Unification by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
1057[2]
• Statute of Rhuddlan[3]
3 March 1284
• Laws in Wales Act[4]
1535
• Devolution[5]
31 July 1998
Area
• Total
20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi)
Population
• 2017 estimate
Increase 3,125,000[6]
• 2011 census
3,063,456
• Density
148/km2 (383.3/sq mi)
GVA 2015 estimate
• Total £56 billion[7]
• Per capita £18,002[7]
GDP (nominal) 2014 estimate
• Total
£54 billion[8]
• Per capita
£18,000[8]
Currency Pound sterling (GBP; £)
Time zone Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)
• Summer (DST)
British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Date format dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Drives on the left
Calling code +44
Patron saint Saint David (Dewi Sant)
ISO 3166 code GB-WLS
Website
wales.com
Wales (Welsh: Cymru [ˈkəmri] (About this sound listen)) is a country that is part
of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain.[9] It is bordered by England
to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and the Bristol Channel to the
south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2
(8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely
mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including
Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit. The country lies within the north
temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate.

Welsh national identity emerged among the Britons after the Roman withdrawal from
Britain in the 5th century, and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic
nations. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of
England's conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to
Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and
incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and
1542. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh liberalism,
exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth
of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century;
Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established
under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds
responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters.

At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, development of the mining and

metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural society into
an industrial nation; the South Wales Coalfield's exploitation caused a rapid
expansion of Wales' population. Two-thirds of the population live in south Wales,
mainly in and around Cardiff (the capital), Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby
valleys. Now that the country's traditional extractive and heavy industries have
gone or are in decline, Wales' economy depends on the public sector, light and
service industries and tourism.

Although Wales closely shares its political and social history with the rest of
Great Britain, and a majority of the population in most areas speaks English as a
first language, the country has retained a distinct cultural identity and is
officially bilingual. Over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the
language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west.
From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the "land
of song", in part due to the eisteddfod tradition. At many international sporting
events, such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth Games,
Wales has its own national teams, though at the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes
compete as part of a Great Britain team. Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh
identity and an expression of national consciousness.

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Prehistoric origins
2.2 Roman era
2.3 Post-Roman era
2.4 Medieval Wales
2.5 Industrial Wales
2.6 Modern Wales
2.6.1 Early 20th century
2.6.2 Mid 20th century
2.6.3 Late 20th century
2.6.4 Devolution
3 Government and politics
3.1 Composition of the Assembly
3.2 Areas of responsibility
3.2.1 Foreign relations
3.3 Local government
4 Law and order
5 Geography and natural history
5.1 Geology
5.2 Climate
5.3 Flora and fauna
6 Economy
7 Transport
8 Education
9 Healthcare
10 Demography
10.1 Population history
10.2 Current
10.3 Languages
10.4 Religion
11 Culture
11.1 Mythology
11.2 Literature in Wales
11.3 Museums and libraries
11.4 Visual arts
11.5 National symbols and anthem
11.6 Sport
11.7 Media
11.8 Cuisine
11.9 Performing arts
11.9.1 Music
11.9.2 Drama
11.9.3 Dance
11.10 Festivals
12 See also
13 Footnotes
14 References
15 Bibliography
16 External links
Etymology
The English words "Wales" and "Welsh" derive from the same Germanic root (singular
Walh, plural Walha), which was itself derived from the name of the Gaulish people
known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer indiscriminately to all non-
Germanic peoples. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc
when referring to the Britons in particular, and Wēalas when referring to their
lands.[10] The modern names for some Continental European lands (e.g. Wallonia,
Wallachia and Valais) and peoples (e.g. the Vlachs via a borrowing into Old Church
Slavonic) have a similar etymology.[10][11][12][13]

Historically in Britain, the words were not restricted to modern Wales or to the
Welsh but were used to refer to anything that the Anglo-Saxons associated with the
Britons, including other non-Germanic territories in Britain (e.g. Cornwall) and
places in Anglo-Saxon territory associated with Britons (e.g. Walworth in County
Durham and Walton in West Yorkshire),[14] as well as items associated with non-
Germanic Europeans, such as the walnut.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Moliant Cadwallon
The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for
Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced [ˈkəm.rɨ]) are descended from the
Brythonic word combrogi, meaning "fellow-countrymen".[15] The use of the word Cymry
as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era (after the
arrival of the Anglo-Saxons) of the Welsh (Brythonic-speaking) people in modern
Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland (Yr Hen Ogledd)
(English: The Old North). It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the
Hen Ogledd were one people, different from other peoples.[16] In particular, the
term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar
heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-
description probably before the 7th century.[17] It is attested in a praise poem to
Cadwallon ap Cadfan (Moliant Cadwallon, by Afan Ferddig) c. 633.[18] In Welsh
literature, the word Cymry was used throughout the Middle Ages to describe the
Welsh, though the older, more generic term Brythoniaid continued to be used to
describe any of the Britonnic peoples (including the Welsh) and was the more common
literary term until c. 1200. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the
Welsh. Until c. 1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it
referred to the people or their homeland.[15]

The Latinised forms of these names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as
lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh and the Welsh people. Examples
include the Cambrian Mountains (which cover much of Wales and gave their name to
the Cambrian geological period), the newspaper Cambrian News, and the organisations
Cambrian Airways, Cambrian Railways, Cambrian Archaeological Association and the
Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. Outside Wales, a related form survives as the name
Cumbria in North West England, which was once a part of Yr Hen Ogledd. The Cumbric
language, which is thought to have been closely related to Welsh, was spoken in
this area until becoming extinct around the 12th century. This form also appears at
times in literary references, as in the pseudohistorical "Historia Regum
Britanniae" of Geoffrey of Monmouth, where the character of Camber is described as
the eponymous King of Cymru.

History
Main article: History of Wales
Prehistoric origins
See also: Prehistoric Wales
A low grassy mound with an entrance at its centre framed by cyclopean stones
Bryn Celli Ddu, a late Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey
Wales has been inhabited by modern humans for at least 29,000 years.[19] Continuous
human habitation dates from the end of the last ice age, between 12,000 and 10,000
years before present (BP), when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from central Europe
began to migrate to Great Britain. At that time sea levels were much lower than
today, and the shallower parts of what is now the North Sea were dry land. The east
coast of present-day England and the coasts of present-day Denmark, Germany and the
Netherlands were connected by the former landmass known as Doggerland, forming the
British Peninsula on the European mainland. Wales was free of glaciers by about
10,250 BP, the warmer climate allowing the area to become heavily wooded. The post-
glacial rise in sea level separated Wales and Ireland, forming the Irish Sea.
Doggerland was submerged by the North Sea and, by 8,000 BP, the British Peninsula
had become an island.[20][21] By the beginning of the Neolithic (c. 6,000 BP) sea
levels in the Bristol Channel were still about 33 feet (10 metres) lower than
today.[22][23][24] John Davies has theorised that the story of Cantre'r Gwaelod's
drowning and tales in the Mabinogion, of the waters between Wales and Ireland being
narrower and shallower, may be distant folk memories of this time.[25]

Neolithic colonists integrated with the indigenous people, gradually changing their
lifestyles from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering, to become settled farmers
about 6,000 BP – the Neolithic Revolution.[25][26] They cleared the forests to
establish pasture and to cultivate the land, developed new technologies such as
ceramics and textile production, and built cromlechs such as Pentre Ifan, Bryn
Celli Ddu and Parc Cwm long cairn between about 5,800 BP and 5,500 BP.[27][28][29]
[30] In common with people living all over Britain, over the following centuries
the people living in what was to become known as Wales assimilated immigrants and
exchanged ideas of the Bronze Age and Iron Age Celtic cultures. According to John
T. Koch and others, Wales in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-
networked culture that also included the other Celtic nations.[31][32][33][34] This
view, sometimes called "Atlantic-Celtic", stands against the view that the Celtic
languages have their origins farther east with the Hallstatt culture.[35] By the
time of the Roman invasion of Britain the area of modern Wales had been divided
among the tribes of the Deceangli, Ordovices, Cornovii, Demetae and Silures for
centuries.[25]

Roman era
Main article: Wales in the Roman era
Roman.Wales.Forts.Fortlets.Roads.jpg
The Roman conquest of Wales began in AD 48 and took 30 years to complete. Roman
rule lasted over 300 years. The campaigns of conquest are the most widely known
feature of Wales during the Roman era, because of the spirited, but ultimately
unsuccessful, defence of their homelands by two native tribes: the Silures and the
Ordovices. Roman rule in Wales was a military occupation, save for the southern
coastal region of south Wales, east of the Gower Peninsula, where there is a legacy
of Romanisation.[36] The only town in Wales founded by the Romans, Caerwent, is in
south east Wales. Both Caerwent and Carmarthen, also in southern Wales, became
Roman civitates.[37] Wales had a rich mineral wealth. The Romans used their
engineering technology to extract large amounts of gold, copper and lead, as well
as modest amounts of some other metals such as zinc and silver.[38] Roman economic
development was concentrated in south-eastern Britain, and no significant
industries located in Wales.[38] This was largely a matter of circumstance, as
Wales had none of the necessary materials in suitable combination, and the
forested, mountainous countryside was not amenable to industrialisation. Although
Latin became the official language of Wales, the people tended to continue to speak
in Brythonic. While Romanisation was far from complete, the upper classes of Wales
began to consider themselves Roman, particularly after the ruling of 212 that
granted Roman citizenship to all free men throughout the Empire.[39] Further Roman
influence came through the spread of Christianity, which gained many followers when
Christians were allowed to worship freely; state persecution ceased in the 4th
century, as a result of Constantine I issuing an edict of toleration in 313.[39]

Early historians, including the 6th-century cleric Gildas, have noted 383 as a
significant point in Welsh history,[40] as it is stated in literature as the
foundation point of several medieval royal dynasties. In that year the Roman
general Magnus Maximus, or Macsen Wledig, stripped all of western and northern
Britain of troops and senior administrators, to launch a successful bid for
imperial power; continuing to rule Britain from Gaul as emperor.[41][42] Gildas,
writing in about 540, says that Maximus departed Britain, taking with him all of
its Roman troops, armed bands, governors and the flower of its youth, never to
return. Having left with the troops and Roman administrators, and planning to
continue as the ruler of Britain in the future, his practical course was to
transfer local authority to local rulers. The earliest Welsh genealogies give
Maximus the role of founding father for several royal dynasties, including those of
Powys and Gwent.[43][44] It was this transfer of power that has given rise to the
belief that he was the father of the Welsh Nation.[40] He is given as the ancestor
of a Welsh king on the Pillar of Eliseg, erected nearly 500 years after he left
Britain, and he figures in lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales.[45]

Post-Roman era
See also: Sub-Roman Britain

Britain in AD 500: The areas shaded pink on the map were inhabited by the Britons,
here labelled Welsh. The pale blue areas in the east were controlled by Germanic
tribes, whilst the pale green areas to the north were inhabited by the Gaels and
Picts.
The 400-year period following the collapse of Roman rule is the most difficult to
interpret in the history of Wales.[39] After the Roman departure from Britain in AD
410, much of the lowlands of Britain to the east and south-east was overrun by
various Germanic peoples. Before extensive studies of the distribution of R1b Y-DNA
subclades, some previously maintained that native Britons were displaced by the
invaders.[46] This idea has been discarded in the face of evidence that much of the
population has, at the latest, Hallstatt era origins, but probably late Neolithic,
or at earliest Mesolithic origins with little contribution from Anglo-Saxon source
areas.[47] However, by AD 500, the land that would become Wales had divided into a
number of kingdoms free from Anglo-Saxon rule.[39] The kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys,
Dyfed and Seisyllwg, Morgannwg and Gwent emerged as independent Welsh successor
states.[39] Archaeological evidence, in the Low Countries and what was to become
England, shows early Anglo-Saxon migration to Great Britain reversed between 500 to
550, which concurs with Frankish chronicles.[48] John Davies notes this as
consistent with the British victory at Badon Hill, attributed to Arthur by Nennius.
[48] 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 what is now the West Midlands to Mercia in the 6th and early
7th centuries, a resurgent late-7th-century Powys checked Mercian advances.
Aethelbald of Mercia, looking to defend recently acquired lands, had built Wat's
Dyke. According to John Davies, this endeavour may have been with the agreement of
Powys king Elisedd ap Gwylog, as this boundary, extending north from the valley of
the River Severn to the Dee estuary, gave Oswestry to Powys.[49] Another theory,
after carbon dating placed the dyke's existence 300 years earlier, is that it may
have been built by the post-Roman rulers of Wroxeter.[50] King Offa of Mercia seems
to have continued this consultative initiative when he created a larger earthwork,
now known as Offa's Dyke (Clawdd Offa). Davies wrote of Cyril Fox's study of Offa's
Dyke: "In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of
Powys and Gwent. On the Long Mountain near Trelystan, the dyke veers to the east,
leaving the fertile slopes in the hands of the Welsh; near Rhiwabon, it was
designed to ensure that Cadell ap Brochwel retained possession of the Fortress of
Penygadden." And, for Gwent, Offa had the dyke built "on the eastern crest of the
gorge, clearly with the intention of recognizing that the River Wye and its traffic
belonged to the kingdom of Gwent."[49] However, Fox's interpretations of both the
length and purpose of the Dyke have been questioned by more recent research.[51]
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 (Afon Dyfrdwy) and
the Conwy, known then as Y Berfeddwlad. By the 8th century, the eastern borders
with the Anglo-Saxons had broadly been set.

In 853, the Vikings raided Anglesey, but in 856, Rhodri Mawr defeated and killed
their leader, Gorm.[52] The Britons of Wales later made their peace with the
Vikings and Anarawd ap Rhodri allied with the Norsemen occupying Northumbria to
conquer the north.[53] This alliance later broke down and Anarawd came to an
agreement with Alfred, king of Wessex, with whom he fought against the west Welsh.
According to Annales Cambriae, in 894, "Anarawd came with the Angles and laid waste
Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi."[54]

Medieval Wales

North Wales Principalities, 1267–76

Hywel Dda enthroned

See also: Norman invasion of Wales and Wales in the Late Middle Ages
The southern and eastern parts of Great Britain 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.[nb 1]
The Germanic tribes who now dominated these lands were invariably called Saeson,
meaning "Saxons". The Anglo-Saxons called the Romano-British 'Walha', meaning
'Romanised foreigner' or 'stranger'.[55] The Welsh continued to call themselves
Brythoniaid (Brythons or Britons) well into the Middle Ages, though the first
written evidence of the use of Cymru and y Cymry is found in a praise poem to
Cadwallon ap Cadfan (Moliant Cadwallon, by Afan Ferddig) c. 633.[10] In Armes
Prydain, believed to be written around 930–942, the words Cymry and Cymro are used
as often as 15 times.[56] However, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement onwards, the
people gradually begin to adopt the name Cymry over Brythoniad.[57]

upon a grassy hillock stand two rectangular built fortifications. The one to the
left is ruinous whilst the one to the right appears whole with battlements
Dolwyddelan Castle – built by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth in the early 13th century to
watch over one of the valley routes into Gwynedd
From 800 onwards, a series of dynastic marriages led to Rhodri Mawr's (r. 844–77)
inheritance of Gwynedd and Powys. His sons, in turn, would found three principal
dynasties (Aberffraw for Gwynedd, Dinefwr for Deheubarth and Mathrafal for Powys).
Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda (r. 900–50) founded Deheubarth out of his maternal and
paternal inheritances of Dyfed and Seisyllwg in 930, ousted the Aberffraw dynasty
from Gwynedd and Powys and then codified Welsh law in the 940s.[58] Maredudd ab
Owain (r. 986–99) of Deheubarth (Hywel's grandson) would, (again) temporarily oust
the Aberffraw line from control of Gwynedd and Powys.

Maredudd's great-grandson (through his daughter Princess Angharad) Gruffydd ap

Llywelyn (r. 1039–63) would conquer his cousins' realms from his base in Powys, and
even extend his authority into England. Historian John Davies states that Gruffydd
was "the only Welsh king ever to rule over the entire territory of Wales... Thus,
from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship
of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one
ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor."[2] Owain Gwynedd (1100–70) 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 John Davies.[59]

The statue of a man in a tunic and short cape clasped at his right shoulder,
sculpted in white stone. The figure, set indoors with its back to an arched window,
holds a down-pointed sword in his right hand and a scroll in his left.
Statue of Owain Glyndŵr (c. 1354 or 1359 – c. 1416) at Cardiff City Hall
Within four years of the Battle of Hastings, England had been completely subjugated
by the Normans.[2] William I of England established a series of lordships,
allocated to his most powerful warriors along the Welsh border, the boundaries
fixed only to the east (where they met other feudal properties inside England).[60]
Starting in the 1070s, these lords began conquering land in southern and eastern
Wales, west of the River Wye. The frontier region, and any English-held lordships
in Wales, became known as Marchia Wallie, the Welsh Marches, in which the Marcher
Lords were subject to neither English nor Welsh law.[61][contradictory] The area of
the March varied as the fortunes of the Marcher Lords and the Welsh princes ebbed
and flowed.[62]

Owain Gwynedd's grandson Llywelyn Fawr (the Great, 1173–1240), wrested

concessions[which?] through the Magna Carta in 1215 and receiving the fealty of
other Welsh lords in 1216 at the council at Aberdyfi, became the first Prince of
Wales.[63] His grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd also secured the recognition of the
title Prince of Wales from Henry III with the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267.[64]
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
King Edward I of England.[65] As a result of military defeat, the Treaty of
Aberconwy exacted Llywelyn's fealty to England in 1277.[65] 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
carried through London on a spear; his baby daughter Gwenllian was locked in the
priory at Sempringham, where she remained until her death 54 years later.[66]

The English interpretation of the treason of Llywelyn was that his fiefdom had
escheated to the king. The Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 provided the constitutional
basis for post-conquest government of the Principality of North Wales from 1284
until 1535/6.[67] It defined all of Wales as "annexed and united" to the English
Crown, still separate from England but under the same monarch. The king ruled
directly in two areas: the Statute divided the north and delegated administrative
duties to the Justice of Chester and Justiciar of North Wales, and further south in
western Wales the King's authority was delegated to the Justiciar of South Wales.
The existing royal lordships of Montgomery and Builth remained unchanged,[68] and
the remainder of Wales was still controlled by the marcher lords.

Caernarfon Castle, birthplace of Edward II of England

To help maintain his dominance, Edward constructed a series of great stone castles:
Beaumaris, Caernarfon and Conwy. His son, the future King Edward II of England, was
born at Edward's new castle at Caernarfon in 1284.[69] He became the first English
"Prince of Wales" in 1301, which at the time provided an income from the north-west
part of Wales known as the Principality of Wales.[70][71] The title is retained and
merged with the monarch, and has traditionally been re-granted by each monarch to
the next heir apparent.

After the failed revolt in 1294–95 of Madog ap Llywelyn – who styled himself Prince
of Wales in the Penmachno Document – and the rising of Llywelyn Bren (1316), the
next major uprising was that led by Owain Glyndŵr, against Henry IV of England. In
1404, Owain was reputedly crowned Prince of Wales in the presence of emissaries
from France, Spain and Scotland.[72] Glyndŵr went on to hold parliamentary
assemblies at several Welsh towns, including Machynlleth. But the rebellion failed,
and Owain went into hiding in 1412; peace was essentially restored in Wales by
1415.
The last remnants of Celtic-tradition Welsh law were abolished and replaced by
English law by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542.[73] All of Wales became
unified with the kingdom of England, in the legal jurisdiction of England and
Wales; the "Principality of Wales" began to refer to the whole country, though it
remained a "principality" only in a ceremonial sense.[67][74] The lordships of the
Marches were abolished, and Wales began electing members of the Westminster
parliament.

Industrial Wales
See also: Glamorgan and Lower Swansea valley

Dowlais Ironworks (1840) by George Childs (1798–1875)

Penrhyn Slate Quarries, 1852

Prior to the British Industrial Revolution, which saw a rapid economic expansion
between 1750 and 1850, there were signs of small-scale industries scattered
throughout Wales.[75] These ranged from industries connected to agriculture, such
as milling and the manufacture of woollen textiles, through to mining and
quarrying.[75] Until the Industrial Revolution, Wales had always been reliant on
its agricultural output for its wealth and employment and the earliest industrial
businesses were small scale and localised in manner.[75] The emerging industrial
period commenced around the development of copper smelting in the Swansea area.
With access to local coal deposits and a harbour that could take advantage of
Cornwall's copper mines and the copper deposits being extracted from the largest
copper mine in the world at Parys Mountain on Anglesey, Swansea developed into the
world's major centre for non-ferrous metal smelting in the 19th century.[75] The
second metal industry to expand in Wales was iron smelting, and iron manufacturing
became prevalent in both the north and the south of the country.[76] In the north
of Wales, John Wilkinson's Ironworks at Bersham was a significant industry, while
in the south, a second world centre of metallurgy was founded in Merthyr Tydfil,
where the four ironworks of Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, Plymouth and Penydarren became the
most significant hub of iron manufacture in Wales.[76] In the 1820s, south Wales
alone accounted for 40% of all pig iron manufactured in Britain.[76]

In the late 18th century, slate quarrying began to expand rapidly, most notably in
north Wales. The Penrhyn Quarry, opened in 1770 by Richard Pennant, was employing
15,000 men by the late 19th century,[77] and along with Dinorwic Quarry, it
dominated the Welsh slate trade. Although slate quarrying has been described as
'the most Welsh of Welsh industries',[78] it is coal mining which has become the
single industry synonymous with Wales and its people. Initially, coal seams were
exploited to provide energy for local metal industries but, with the opening of
canal systems and later the railways, Welsh coal mining saw a boom in its demand.
As the South Wales coalfield was exploited, Cardiff, Swansea, Penarth and Barry
grew as world exporters of coal. By its height in 1913, Wales was producing almost
61 million tons of coal. As well as in south Wales, there was also a significant
coalfield in the north-east of the country, particularly around Wrexham.[79] As
Wales was reliant on the production of capital goods rather than consumer goods, it
possessed few of the skilled craftspeople and artisans found in the workshops of
Birmingham or Sheffield in England and had few factories producing finished goods –
a key feature of most regions associated with the Industrial Revolution.[76]
However, there is increasing support that the industrial revolution was reliant on
harnessing the energy and materials provided by Wales and, in that sense, Wales was
of central importance.[76]

Modern Wales
Early 20th century

Battle at Mametz Wood by Christopher Williams (1918)

Historian Kenneth Morgan described Wales on the eve of the First World War as a
"relatively placid, self-confident and successful nation". Output from the
coalfields continued to increase, with the Rhondda Valley recording a peak of 9.6
million tons of coal extracted in 1913.[80] The outbreak of the First World War
(1914–1918) saw Wales, as part of the United Kingdom, enter hostilities with
Germany. A total of 272,924 Welshmen served in the war, representing 21.5% of the
male population.[81] Of these, roughly 35,000 were killed.[81] The two most notable
battles of the War to include Welsh forces were those at Mametz Wood on the Somme
and the Battle of Passchendaele.[82]

The first quarter of the 20th century also saw a shift in the political landscape
of Wales. Since 1865, the Liberal Party had held a parliamentary majority in Wales
and, following the general election of 1906, only one non-Liberal Member of
Parliament, Keir Hardie of Merthyr Tydfil, represented a Welsh constituency at
Westminster.[83] Yet by 1906, industrial dissension and political militancy had
begun to undermine Liberal consensus in the southern coalfields.[83] In 1916, David
Lloyd George became the first Welshman to become Prime Minister of Britain when he
was made head of the 1916 coalition government.[84] In December 1918, Lloyd George
was re-elected at the head of a Conservative-dominated coalition government, and
his poor handling of the 1919 coalminers' strike was a key factor in destroying
support for the Liberal party in south Wales.[85] The industrial workers of Wales
began shifting towards a new political organisation, established by Hardie and
others to ensure an elected representation for the working class, which is now
called the Labour Party.[86] When in 1908 the Miners' Federation of Great Britain
became affiliated to the Labour Party, the four Labour candidates sponsored by
miners were all elected as MPs.[86] By 1922, half of the Welsh seats at Westminster
were held by Labour politicians—the start of a Labour hegemony which would dominate
Wales into the 21st century.[86]

Mid 20th century

After economic growth in the first two decades of the 20th century, Wales' staple
industries endured a prolonged slump from the early 1920s to the late 1930s,
leading to widespread unemployment and poverty in the south Wales valleys.[87] For
the first time in centuries, the population of Wales went into decline; the scourge
of unemployment only relented with the production demands of the Second World War.
[88] The Second World War (1939–1945) saw Welsh servicemen and women fight in all
the major theatres of war, with some 15,000 of them killed.[89] Bombing raids
brought major loss of life as the German Air Force targeted the docks at Swansea,
Cardiff and Pembroke.[89] After 1943, 10% of Welsh conscripts aged 18 were sent to
work in the coal mines, where there were labour shortages; they became known as
Bevin Boys.[89] Pacifist numbers during both World Wars were fairly low, especially
in the Second World War, which was seen as a fight against fascism.[89] Of the
political parties active in Wales, only Plaid Cymru took a neutral stance, on the
grounds that it was an "imperialist war".[89]

Late 20th century

The 20th century saw a revival in Welsh national feeling. Plaid Cymru was formed in
1925, seeking greater autonomy or independence from the rest of the UK.[90] The
term "England and Wales" became common for describing the area to which English law
applied, and in 1955 Cardiff was proclaimed as capital city of Wales. Cymdeithas yr
Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) was formed in 1962, in response to long-
held fears that the language might soon die out.[91] Nationalist sentiment grew
following the flooding of the Tryweryn valley in 1965 to create a reservoir to
supply water to the English city of Liverpool.[92] Despite 35 of the 36 Welsh MPs
voting against the bill (the other one abstained), Parliament passed the bill and
the village of Capel Celyn was submerged, highlighting Wales' powerlessness in her
own affairs in the face of the numerical superiority of English MPs in the
Westminster Parliament.[93] Both the Free Wales Army and Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru
(Welsh Defence Movement, abbreviated as MAC) were formed as a direct result of the
Tryweryn destruction, conducting campaigns from 1963.[94] 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, tax and other
offices and part of the dam at the new Clywedog reservoir project in
Montgomeryshire, being built to supply water to the English Midlands.[95][96] At a
by-election in 1966, Gwynfor Evans won the parliamentary seat of Carmarthen, Plaid
Cymru's first Parliamentary seat.[97] In the following year, the Wales and Berwick
Act 1746 was repealed and a legal definition of Wales and of the boundary with
England was stated.[98]

By the end of the 1960s, the regional policy of bringing businesses into
disadvantaged areas of Wales through financial incentives had proven very
successful in diversifying the industrial economy.[99] This policy, begun in 1934,
was enhanced by the construction of industrial estates and improvements in
transport communications,[99] most notably the M4 motorway linking south Wales
directly to London. It was believed that the foundations for stable economic growth
had been firmly established in Wales during this period; but this view was shown to
be wildly optimistic after the recession of the early 1980s saw the collapse of
much of the manufacturing base that had been built over the preceding forty years.
[100]

Devolution
In the first referendum, in 1979, the Welsh electorate voted against the creation
of a Welsh assembly with an 80% majority for the "no" vote.[101] However in 1997, a
second referendum on the same issue secured a "yes", although by a very narrow
majority (50.3%).[101] The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol
Cymru) was set up in 1999 (under the Government of Wales Act 1998) and has 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 governments of the United Kingdom and of Wales almost invariably define Wales
as a country.[102][103] The Welsh Government says: "Wales is not a Principality.
Although we are joined with England by land, and we are part of Great Britain,
Wales is a country in its own right."[104] The title Prince of Wales is still
conferred on the heir apparent to the British throne, currently Prince Charles.
However, the Prince of Wales has no constitutional role in modern Wales.[105]
According to the Welsh Government: "Our Prince of Wales at the moment is Prince
Charles, who is the present heir to the throne. But he does not have a role in the
governance of Wales, even though his title might suggest that he does."[104]

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Wales
See also: Welsh Government; Politics of the United Kingdom; and National Assembly
for Wales election, 2016

The Senedd (National Assembly building), designed by Richard Rogers, opened on St

David's Day (1 March) 2006
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.[9][106] Constitutionally,
the UK is a de jure unitary state, its parliament and government in Westminster. In
the House of Commons – the lower house of the UK parliament – Wales is represented
by 40 MPs (out of 650) from Welsh constituencies. At the 2017 general election, 28
Labour and Labour Co-op MPs were elected, eight Conservative MPs and four Plaid
Cymru MPs.[107] The Wales Office is a department of the United Kingdom government
responsible for Wales, whose minister the Secretary of State for Wales sits in the
UK cabinet. Alun Cairns has been Secretary of State for Wales since March 2016.
[108]

Wales held a referendum in 1997 and chose to establish a form of self-government.

The consequent process of devolution began with the Government of Wales Act 1998,
which created the National Assembly for Wales (Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol
Cymru).[109] Powers of the Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to the
devolved government on 1 July 1999, granting the Assembly the power to decide how
the Westminster government's budget for devolved areas is spent and administered.
[110] The 1998 Act was amended by the Government of Wales Act 2006 which enhanced
the Assembly's powers, giving it legislative powers akin to those of the Scottish
Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly has 60 members, known as
Assembly Members (Aelodau y Cynulliad). Members (AMs (ACau)) are elected for four-
year terms under an additional member system. Forty of the AMs represent
geographical constituencies, elected under the First Past the Post system. The
remaining twenty AMs represent five electoral regions, each including between seven
and nine constituencies, using the d'Hondt method of proportional representation.
[111] The Assembly must elect a First Minister, who selects ministers to form the
Welsh Government.[112]

Composition of the Assembly

Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales since December 2009

Labour remained the largest Assembly party following the 2007 election, winning 26
of the 60 seats.[113] Having insufficient support to form a government, the Labour
Party entered into the 'One Wales' agreement with Plaid Cymru, forming a coalition,
with the Labour leader as First Minister.[114] Carwyn Jones has been First Minister
and leader of Welsh Labour since Rhodri Morgan retired from office in December
2009, after nine years and ten months as First Minister.[115] Ieuan Wyn Jones,
Deputy First Minister in the coalition government, was leader of Plaid Cymru, the
second-largest party in the Assembly with 14 of the 60 seats. Under the 'One Wales'
agreement, a referendum on giving the Welsh assembly full law-making powers was
promised "as soon as practicable, at or before the end of the assembly term (in
2011)" and both parties have agreed "in good faith to campaign for a successful
outcome to such a referendum".[116]

Welsh Labour remained the largest party in the Assembly following the National
Assembly for Wales election, 2011, winning 30 of the 60 seats. Other parties
represented in the assembly were the Welsh Conservatives (the loyal opposition)
with 14 seats, Plaid Cymru who have 11 seats and the Welsh Liberal Democrats with
five seats. Carwyn Jones remained First Minister following the election, this time
leading a Welsh Labour ministerial team. The Presiding Officer of the Assembly was
Rosemary Butler of Welsh Labour.

After the May 2016 election, Labour continues to form the largest group in the
Assembly, with 29 AMs.[117]

Following the election, the vote for First Minister initially resulted in a tie
between incumbent Carwyn Jones (Labour) and Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru).[118]

After discussions amongst the parties, a Labour government including the Liberal
Democrat AM as Minister for Education was proposed with limited policy-based
support from Plaid Cymru, and Carwyn Jones was re-elected as First Minister.[119]

Initially, Plaid Cymru formed the official opposition, with twelve AMs and the
Conservative Party were the third party with eleven AMs.

In August 2016, one of the UKIP AMs left his group and continues to sit as an
Independent member,[120] and in October 2016, former Plaid Cymru president and
inaugural Presiding Officer of the National Assembly, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, left his
party and also continues to sit as an Independent member.[121] In April 2017, a
second UKIP AM left the party and joined the Conservative Assembly group without
joining the party.[122]
Areas of responsibility
The twenty areas of responsibility devolved to the Welsh Government, known as
"subjects", include agriculture, economic development, education, health, housing,
local government, social services, tourism, transport and the Welsh language.[123]
[124] On its creation in 1999, the National Assembly for Wales had no primary
legislative powers.[125] However, since the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GoWA
2006) came into effect in 2007, the Assembly has power to pass primary legislation
as Assembly Measures on some specific matters within the areas of devolved
responsibility. Further matters have been added subsequently, either directly by
the UK Parliament or by the UK Parliament approving a Legislative Competence Order
(LCO, a request from the National Assembly for additional powers). The GoWA 2006
allows for the Assembly to gain primary lawmaking powers on a more extensive range
of matters within the same devolved areas if approved in a referendum.[126]

A referendum on extending the law-making powers of the National Assembly was

accordingly held on 3 March 2011. It asked the question: "Do you want the Assembly
now to be able to make laws on all matters in the 20 subject areas it has powers
for?" 63.49% of the voters voted 'yes', and 36.51% voted 'no'. Consequently, the
Assembly is now empowered to make laws, known as Acts of the Assembly, on all
matters in the subject areas, without needing the UK Parliament's agreement.[127]

Foreign relations
Wales is also a distinct UK electoral region of the European Union represented by
four Members of the European Parliament.[128]

Relations between Wales and the United States are primarily conducted through the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in addition to her Secretary of Foreign
Affairs and Ambassador to the United States. Nevertheless, the Welsh Assembly has
deployed their own envoy to America, primarily to promote Wales-specific business
interests. The primary Welsh Government Office is based in the Washington British
Embassy, with satellites in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Atlanta.[129]
Commensurately, the United States has established a caucus to build direct
relations with Wales.[130]

Local government
Main article: Local government in Wales
See also: History of local government in Wales
For the purposes of local government, Wales has been divided into 22 council areas
since 1996. These "principal areas"[131] are responsible for the provision of all
local government services, including education, social work, environment and roads
services.[132]

Wales Administrative Map 2009.png

About this image
Blaenau Gwent †
Bridgend (Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) †
Caerphilly (Caerffili) †
Cardiff (Caerdydd) *
Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin)
Ceredigion
Conwy †
Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)
Flintshire (Sir y Fflint)
Gwynedd
Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Tudful) †
Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy)
Neath Port Talbot (Castell-nedd Port Talbot) †
Newport (Casnewydd) *
Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro)
Powys
Rhondda Cynon Taf †
Swansea (Abertawe) *
Torfaen (Tor-faen) †
Vale of Glamorgan (Bro Morgannwg) †
Wrexham (Wrecsam) †
Areas are Counties, unless marked * (for Cities) or † (for County Boroughs). Welsh-
language forms are given in parentheses, where they differ from the English.
Note: Wales has six cities. In addition to Cardiff, Newport and Swansea, the
communities of Bangor, St Asaph and St Davids also have city status in the United
Kingdom.

Law and order

Main articles: Cyfraith Hywel, Welsh law, Law of the United Kingdom, and English
law
See also: Marcher Lord
A half timbered building of two floors, with four sets of leaded windows to the
front aspect and one set to the side. The build has a steep, slate roof, with a
single chimney placed left of centre. Steps and a ramp lead up to its single
visible entrance
The Old Court House, Ruthin, Denbighshire, built 1401, following Owain Glyndŵr's
attack on the town

Illustration of a Welsh judge from the Laws of Hywel Dda

By tradition, Welsh Law was compiled during an assembly held at Whitland around 930
by Hywel Dda, king of most of Wales between 942 and his death in 950. The 'law of
Hywel Dda' (Welsh: Cyfraith Hywel), as it became known, codified the previously
existing folk laws and legal customs that had evolved in Wales over centuries.
Welsh Law emphasised the payment of compensation for a crime to the victim, or the
victim's kin, rather than punishment by the ruler.[133][134][135] Other than in the
Marches, where law was imposed by the Marcher Lords, Welsh Law remained in force in
Wales until the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284. Edward I of England annexed the
Principality of Wales following the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, and Welsh Law
was replaced for criminal cases under the Statute. Marcher Law and Welsh Law (for
civil cases) remained in force until Henry VIII of England annexed the whole of
Wales under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 (often referred to as the Acts of
Union of 1536 and 1543), after which English law applied to the whole of Wales.
[133][136] The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 provided that all laws that applied to
England would automatically apply to Wales (and the Anglo-Scottish border town of
Berwick) unless the law explicitly stated otherwise; this Act was repealed with
regard to Wales in 1967. English law has been the legal system of England and Wales
since 1536,[137] although there is now a growing body of contemporary Welsh law
following Welsh devolution.

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 Supreme Court of the United Kingdom which is the highest court of
appeal in the land for criminal and civil cases. The Senior Courts 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. In
2007 the Wales and Cheshire Region (known as the Wales and Cheshire Circuit before
2005) came to an end when Cheshire was attached to the North-Western England
Region. From that point, Wales became a legal unit in its own right, although it
remains part of the single jurisdiction of England and Wales.[138]

The Welsh Assembly has the authority to draft and approve laws outside of the UK
Parliamentary system to meet the specific needs of Wales. Under powers approved by
a referendum held in March 2011, it is empowered to pass primary legislation known
as Acts of the Assembly in relation to twenty subjects listed in the Government of
Wales Act 2006 such as health and education. Through this primary legislation, the
Welsh Government can then also enact more specific secondary legislation.

Wales is served by four regional police forces, Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent Police,
North Wales Police and South Wales Police.[139] There are five prisons in Wales;
four in the southern half of the country and one in Wrexham. Wales has no women's
prisons; female inmates are imprisoned in England.[140][141]

Geography and natural history

Snowdon, Gwynedd, the highest mountain in Wales

Map of Wales. From Ortelius: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum c.1574.

Main article: Geography of Wales
See also: List of settlements in Wales by population and List of towns in Wales
Wales is a generally mountainous country on the western side of central southern
Great Britain.[142] It is about 170 miles (270 km) north–south and 60 miles (97 km)
east–west.[143] The oft-quoted 'size of Wales' is about 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi).
[144][145] Wales is bordered by England to the east and by sea in all other
directions: the Irish Sea to the north and west, St George's Channel and the Celtic
Sea to the southwest and the Bristol Channel to the south.[146][147] Wales has
about 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline (along the mean high water mark),
including the mainland, Anglesey and Holyhead.[148] Over 50 islands lie off the
Welsh mainland; the largest being Anglesey, in the north-west.

Much of Wales' diverse landscape is 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), of which five
are over 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The highest of these is Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), at 1,085
m (3,560 ft).[149][150] The 14 Welsh mountains, or 15 if including Garnedd Uchaf –
often discounted because of its low topographic prominence – over 3,000 feet (910
metres) high are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s and are located in a small
area in the north-west.[151]

The highest outside the 3000s is Aran Fawddwy, at 905 metres (2,969 feet), in the
south of Snowdonia.[152] The Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) are in the south
(highest point Pen y Fan, at 886 metres (2,907 feet)), and are joined by the
Cambrian Mountains in Mid Wales. The highest point being Pumlumon at 752 metres
(2,467 feet).

Relief map of Wales:

Topography above 600 feet (180 m)
National Parks
Wales has three national parks: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire Coast.
It has five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; Anglesey, the Clwydian Range and
Dee Valley, the Gower Peninsula, the Llŷn Peninsula, and the Wye Valley.[153] The
Gower Peninsula was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1956. Forty two percent of the coastline of
south and west Wales is designated as Heritage Coast, with 13 specific designated
strips of coastline maintained by Natural Resources Wales (successor body to the
Countryside Council for Wales).[154] As from 2017, the coastline of Wales has 45
Blue Flag beaches and three Blue Flag marinas.[155] Despite its heritage and award-
winning beaches; the south and west coasts of Wales, along with the Irish and
Cornish coasts, are frequently blasted by Atlantic westerlies/south westerlies
that, over the years, have sunk and wrecked many vessels. On the night of 25
October 1859, over 110 ships were destroyed off the coast of Wales when a hurricane
blew in from the Atlantic.[156] More than 800 lives were lost across Britain
because of the storm, but the greatest tragedy was the sinking of the Royal Charter
off the coast of Anglesey in which 459 people died.[157] The number of shipwrecks
around the coast of Wales reached a peak in the 19th century with over 100 vessels
lost and an average loss of life of about 78 sailors per year.[158] Wartime action
caused losses near Holyhead, Milford Haven and Swansea.[158] Because of offshore
rocks and unlit islands, Anglesey and Pembrokeshire are still notorious for
shipwrecks, most notably the Sea Empress oil spill in 1996.[159]

The first border between Wales and England was zonal, apart from around the River
Wye, which was the first accepted boundary.[160] Offa's Dyke was supposed to form
an early distinct line but this was thwarted by Gruffudd ap Llewellyn, who
reclaimed swathes of land beyond the dyke.[160] The Act of Union of 1536 formed a
linear border stretching from the mouth of the Dee to the mouth of the Wye.[160]
Even after the Act of Union, many of the borders remained vague and moveable until
the Welsh Sunday Closing act of 1881, which forced local businesses to decide which
country they fell within to accept either the Welsh or English law.[160]

Llyn y Fan Fawr, Powys, within the Brecon Beacons National Park
The Seven Wonders of Wales is a list in doggerel verse of seven geographic and
cultural landmarks in Wales probably composed in the late 18th century under the
influence of tourism from England.[161] All the "wonders" are in north Wales:
Snowdon (the highest mountain), the Gresford bells (the peal of bells in the
medieval church of All Saints at Gresford), the Llangollen bridge (built in 1347
over the River Dee), St Winefride's Well (a pilgrimage site at Holywell) in
Flintshire, the Wrexham (Wrecsam) steeple (16th-century tower of St Giles' Church,
Wrexham), the Overton yew trees (ancient yew trees in the churchyard of St. Mary's
at Overton-on-Dee) and Pistyll Rhaeadr – a tall waterfall, at 240 ft (73 m).[162]
The wonders are part of the rhyme:[162]

Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham steeple,

Snowdon's mountain without its people,
Overton yew trees, St Winefride's Wells,
Llangollen bridge and Gresford bells.
Geology
See also: Geology of Wales
The earliest geological period of the Paleozoic era, the Cambrian, takes its name
from the Cambrian Mountains, where geologists first identified Cambrian remnants.
[163][164] In evolutionary studies the Cambrian is the period when most major
groups of complex animals appeared (the Cambrian explosion). The older rocks
underlying the Cambrian rocks in Wales lacked fossils which could be used to
differentiate their various groups and were referred to as Pre-cambrian.

In the mid-19th century, two prominent geologists, Roderick Murchison and Adam
Sedgwick (who first proposed the name of the Cambrian period), independently used
their studies of the geology of Wales to establish certain principles of
stratigraphy and palaeontology. The next two periods of the Paleozoic era, the
Ordovician and Silurian, were named after ancient Celtic tribes from this area
based on Murchison's and Sedgwick's work.[165][166]

Climate

Köppen climate types in Wales

Wales
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D
159 71
114 71
 119 92
86 113
81 156
86 179
78 1911
106 1911
124 169
153 137
157 94
173 72
Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm
Source: Met Office
showImperial conversion
Wales lies within the north temperate zone. It has a changeable, maritime climate
and is one of the wettest countries in Europe.[167][168] Welsh weather is often
cloudy, wet and windy, with warm summers and mild winters.[167][169] The long
summer days and short winter days result from Wales' northerly latitudes (between
53° 43′ N and 51° 38′ N). Aberystwyth, at the midpoint of the country's west coast,
has nearly 17 hours of daylight at the summer solstice. Daylight at midwinter there
falls to just over seven and a half hours.[170] The country's wide geographic
variations cause localised differences in sunshine, rainfall and temperature.
Average annual coastal temperatures reach 10.5 °C (51 °F) and in low lying inland
areas, 1 °C (1.8 °F) lower. It becomes cooler at higher altitudes; annual
temperatures decrease on average approximately 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) each 100 metres (330
feet) of altitude. Consequently, the higher parts of Snowdonia experience average
annual temperatures of 5 °C (41 °F).[167] Temperatures in Wales remain higher than
would otherwise be expected at its latitude because of the North Atlantic Drift, a
branch of the Gulf Stream. The ocean current, bringing warmer water to northerly
latitudes, has a similar effect on most of north-west Europe. As well as its
influence on Wales' coastal areas, air warmed by the Gulf Stream blows further
inland with the prevailing winds.[171]

Tor Bay and Three Cliffs Bay, Gower, Swansea

At low elevations, summers tend to be warm and sunny. Average maximum temperatures
range between 19 and 22 °C (66 and 72 °F). Winters tend to be fairly wet, but
rainfall is rarely excessive and the temperature usually stays above freezing.
Spring and autumn feel quite similar and the temperatures tend to stay above 14 °C
(57 °F) – also the average annual daytime temperature.[172]

The sunniest time of year tends to be between May and August. The south-western
coast is the sunniest part of Wales, averaging over 1700 hours of sunshine
annually. Wales' sunniest town is Tenby, Pembrokeshire. The dullest time of year
tends to be between November and January. The least sunny areas are the mountains,
some parts of which average less than 1200 hours of sunshine annually.[167][168]
The prevailing wind is south-westerly. Coastal areas are the windiest, gales occur
most often during winter, on average between 15 and 30 days each year, depending on
location. Inland, gales average fewer than six days annually.[167]

Wales pictured from the International Space Station

Rainfall patterns show significant variation. The further west, the higher the
expected rainfall; up to 40% more.[168] At low elevations, rain is unpredictable at
any time of year, although the showers tend to be shorter in summer.[172] The
uplands of Wales have most rain, normally more than 50 days of rain during the
winter months (December to February), falling to around 35 rainy days during the
summer months (June to August). Annual rainfall in Snowdonia averages between 3,000
millimetres (120 in) (Blaenau Ffestiniog) and 5,000 millimetres (200 in) (Snowdon's
summit).[168] The likelihood is that it will fall as sleet or snow when the
temperature falls below 5 °C (41 °F) and snow tends to be lying on the ground there
for an average of 30 days a year. Snow falls several times each winter in inland
areas but is relatively uncommon around the coast. Average annual rainfall in those
areas can be less than 1,000 millimetres (39 in).[167][168]

Highest maximum temperature: 35.2 °C (95 °F) at Hawarden Bridge, Flintshire on 2

August 1990.[173]
Lowest minimum temperature: −23.3 °C (−10 °F) at Rhayader, Radnorshire (now Powys)
on 21 January 1940.[173]
Maximum number of hours of sunshine in a month: 354.3 hours at Dale Fort,
Pembrokeshire in July 1955.[174]
Minimum number of hours of sunshine in a month: 2.7 hours at Llwynon,
Brecknockshire in January 1962.[174]
Maximum rainfall in a day (0900 UTC − 0900 UTC): 211 millimetres (8.3 in) at
Rhondda, Glamorgan, on 11 November 1929.[175]
Wettest spot – an average of 4,473 millimetres (176 in) rain a year at Crib Goch in
Snowdonia, Gwynedd (making it also the wettest spot in the United Kingdom).[176]
Flora and fauna
See also: Fauna of Great Britain, Flora of Great Britain, and List of birds of
Wales

The red kite (Milvus milvus) – a national symbol of Welsh wildlife

Wales' wildlife is typical of Britain with several distinctions. Because of its
long coastline, Wales hosts a variety of seabirds. The coasts and surrounding
islands are home to colonies of gannets, Manx shearwater, puffins, kittiwakes,
shags and razorbills. In comparison, with 60% of Wales above the 150m contour, the
country also supports a variety of upland habitat birds, including raven and ring
ouzel.[177][178] Birds of prey include the merlin, hen harrier and the red kite, a
national symbol of Welsh wildlife.[179] In total, more than 200 different species
of bird have been seen at the RSPB reserve at Conwy, including seasonal visitors.
[180]

The larger Welsh mammals died out during the Norman period, including the brown
bear, wolf and the wildcat.[181] Today, mammals of note include shrews, voles,
badgers, otters, hedgehogs and fifteen species of bat.[181] Two species of small
rodent, the yellow-necked mouse and the dormouse, are of special Welsh note being
found at the historically undisturbed border area.[181] Other animals of note
include, otter, stoat and weasel. The pine marten which has had the occasional
sighting, has not been officially recorded since the 1950s. The polecat was nearly
driven to extinction in Britain, but hung on in Wales and is now rapidly spreading.
Feral goats can be found in Snowdonia.[182]

The waters of south-west Wales of Gower, Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay attract
marine animals, including basking sharks, Atlantic grey seals, leatherback turtles,
dolphins, porpoises, jellyfish, crabs and lobsters. Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion,
in particular, are recognised as an area of international importance for bottlenose
dolphins, and New Quay has the only summer residence of bottlenose dolphins in the
whole of the UK. River fish of note include char, eel, salmon, shad, sparling and
Arctic char, whilst the Gwyniad is unique to Wales, found only in Bala Lake.[183]
Wales is also known for its shellfish, including cockles, limpet, mussels and
periwinkles.[183] Herring, mackerel and hake are the more common of the country's
seafish.[183]

The north facing high grounds of Snowdonia support a relict pre-glacial flora
including the iconic Snowdon lily – Gagea serotina – and other alpine species such
as Saxifraga cespitosa, Saxifraga oppositifolia and Silene acaulis. Wales also
hosts a number of plant species not found elsewhere in the UK including the spotted
rock-rose Tuberaria guttata on Anglesey and Draba aizoides[184] on the Gower.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Wales
See also: Tourism in Wales and Agriculture in Wales

A profile of the economy of Wales in 2012

Port Talbot Steelworks – once the largest employer in Wales[185]

Over the last 250 years, Wales has been transformed first from a predominantly
agricultural country to an industrial, and now a post-industrial economy.[186][187]
Since the Second World War, the service sector has come to account for the majority
of jobs, a feature typifying most advanced economies.[188] Total headline Gross
Value Added (GVA) in Wales in 2016 was £59.6 billion, or £19,140 per head of
population; 72.7 per cent of the average for the UK total, the lowest GVA per head
in the UK.[189] In the three months to December 2017, the employment rate for
working-age adults in Wales was 72.7 per cent, compared to 75.2 per cent across the
UK as a whole.[189]

From the middle of the 19th century until the post-war era, the mining and export
of coal was a dominant industry. At its peak of production in 1913, nearly 233,000
men and women were employed in the south Wales coalfield, mining 56 million tons of
coal.[190] Cardiff was once the largest coal-exporting port in the world and, for a
few years before the First World War, handled a greater tonnage of cargo than
either London or Liverpool.[191][192] In the 1920s, over 40% of the male Welsh
population worked in heavy industry.[193] According to Professor Phil Williams, the
Great Depression "devastated Wales", north and south, because of its "overwhelming
dependence on coal and steel".[193] From the mid-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. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wales was successful in attracting an
above average share of foreign direct investment in the UK.[194] However, much of
the new industry was essentially of a "branch factory" ("screwdriver factory") type
where a manufacturing plant or call centre is located in Wales but the most highly
paid jobs in the company are retained elsewhere.[195][196]

British £1 coin (reverse) depicting the Welsh dragon, 2000

Because of 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 45 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.[197][198] Wales has struggled
to develop or attract high value-added employment in sectors such as finance and
research and development, attributable in part to a comparative lack of 'economic
mass' (i.e. population) – Wales lacks a large metropolitan centre.[196] The lack of
high value-added employment is reflected in lower economic output per head relative
to other regions of the UK – in 2002 it stood at 90% of the EU25 average and around
80% of the UK average.[196] In June 2008, Wales made history by becoming the first
nation in the world to be awarded Fairtrade Status.[199]

The pound sterling is the currency used in Wales. Numerous Welsh banks issued their
own banknotes in the 19th century. The last bank to do so closed in 1908; since
then, although banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to have the right to
issue banknotes in their own countries, the Bank of England has a monopoly on the
issue of banknotes in Wales.[200][201][202][203] The Commercial Bank of Wales,
established in Cardiff by Sir Julian Hodge in 1971, was taken over by the Bank of
Scotland in 1988 and absorbed into its parent company in 2002.[204] The Royal Mint,
who issue the coinage circulated through the whole of the UK, have been based at a
single site in Llantrisant since 1980.[205] Since decimalisation, in 1971, at least
one of the coins in UK circulation has depicted a Welsh design, e.g. the 1995 and
2000 one Pound coin (above). However, Wales has not been represented on any coin
minted from 2008.[206]

Transport
Main article: Transport in Wales

The Second Severn Crossing –

carrying the M4 Motorway
The main road artery along the south Wales coast is the M4 motorway. It also
provides a link to southern England, terminating in London. The section of the
motorway managed by the Welsh Government runs from the Second Severn Crossing to
Pont Abraham, Carmarthenshire, connecting the cities of Newport, Cardiff and
Swansea. The A55 expressway has a similar role along the north Wales coast,
connecting Holyhead and Bangor with Wrexham and Flintshire. It also links to north-
west England, principally Chester. The main north-south Wales link is the A470,
which runs from Cardiff to Llandudno.

An Arriva Trains Wales service at Llandudno Junction railway station

Cardiff International Airport is the only large and international airport in Wales.
Providing links to European, African and North American destinations, it is about
12 miles (19 km) southwest of Cardiff city centre, in the Vale of Glamorgan. Intra-
Wales flights run between Anglesey (Valley) and Cardiff, operated since 2017 by
Eastern Airways. Other internal flights operate to northern England, Scotland and
Northern Ireland.

The Welsh Government manages those parts of the British railway network within
Wales. Cardiff Central is Wales' busiest railway station, with over four times as
much passenger traffic as any other station in Wales.[207] The Cardiff region has
its own urban rail network. Beeching cuts in the 1960s mean that most of the
remaining network is geared toward east-west travel connecting with the Irish Sea
ports for ferries to Ireland. Services between north and south Wales operate
through the English towns of Chester and Shrewsbury along the Welsh Marches Line.
All trains in Wales are diesel-powered since no lines have been electrified.
However, the South Wales Main Line branch of the Great Western Main Line used by
services from London Paddington to Cardiff and Swansea, is undergoing
electrification.[208][209]

Wales has four commercial ferry ports. Regular ferry services to Ireland operate
from Holyhead, Pembroke and Fishguard. The Swansea to Cork service, cancelled in
2006, was reinstated in March 2010, but has been withdrawn again in 2012.[210][211]

Education
Main article: Education in Wales
See also: List of universities in Wales and List of further education colleges in
Wales

St. David's Building, Lampeter campus, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David
(Prifysgol Cymru, Y Drindod Dewi Sant). Founded in 1822, it is the oldest degree
awarding institution in Wales.[212]
A distinct education system has developed in Wales.[213] Formal education before
the 18th century was the preserve of the elite. The first grammar schools were
established in Welsh towns such as Ruthin, Brecon and Cowbridge.[213] One of the
first successful schooling systems was started by Griffith Jones, who introduced
the circulating schools in the 1730s; believed to have taught half the country's
population to read.[214] In the 19th century, with increasing state involvement in
education, Wales was forced to adopt an education system that was English in ethos
even though the country was predominantly Non-conformist, Welsh-speaking and
demographically uneven because of the economic expansion in the south.[214] In some
schools, to ensure Welsh children spoke English at school, the Welsh Not was used;
a policy seen as a hated symbol of English oppression.[215] The "not", a piece of
wood hung round the neck by string, was given to any child overheard speaking
Welsh, who would pass it to a different child if overheard speaking Welsh. At the
end of the day, the wearer of the "not" would be beaten.[216][217] The extent of
its practice, however, is difficult to determine.[218] State and local governmental
edicts resulted in schooling in the English language which, following Brad y
Llyfrau Gleision (the Treachery of the Blue Books), was seen as more academic and
worthwhile for children.[219]

The University College of Wales opened in Aberystwyth in 1872. Cardiff and Bangor
followed, and the three colleges came together in 1893 to form the University of
Wales.[214] The Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 created 95 secondary
schools. The Welsh Department for the Board of Education followed in 1907, which
gave Wales its first significant educational devolution.[214] A resurgence in
Welsh-language schools in the latter half of the 20th century at nursery and
primary level saw attitudes shift towards teaching in the medium of Welsh.[220]
Welsh is a compulsory subject in all of Wales' state schools for pupils aged 5–16
years old.[221] While there has never been an exclusively Welsh-language college,
Welsh-medium higher education is delivered through the individual universities and
has since 2011 been supported by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Welsh National
College) as a delocalised federal institution. In 2016–2017, there were 1,547
maintained schools in Wales.[222] In 2016–2017, the country had 466,508 pupils
taught by 23,910 full-time equivalent teachers.[223][224]

Healthcare
Main article: NHS Wales

University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff

Public healthcare in Wales is provided by NHS Wales (GIG Cymru), which was
originally formed as part of the NHS structure for England and Wales 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.[225] In turn, responsibility for
NHS Wales was passed to the Welsh Assembly and Executive under devolution in 1999.
Historically, Wales was served by smaller 'cottage' hospitals, built as voluntary
institutions.[226] As newer more expensive diagnostic techniques and treatments
became available through medical advancement, much of the clinical work of the
country has been concentrated in newer, larger district hospitals.[226] In 2006,
there were seventeen district hospitals in Wales, although none situated in Powys.
[226] NHS Wales provides public healthcare in Wales and employs some 90,000 staff,
making it Wales' biggest employer.[227] The Minister for Health and Social Services
is the person within the Welsh Government who holds cabinet responsibilities for
both health and social care in Wales.[228]

A 2009 Welsh health survey, conducted by the Welsh Assembly, reported that 51% of
adults reported their health good or excellent, while 21% described their health as
fair or poor.[229] The survey also recorded that 27% of Welsh adults had a long-
term chronic illness, such as arthritis, asthma, diabetes and heart disease.[228]
[230] Enquiries into health-related lifestyle choices report 27% of the adult
population are smokers, 45% admit drinking alcohol above recommended guidelines at
least once a week, while 29% undertake the recommended weekly physical activity.
[228]

Demography
Population history
Year Population of Wales
1536 278,000
1620 360,000
1770 500,000
1801 587,000
1851 1,163,000
1911 2,421,000
1921 2,656,000
1939 2,487,000
1961 2,644,000
1991 2,811,865
2011 3,063,000
Source: John Davies (1993). A History of Wales. pp. 258–59, 319. ISBN
9780141926339.; Census 2001, 200 Years of the Census in ... Wales (2001)

The population of Wales doubled from 587,000 in 1801 to 1,163,000 in 1851 and had
reached 2,421,000 by 1911. Most of the increase came in the coal mining districts,
especially Glamorganshire, which grew from 71,000 in 1801 to 232,000 in 1851 and
1,122,000 in 1911.[231] Part of this increase can be attributed to the demographic
transition seen in most industrialising countries during the Industrial Revolution,
as death rates dropped and birth rates remained steady. However, there was also
large-scale migration into Wales during the Industrial Revolution. The English were
the most numerous group, but there were also considerable numbers of Irish and
smaller numbers of other ethnic groups,[232][233] including Italians, who migrated
to South Wales.[234] Wales also received immigration from various parts of the
British Commonwealth of Nations in the 20th century, and African-Caribbean and
Asian communities add to the ethnocultural mix, particularly in urban Wales. Many
of these self-identify as Welsh.[235]

Current
Main articles: Demography of Wales and Demography of the United Kingdom

Map of population density in Wales at the 2011 census.

Swansea Bay and city centre. Swansea is Wales' second most populous city.
The 2011 census showed Wales' population to be 3,063,456, the highest in its
history.[236] In 2011, 27% (837,000) of the total population of Wales were not born
in Wales,[237] including 636,000 people (21% of the total population of Wales) who
were born in England.[238] The main population and industrial areas are in south
Wales, including the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport and the nearby valleys,
with another significant population in the north-east around Wrexham and
Flintshire.

According to the 2001 census, 96% of the population was White British, and 2.1%
non-white (mainly of British Asian origin).[239] Most non-white groups were
concentrated in Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. Welsh Asian and African communities
developed mainly through immigration after the Second World War.[240] In the early
21st century, parts of Wales saw an increased number of immigrants settle from
recent EU accession countries such as Poland;[241] though a 2007 study showed a
relatively low number of employed immigrant workers from the former Eastern Bloc
countries in Wales compared to other regions of the United Kingdom.[242]

The 2001 UK census was criticised in Wales for not offering 'Welsh' as an option to
describe respondents' national identity.[243] Partly to address this concern, the
2011 census asked the question "How would you describe your national identity?".
Respondents were instructed to "tick all that apply" from a list of options that
included Welsh. The outcome was that 57.5% of Wales' population indicated their
sole national identity to be Welsh; a further 7.1% indicated it to be both Welsh
and British. No Welsh national identity was indicated by 34.1%. The proportion
giving their sole national identity as British was 16.9%, and another 9.4% included
British with another national identity. No British national identity was indicated
by 73.7%. 11.2% indicated their sole national identity as English and another 2.6%
included English with another national identity.[244][245][246]

The 2011 census showed Wales to be less ethnically diverse than any region of
England:[247] 93.2% classed themselves as White British (including Welsh, English,
Scottish or Northern Irish), 2.4% as "Other White" (including Irish), 2.2% as Asian
(including Asian British), 1% as Mixed, and 0.6% as Black (African, Caribbean, or
Black British). The lowest proportion of White British (80.3%) was in Cardiff.[246]
[248]

In 2001, a quarter of the Welsh population were born outside Wales, mainly in
England; about 3% were born outside the UK. The proportion born in Wales varies
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% and 56% in the border counties of
Flintshire and Powys.[249] Just over 1.75 million Americans report themselves to
have Welsh ancestry, as did 440,965 Canadians in Canada's 2006 census.[250][251]

The total fertility rate (TFR) in Wales was 1.90 in 2011,[252] which is below the
replacement rate of 2.1. The majority of births are to unmarried women (58% of
births in 2011 were outside marriage).[253] About one in 10 births (10.7%) in 2011
were to foreign-born mothers, compared to 5.2% in 2001.[254]

A 2010 study estimated that 35% of the Welsh population have surnames of Welsh
origin (5.4% of the English and 1.6% of the Scottish population also bore 'Welsh'
names).[255] However, many modern surnames derived from old Welsh personal names
actually arose in England.[256]

vte
Largest cities or towns in Wales
Office for National Statistics 2011 Census[257]
Rank Name Council area Pop. Rank Name Council area Pop.
Cardiff
Cardiff
Swansea
Swansea 1 Cardiff City & County of Cardiff 335,145 11
Caerphilly Caerphilly County Borough 41,402 Newport
Newport
Wrexham
Wrexham
2 Swansea City & County of Swansea 239,000 12 Port Talbot Neath
Port Talbot 37,276
3 Newport Newport City 128,060 13 Pontypridd Rhondda Cynon Taf
30,457
4 Wrexham Wrexham County Borough 61,603 14 Aberdare Rhondda
Cynon Taf 29,748
5 Barry Vale of Glamorgan 54,673 15 Colwyn Bay Conwy County Borough
29,405
6 Neath Neath Port Talbot 50,658 16 Pontypool Torfaen 28,334
7 Cwmbran Torfaen 46,915 17 Penarth Vale of Glamorgan 27,226
8 Bridgend Bridgend County Borough 46,757 18 Rhyl Denbighshire
25,149
9 Llanelli Carmarthenshire 43,878 19 Blackwood Caerphilly County
Borough 24,042
10 Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil 43,820 20 Maesteg Bridgend
County Borough 18,888
Languages
Main articles: Languages of Wales, Welsh language, and Welsh English

The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.
The National Eisteddfod, an annual celebration of Welsh culture, conducted in Welsh
In his 1707 work Archaeologia Britannica Edward Lhuyd, keeper of the Ashmolean
Museum, noted the similarity between the two Celtic language families: Brythonic or
P–Celtic (Breton, Cornish and Welsh); and Goidelic or Q–Celtic (Irish, Manx and
Scottish Gaelic). He argued that the Brythonic languages originated in Gaul
(France) and that the Goidelic languages originated in the Iberian Peninsula. Lhuyd
concluded that as the languages had been of Celtic origin, the people who spoke
those languages were Celts. (According to a more recent hypothesis, also widely
embraced today, Goidelic and Brythonic languages, collectively known as Insular
Celtic languages, evolved together for some time separately from Continental Celtic
languages such as Gaulish and Celtiberian.) From the 18th century, the peoples of
Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales were known
increasingly as Celts, and they are regarded as the modern Celtic nations today.
[258][259]

The Bible translations into Welsh helped to maintain the use of Welsh in daily
life. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567 followed by the
complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588.

The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the
English and Welsh languages be treated on a basis of equality, and both are used as
working languages within the National Assembly.[260] Both English and Welsh are
considered official languages of Wales,[261] with Welsh further recognised in law
as having "official status".[262] English is spoken by almost all people in Wales
and is the main language in most of the country. Code-switching is common in all
parts of Wales and is known by various terms, though none is recognised by
professional linguists.[263] "Wenglish" is the Welsh English language dialect. It
has been influenced significantly by Welsh grammar and includes words derived from
Welsh. According to John Davies, Wenglish has "been the object of far greater
prejudice than anything suffered by Welsh".[264][265] Northern and western Wales
retain many areas where Welsh is spoken as a first language by the majority of the
population, and English learnt as a second language. The 2011 Census showed 562,016
people, 19.0% of the Welsh population, were able to speak Welsh, a decrease from
the 20.8% returned in the 2001 census.[266][267] Although monoglotism in young
children continues, life-long monoglotism in Welsh is recognised to be a thing of
the past.[268]

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"). Under new regulations that came into force in 2016, the Welsh Language
Commissioner requires local authorities and Welsh Government to ensure that all new
or renewed road signs that use both languages to feature the Welsh language first.
[269]

During the 20th century, a number of small communities of speakers of languages

other than Welsh or English, such as Bengali or Cantonese, established themselves
in Wales as a result of immigration.

Religion

St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire

The largest religion in Wales is Christianity, with 57.6% of the population
describing themselves as Christian in the 2011 census.[270] The Church in Wales
with 56,000 adherents has the largest attendance of the denominations.[271] It is a
province of the Anglican Communion, and was part of the Church of England until
disestablishment in 1920 under the Welsh Church Act 1914. The first Independent
Church in Wales was founded at Llanvaches in 1638 by William Wroth. The
Presbyterian Church of Wales was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival in the
18th century and seceded from the Church of England in 1811.[272] The second
largest attending faith in Wales is Roman Catholic, with an estimated 43,000
adherents.[271] Non-Christian religions are small in Wales, making up approximately
2.7% of the population.[270] The 2011 census recorded 32.1% of people declaring no
religion, while 7.6% did not reply to the question.[270]

The patron saint of Wales is Saint David (Dewi Sant), with Saint David's Day (Dydd
Gŵyl Dewi Sant) celebrated annually on 1 March.[273] In 1904, there was a religious
revival (known by some as the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival, or simply The 1904 Revival)
which started through the evangelism of Evan Roberts and saw large numbers of
people converting to non-Anglican Christianity, sometimes whole communities.[274]
Roberts' style of preaching became the blueprint for new religious bodies such as
Pentecostalism and the Apostolic Church.[275] The Apostolic Church holds its annual
Apostolic Conference in Swansea each year, usually in August.

Islam is the largest non-Christian religion in Wales, with 24,000 (0.8%) reported
Muslims in the 2011 census.[270] 2 Glynrhondda Street in Cathays, Cardiff, is
accepted as the first mosque in the United Kingdom[276][277][278] founded by Yemeni
and Somali sailors on their trips between Aden and Cardiff Docks.[279]

There are also communities of Hindus and Sikhs, mainly in the south Wales cities of
Newport, Cardiff and Swansea, while the largest concentration of Buddhists is in
the western rural county of Ceredigion.[280] Judaism was the first non-Christian
faith to be established in Wales since Roman times, though by 2001 the community
has declined to approximately 2,000.[281]

Culture
Main article: Culture of Wales
Part of a series on the
Culture of Wales
Flag of Wales (1959–present).svg
History
People
Languages[show]
Traditions[show]
Mythology and folklore[show]
Cuisine[show]
Festivals[show]
Religion
Art
Literature[show]
Music and performing arts[show]
Media[show]
Sport[show]
Monuments[show]
Symbols[show]
Flag of Wales (1959–present).svg Wales portal
vte
Wales has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, holidays and
music.

Wales has three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: The Castles and Town walls of King
Edward I in Gwynedd; Pontcysyllte Aqueduct; and the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape.
[282]

Mythology
Main article: Welsh mythology
The remnants of the native Celtic mythology of the pre-Christian Britons was passed
down orally, in much-altered form, by the cynfeirdd (the early poets).[283] Some of
their work survives in much later medieval Welsh manuscripts, known as: the Black
Book of Carmarthen and the Book of Aneirin (both 13th-century); the Book of
Taliesin and the White Book of Rhydderch (both 14th-century); and the Red Book of
Hergest (c. 1400).[283] The prose stories from the White and Red Books are known as
the Mabinogion, a title given to them by their first translator, Lady Charlotte
Guest, and also used by subsequent translators.[284] Poems such as Cad Goddeu (The
Battle of the Trees) and mnemonic list-texts like the Welsh Triads and the Thirteen
Treasures of the Island of Britain, also contain mythological material.[285][286]
[287] These texts also include the earliest forms of the Arthurian legend and the
traditional history of post-Roman Britain.[283]

Other sources of Welsh folklore include the 9th-century Latin historical

compilation Historia Britonum (the History of the Britons) and Geoffrey of
Monmouth's 12th-century Latin chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae (the History of
the Kings of Britain), as well as later folklore, such as The Welsh Fairy Book by
W. Jenkyn Thomas.[288][289]

Literature in Wales
Main articles: Literature of Wales (Welsh language), List of Welsh writers, and
Literature of Wales (English language)

Welsh poetry from the 13th Century Black book of Carmarthen

Wales can claim one of the oldest unbroken literary traditions in Europe.[290] The
literary tradition of Wales stretches back to the sixth century and includes
Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gerald of Wales, regarded by historian John Davies as
among the finest Latin authors of the Middle Ages.[290] The earliest body of Welsh
verse, by poets Taliesin and Aneirin, survive not in their original form, but in
medieval versions and have undergone significant linguistic changes.[290] Welsh
poetry and native lore and learning survived the Dark Ages, through the era of the
Poets of the Princes (c. 1100 – 1280) and then the Poets of the Gentry (c. 1350 –
1650). The Poets of the Princes were professional poets who composed eulogies and
elegies to the Welsh princes while the Poets of the Gentry were a school of poets
that favoured the cywydd metre.[291] The period is notable for producing one of
Wales' greatest poets, Dafydd ap Gwilym.[292] After the Anglicisation of the gentry
the tradition declined.[291]

Bishop William Morgan

Despite the extinction of the professional poet, the integration of the native
elite into a wider cultural world did bring other literary benefits.[293]
Renaissance scholars such as William Salesbury and John Davies brought humanist
ideals from English universities when they returned to Wales.[293] While in 1588
William Morgan became the first person to translate the Bible into Welsh, from
Greek and Hebrew.[293] From the 16th century onwards the proliferation of the
'free-metre' verse became the most important development in Welsh poetry, but from
the middle of the 17th century a host of imported accentual metres from England
became very popular.[293] By the 19th century the creation of a Welsh epic, fuelled
by the eisteddfod, became an obsession with Welsh-language writers.[294] The output
of this period was prolific in quantity but unequal in quality.[295] Initially the
eisteddfod was askance with the religious denominations, but in time these bodies
came to dominate the competitions, with the bardic themes becoming increasingly
scriptural and didactic.[295] The period is notable for the adoption by Welsh poets
of bardic names, made popular by the eisteddfod movement.

Major developments in 19th-century Welsh literature include Lady Charlotte Guest's

translation of the Mabinogion, one of the most important medieval Welsh prose tales
of Celtic mythology, into English. 1885 saw the publication of Rhys Lewis by Daniel
Owen, credited as the first novel written in the Welsh language. The 20th century
experienced an important shift away from the stilted and long-winded Victorian
Welsh prose, with Thomas Gwynn Jones leading the way with his 1902 work Ymadawiad
Arthur.[294] The slaughter in the trenches of the First World War had a profound
effect on Welsh literature with a more pessimistic style of prose championed by T.
H. Parry-Williams and R. Williams Parry.[294] The industrialisation of south Wales
saw a further shift with the likes of Rhydwen Williams who used the poetry and
metre of a bygone rural Wales but in the context of an industrial landscape. Though
the inter-war period is dominated by Saunders Lewis, for his political and
reactionary views as much as his plays, poetry and criticism.[294]

The careers of some 1930s writers continued after World War Two, including those of
Gwyn Thomas, Vernon Watkins, and Dylan Thomas, whose most famous work Under Milk
Wood was first broadcast in 1954. Thomas was one of the most notable and popular
Welsh writers of the 20th century and one of the most innovative poets of his time.
[296] Gwyn Thomas became the voice of the English-speaking Welsh valleys with his
humorous take on grim lives.

The attitude of the post-war generation of Welsh writers in English towards Wales
differs from the previous generation, in that they were more sympathetic to Welsh
nationalism and to the Welsh language. The change can be linked to the nationalist
fervour generated by Saunders Lewis and the burning of the Bombing School on the
Lleyn Peninsula in 1936, along with a sense of crisis generated by World War II.
[297] In poetry R. S. Thomas (1913–2000) was the most important figure throughout
the second half of the twentieth century. While he "did not learn the Welsh
language until he was 30 and wrote all his poems in English",[298] he wanted the
Welsh language to be made the first language of Wales, and the official policy of
bilingualism abolished.

The major novelist in the second half of the twentieth century was Emyr Humphreys
(1919)., who during his long writing career published over twenty novels, which
surveys the political and cultural history of twentieth-century Wales.[299] Another
novelist of the post-Second-World-War era was Raymond Williams (1921–88). Born near
Abergavenny, Williams continued the earlier tradition of writing from a left-wing
perspective on the Welsh industrial scene in his trilogy "Border Country" (1960),
"Second Generation" (1964), and "The Fight for Manod" (1979). He also enjoyed a
reputation as a cultural historian.

Museums and libraries

The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth

National Museum Cardiff

The National Museum [of] Wales was founded by royal charter in 1907 and is now a
Welsh Government sponsored body. The National Museum is made up of seven sites
across the country, including the National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans National
History Museum and Big Pit National Coal Museum. In April 2001, the attractions
attached to the National Museum were granted free entry by the Assembly, and this
action saw the visitor numbers to the sites increase during 2001–2002 by 87.8% to
1,430,428.[300]

Aberystwyth is home to the National Library of Wales, which houses some of the most
important collections in Wales, including the Sir John Williams Collection and the
Shirburn Castle collection.[301] As well as its printed collection the Library
holds important Welsh art collections including portraits and photographs, ephemera
such as postcards, posters and Ordnance Survey maps.[301]

Visual arts
Main article: Welsh art
Many works of Celtic art have been found in Wales.[302] In the Early Medieval
period, the Celtic Christianity of Wales was part of the Insular art of the British
Isles. A number of illuminated manuscripts from Wales survive, of which the 8th-
century Hereford Gospels and Lichfield Gospels are the most notable. The 11th-
century Ricemarch Psalter (now in Dublin) is certainly Welsh, made in St David's,
and shows a late Insular style with unusual Viking influence.[303][304]

The best of the few Welsh artists of the 16th–18th centuries tended to leave the
country to work, many of them moving to London or Italy. Richard Wilson (1714–82)
is arguably the first major British landscapist. Although more notable for his
Italian scenes, he painted several Welsh scenes on visits from London. By the late
18th century, the popularity of landscape art grew and clients were found in the
larger Welsh towns, allowing more Welsh artists to stay in their homeland. Artists
from outside Wales were also drawn to paint Welsh scenery, at first because of the
Celtic Revival. Then in the early 19th century, the Napoleonic Wars preventing the
Grand Tour to continental Europe, travel through Wales came to be considered more
accessible.[305][306]

The Bard, 1774, by Thomas Jones (1742–1803)

An Act of Parliament in 1857 provided for the establishment of a number of art
schools throughout the United Kingdom and the Cardiff School of Art opened in 1865.
Graduates still very often had to leave Wales to work, but Betws-y-Coed became a
popular centre for artists and its artists' colony helped form the Royal Cambrian
Academy of Art in 1881.[307] The sculptor Sir William Goscombe John made many works
for Welsh commissions, although he had settled in London. Christopher Williams,
whose subjects were mostly resolutely Welsh, was also based in London. Thomas E.
Stephens and Andrew Vicari had very successful careers as portraitists based
respectively in the United States and France.[308][309] Sir Frank Brangwyn was
Welsh by origin but spent little time in Wales.

Many Welsh painters gravitated towards the art capitals of Europe. Augustus John
and his sister Gwen John lived mostly in London and Paris. However, the
landscapists Sir Kyffin Williams and Peter Prendergast lived in Wales for most of
their lives, while remaining in touch with the wider art world. Ceri Richards was
very engaged in the Welsh art scene as a teacher in Cardiff and even after moving
to London. He was a figurative painter in international styles including
Surrealism. Various artists have moved to Wales, including Eric Gill, the London-
Welshman David Jones and the sculptor Jonah Jones. The Kardomah Gang was an
intellectual circle centred on the poet Dylan Thomas and poet and artist Vernon
Watkins in Swansea, which also included the painter Alfred Janes.[310]

South Wales had several notable potteries, one of the first important sites being
the Ewenny Pottery in Bridgend, which began producing earthenware in the 17th
century.[311] In the 18th and 19th centuries, with more scientific methods becoming
available more refined ceramics were produced led by the Cambrian Pottery (1764–
1870, also known as "Swansea pottery") and later Nantgarw Pottery near Cardiff,
which was in operation from 1813 to 1822 making fine porcelain and then utilitarian
pottery until 1920.[311] Portmeirion Pottery, founded in 1960 by Susan Williams-
Ellis, daughter of Clough Williams-Ellis, creator of the Italianate village of
Portmeirion, Gwynedd, is based in Stoke-on-Trent, England.[312]

National symbols and anthem

Main article: National symbols of Wales

Prince of Wales's feathers

The Flag of Wales incorporates the red dragon (Y Ddraig Goch) of Prince Cadwalader
along with the Tudor colours of green and white.[313] 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.[313] 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.[314] On its creation the Union Jack incorporated the flags of the kingdoms of
Scotland, of Ireland and the Cross of St. George which then represented the Kingdom
of England and Wales.[315] The combined flag for both England and Wales arose from
the Laws in Wales Act of 1535 which annexed Wales to England.

The daffodil and the leek are also symbols of Wales. The origins of the leek can be
traced to the 16th century, while the daffodil became popular in the 19th century,
encouraged by David Lloyd George.[316] This is attributed to confusion (or
association) between the Welsh for leek, cenhinen, and that for daffodil, cenhinen
Bedr or St. Peter's leek.[142] A report in 1916 gave preference to the leek, which
has appeared on British pound coins.[316]

The Prince of Wales' heraldic badge is also sometimes used to symbolise Wales. The
badge, known as the Prince of Wales's feathers, consists of three white feathers
emerging from a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the German motto Ich
dien (I serve). Several Welsh representative teams, including the Welsh rugby
union, and Welsh regiments in the British Army (the Royal Welsh, for example) use
the badge or a stylised version of it. The Prince of Wales has claimed that only he
has the authority to use the symbol.[317]

"Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" (English: Land of My Fathers) is the National Anthem of Wales,
and is played at events such as football or rugby matches involving the Wales
national team as well as the opening of the Welsh Assembly and other official
occasions.[318][319] "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of the United
Kingdom, is sometimes played alongside Hen Wlad fy Nhadau during official events
with a royal connection.[320]

Sport
Main article: Sport in Wales

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

More than 50 national governing bodies regulate and organise their sports in Wales.
[321] Most of those involved in competitive sports select, organise and manage
individuals or teams to represent their country at international events or fixtures
against other countries. Wales is represented at major world sporting events such
as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Rugby League World Cup and the Commonwealth
Games. At the Olympics Games, Welsh athletes compete alongside those of Scotland,
England and Northern Ireland as part of a Great Britain team.

Although football has traditionally been the more popular sport in north Wales,
rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national
consciousness.[322] The Wales national rugby union team takes part in the annual
Six Nations Championship and has also competed in every Rugby World Cup, hosting
the tournament in 1999. The five professional sides that replaced the traditional
club sides in major competitions in 2003 were replaced in 2004 by the four regions:
Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets.[323][324] The Welsh regional teams
play in the Pro14, the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the
European Rugby Challenge Cup.

Wales has had its own football league, the Welsh Premier League, since 1992.[325]
For historical reasons, six Welsh clubs play in the English football league system;
Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham, Colwyn Bay and Merthyr Town.
[326] Famous Welsh players over the years include John Charles, John Toshack, Gary
Speed, Ian Rush, Ryan Giggs and Gareth Bale.[327] At UEFA Euro 2016, the Wales
national team achieved their best ever finish, reaching the semi-finals where they
were beaten by eventual champions Portugal.

Rugby league in Wales dates back to 1907. Currently two professional clubs, the
South Wales Ironmen (based in Merthyr Tydfil) and the North Wales Crusaders (based
in Wrexham) compete in the Rugby Football League's League 1 competition. The
Crusaders competed in the top level Super League competition from 2009–2011. A
professional Welsh League existed from 1908 to 1910.

In international cricket, Wales and England field a single representative team,

administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), called the England
cricket team, or simply 'England'.[328] Occasionally, a separate Wales team play
limited-overs competitions. Glamorgan County Cricket Club is the only Welsh
participant in the England and Wales County Championship.[329]

Wales has produced several world-class participants of individual sports including

snooker players Ray Reardon, Terry Griffiths, Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens.
[330] Track athletes who have made a mark on the world stage, including the 110-
metre hurdler Colin Jackson who is a former world record holder and the winner of
numerous Olympic, World and European medals as well as Tanni Grey-Thompson who has
won 11 Paralympic gold medals.[331][332] Cyclist Nicole Cooke won gold medals at
the Commonwealth, Olympic and World championships.[333]

Wales also has a tradition of producing world-class boxers. Joe Calzaghe was WBO
world super-middleweight champion and then won the WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine super
middleweight and Ring Magazine light-heavyweight titles.[334] Other former boxing
world champions include Enzo Maccarinelli, Freddie Welsh, Howard Winstone, Percy
Jones, Jimmy Wilde, Steve Robinson and Robbie Regan.[335] Tommy Farr, the
"Tonypandy Terror", came close to defeating world heavyweight champion Joe Louis at
the height of his fame in 1937.[336]

Wales has hosted several international sporting events.[337] These include the 1958
Commonwealth Games,[338] the 1999 Rugby World Cup, the 2010 Ryder Cup and the 2017
UEFA Champions League Final.[337][339]

Media
Main article: Media in Wales
See also: List of newspapers in Wales
All Welsh television broadcasts are digital. The last of the analogue transmitters
ceased broadcasts in April 2010, and Wales became the UK's first digital nation.
[340] Cardiff is home to the television output of Wales. BBC Cymru Wales is the
national broadcaster.[341] Based in Llandaff, Cardiff, it produces Welsh-oriented
English and Welsh-language television for BBC One Wales, BBC TWO Wales and S4C
channels.[342] BBC Cymru Wales has also produced programmes, such as Life on Mars,
Doctor Who and Torchwood, shown worldwide.[341][343] ITV the UK's main commercial
broadcaster has a Welsh-oriented service branded as ITV Wales, whose studios are in
Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff.[344] S4C, based in Llanishen, Cardiff, first broadcast
on 1 November 1982. Its output was mostly Welsh-language at peak hours but shared
English-language content with Channel 4 at other times. Since the digital
switchover in April 2010, the channel has broadcast exclusively in Welsh. BBC Cymru
Wales provide S4C with ten hours of programming per week. Their remaining output is
commissioned from ITV and independent producers.[345]

A number of BBC productions, such as Doctor Who and Torchwood, have been filmed in
Wales.
BBC Cymru Wales is Wales' only national radio broadcaster. BBC Radio Wales is their
English-language radio service, broadcasting throughout Wales in English. BBC Radio
Cymru is their Welsh-language radio service, broadcasting throughout Wales in
Welsh.[341] A number of independent radio stations broadcast to the Welsh regions,
predominantly in English. Several regional radio stations broadcast in Welsh:
output ranges from two, two-minute news bulletins each weekday (Radio Maldwyn),
through over 14 hours of Welsh-language programmes weekly (Swansea Sound), to
essentially bilingual stations offering between 37% and 44% of programme content
(Heart Cymru (formerly Champion 103) and Radio Ceredigion respectively).[346]

Most of the newspapers sold and read in Wales are national newspapers available
throughout Britain, unlike in Scotland where many newspapers have rebranded into
Scottish-based titles. The Western Mail is Wales' only national daily newspaper.
[347] Wales-based regional daily newspapers include: Daily Post (which covers north
Wales); South Wales Evening Post (Swansea); South Wales Echo (Cardiff); and South
Wales Argus (Newport).[347] Y Cymro is a Welsh-language newspaper, published
weekly.[348] Wales on Sunday is the only Welsh Sunday newspaper to cover the whole
of Wales.[349]

The Welsh Books Council (WBC) is the Welsh Government funded body tasked with
promoting Welsh literature.[350] The WBC provides publishing grants for qualifying
English- and Welsh-language publications.[351] Around 600–650 books are published
each year, by some of the dozens of Welsh publishers.[352][353] Wales' main
publishing houses include Gomer Press, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Honno, the University
of Wales Press and Y Lolfa.[352]

Magazines published in Welsh and English cover general and specialist subjects.
Cambria, a Welsh affairs magazine published bi-monthly in English, has subscribers
in over 30 countries.[354] Titles published quarterly in English include Planet and
Poetry Wales.[355][356] Welsh-language magazines include the current affairs titles
Golwg (View) (published weekly) and Barn (Opinion) (monthly).[348] Among the
specialist magazines, Y Wawr (The Dawn) is published quarterly by Merched y Wawr,
the national organisation for women.[348] Y Traethodydd (The Essayist), a quarterly
publication by The Presbyterian Church of Wales, first appeared in 1845; the oldest
Welsh publication still in print.[348]

Cuisine

Cawl, a traditional meat and vegetable dish from Wales

Main article: Welsh cuisine
See also: Cuisine of Gower
About 78% of the land surface of Wales is given over to agricultural use.[357]
However, very little of this is arable land; the vast majority consists of
permanent grass pasture or rough grazing for herd animals such as sheep and cows.
Although both beef and dairy cattle are raised widely, especially in
Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, Wales is more well known for its sheep farming
and thus lamb is the meat traditionally associated with Welsh cooking.

Traditional dishes include laverbread (made from laver (Porphyra umbilicalis), an

edible seaweed); bara brith (fruit bread); cawl (a lamb stew); cawl cennin (leek
soup); Welsh cakes; and Welsh lamb. Cockles are sometimes served as a traditional
breakfast with bacon and laverbread.[358]

Although Wales has its own traditional food and has absorbed much of the cuisine of
England, Welsh diets now owe more to the countries of India, China and the United
States.[359] Chicken tikka masala is the country's favourite dish while hamburgers
and Chinese food outsell fish and chips as a takeaway.[359]

Performing arts
Music
Main article: Music of Wales
See also: Music of Cardiff

Traditional Welsh folk singer and harpist Siân James, live on stage at the Festival
Interceltique de Lorient
Wales is often referred to as "the land of song",[360] and is notable for its
harpists, male choirs, and solo artists. The principal Welsh festival of music and
poetry is the annual National Eisteddfod. The Llangollen International Eisteddfod
echoes the National Eisteddfod but provides an opportunity for the singers and
musicians of the world to perform. Traditional music and dance in Wales is
supported by a myriad of societies. The Welsh Folk Song Society has published a
number of collections of songs and tunes.[361]

Traditional instruments of Wales include telyn deires (triple harp), fiddle, crwth,
pibgorn (hornpipe) and other instruments.[362][363][364][365] The Cerdd Dant
Society promotes its specific singing art primarily through an annual one-day
festival.

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales performs in Wales and internationally. The
Welsh National Opera is based at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, while
the National Youth Orchestra of Wales was the first of its type in the world.[366]

Wales has a tradition of producing notable singers, including Sir Geraint Evans,
Dame Gwyneth Jones, Dame Anne Evans, Dame Margaret Price, Sir Tom Jones, Bonnie
Tyler, Bryn Terfel, Mary Hopkin, Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins, Meic Stevens,
Dame Shirley Bassey, Marina and the Diamonds and Duffy.

Popular bands that emerged from Wales include the Beatles-nurtured power pop group
Badfinger in the 1960s, Man and Budgie in the 1970s and the Alarm in the 1980s.
Many groups emerged during the 1990s, led by Manic Street Preachers, followed by
the likes of the Stereophonics and Feeder; notable during this period were
Catatonia, Super Furry Animals, and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci who gained popular
success as dual-language artists. Recently successful Welsh bands include
Lostprophets, Bullet for My Valentine, Funeral for a Friend and Kids in Glass
Houses. The Welsh traditional and folk music scene is in resurgence with performers
and bands such as Carreg Lafar, Fernhill, Siân James and the Hennessys.

Male voice choirs emerged in the 19th century and continue today. Originally these
choirs where formed as the tenor and bass sections of chapel choirs, and embraced
the popular secular hymns of the day.[367] Many of the historic choirs survive in
modern Wales, singing a mixture of traditional and popular songs.[367]

Drama
See also: Cinema of Wales

Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Hannibal Lecter was named the number-one villain in
cinema history by the AFI.[368]
The earliest surviving Welsh plays are two medieval miracle plays, Y Tri Brenin o
Gwlen ("The three Kings from Cologne") and Y Dioddefaint a'r Atgyfodiad ("The
Passion and the Resurrection").[369] A recognised Welsh tradition of theatre
emerged during the 18th century, in the form of an interlude, a metrical play
performed at fairs and markets.[370] The larger Welsh towns began building theatres
during the 19th century, and attracted the likes of James Sheridan Knowles and
William Charles Macready to Wales. Along with the playhouses, there existed mobile
companies at visiting fairs, though from 1912 most of these travelling theatres
settled, purchasing theatres to perform in.

Drama in the early 20th century thrived, but the country failed to produce a Welsh
National Theatre company. After the Second World War the substantial number of
amateur companies that had existed before the outbreak of hostilities reduced by
two-thirds.[371] The increasing competition from television in the 1950s and 1960s
led to a need for greater professionalism in the theatre.[371] As a result, plays
by Emlyn Williams and Alun Owen and others were staged, while Welsh actors,
including Richard Burton, Rachel Roberts, Donald Houston and Stanley Baker, were
establishing themselves as artistic talents.[371] Anthony Hopkins was an alumnus of
the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and has since starred in Hollywood films.
John Rhys-Davies is another well-known actor, famous for his portrayal of Gimli in
The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the
Indiana Jones films. Other Welsh actors to have crossed the Atlantic more recently
include: Ioan Gruffudd; Rhys Ifans; Matthew Rhys; Michael Sheen; and Catherine
Zeta-Jones.[372]

Wales has also produced well known comedians including Tommy Cooper, Terry Jones,
Harry Secombe, Rhod Gilbert and Paul Whitehouse.[373]

Dance
Dancing is a popular pastime in Wales; traditional dances include folk dancing and
clog dancing. The first mention of dancing in Wales is in a 12th-century account by
Giraldus Cambrensis, but by the 19th century traditional dance had all but died
out; this is attributed to the influence of Nonconformists and their belief that
any physical diversion was worthless and satanic, especially mixed dancing.[374]
These ancient dances, orally passed down, were almost single-handedly rescued by
Lois Blake (1890–1974) who recorded them in numerous instruction pamphlets,
recording both steps and music.[374] In a similar vein, clog dancing was preserved
and developed by the likes of Howel Wood (1882–1967) who perpetuated the art at
local and national stages.[375] Clog dancing, traditionally a male dominated art,
is now a common part of eisteddfodau.[375] In 2010, a 30-year traditional dance
festival held in Caernarvon came to an end due to a lack of participants,[376]
though clog dancing has seen a revival in the 21st century.[377]

The Welsh Folk Dance Society was founded in 1949;[375] it supports a network of
national amateur dance teams and publishes support material. Contemporary dance
grew out of Cardiff in the 1970s; one of the earliest companies, Moving Being, came
from London to Cardiff in 1973.[375] Diversions was formed in 1983, eventually
becoming the National Dance Company Wales, now the resident company at the Wales
Millennium Centre.[378] Conversely, Wales does not have its own national ballet
company.[374]

Festivals
As well as celebrating many of the traditional religious festivals of Great
Britain, such as Easter and Christmas, Wales has its own unique celebratory days.
An early festivity was Mabsant when local parishes would celebrate the patron saint
of their local church.[379] This celebration died out in the 19th century, to be
replaced by Saint David's Day, which is celebrated on 1 March throughout Wales, and
by Welsh expats around the world.

Commemorating the patron saint of friendship and love, Dydd Santes Dwynwen's
popularity has been increasing recently. It is celebrated on 25 January in a
similar way to St Valentine's Day: by exchanging cards and by holding parties and
concerts.[380]

Calan Gaeaf, associated with the supernatural and the dead, is observed on 1
November (All Saints Day). It has largely been replaced by Hallowe'en. Other
festivities include Calan Mai (May Day), celebrating the beginning of summer; Calan
Awst (Lammas Day); and Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau (Candlemas Day).[381]

See also
flag Wales portal
Celtic Studies portal
Outline of Wales
Y Wladfa
Footnotes
Jump up ^ The earliest instance of Lloegyr occurs in the early 10th-century
prophetic poem Armes Prydein. It seems comparatively late as a place name, the
nominative plural Lloegrwys, "men of Lloegr", being earlier and more common. The
English were sometimes referred to as an entity in early poetry (Saeson, as today)
but just as often as Eingl (Angles), Iwys (Wessex-men), etc. Lloegr and Sacson
became the norm later when England emerged as a kingdom. As for its origins, some
scholars have suggested that it originally referred only to Mercia – at that time a
powerful kingdom and for centuries the main foe of the Welsh. It was then applied
to the new kingdom of England as a whole (see for instance Rachel Bromwich (ed.),
Trioedd Ynys Prydein, University of Wales Press, 1987). "The lost land" and other
fanciful meanings, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's monarch Locrinus, have no
etymological basis. (See also Discussion in Reference 40)
References
Jump up ^ "Cymru am byth! The meaning behind the Welsh motto". WalesOnline. 6
February 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (1994) p. 100
Jump up ^ "Statute of Rhuddlan". legislation.gov.uk.
doi:10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100419253 (inactive 2017-10-03). Retrieved 26 July
2014.
Jump up ^ "Laws in Wales Act 1535 (repealed 21.12.1993)". legislation.gov.uk.
Retrieved 26 July 2014.
Jump up ^ "Government of Wales Act 1998". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 July
2014.
Jump up ^ "Mid year estimates of the population". gov.wales. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
^ Jump up to: a b Office for National Statistics. "Regional gross value added
(income approach), UK: 1997 to 2015, December 2015". Retrieved 24 April 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b "Regional Gross Value Added (Income Approach) – Office for
National Statistics". Ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b "The Countries of the UK". statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 10
October 2008.
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (1994) p. 71
Jump up ^ (in French) Albert Henry, Histoire des mots Wallons et Wallonie, Institut
Jules Destrée, Coll. "Notre histoire", Mont-sur-Marchienne, 1990, 3rd ed. (1st ed.
1965), footnote 13 p. 86. Henry wrote the same about Wallachia.
Jump up ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1963). Angles and Britons: O'Donnell Lectures.
Cardiff: University of Wales Press. English and Welsh, an O'Donnell Lecture
delivered at Oxford on 21 October 1955.
Jump up ^ Gilleland, Michael (12 December 2007). "Laudator Temporis Acti: More on
the Etymology of Walden". Laudator Temporis Acti website. Retrieved 29 October
2008.
Jump up ^ Rollason, David (2003). "Origins of a People". Northumbria, 500–1100.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-521-04102-7.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (1994) p. 69
Jump up ^ Lloyd, John Edward (1911). "A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to
the Edwardian Conquest (Note to Chapter VI, the Name "Cymry")". I (Second ed.).
London: Longmans, Green, and Co. (published 1912): 191–192.
Jump up ^ Phillimore, Egerton (1891). "Note (a) to The Settlement of Brittany". In
Phillimore, Egerton. Y Cymmrodor. XI. London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion
(published 1892). pp. 97–101.
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 71; the poem contains the line: 'Ar wynep Kymry
Cadwallawn was'.
Jump up ^ "Welsh skeleton re-dated: even older!". archaeology.co.uk website.
Current Archaeology. 6 November 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2010. : see Red Lady
of Paviland
Jump up ^ Pollard, Joshua (2001). "Wales' Hidden History, Hunter-Gatherer
Communities in Wales: The Neolithic". In Morgan, Prys; Aldhouse-Green, Stephen.
History of Wales, 25,000 BC AD 2000. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing.
pp. 13–25. ISBN 0-7524-1983-8.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) pp. 647–648
Jump up ^ Evans, Edith; Lewis, Richard (2003). "The Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual
Monument Survey of Glamorgan and Gwent: Overviews. A Report for Cadw by Edith Evans
BA PhD MIFA and Richard Lewis BA" (PDF). Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society.
Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust. 64: 4. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 17
Jump up ^ "Overview: From Neolithic to Bronze Age, 8000–800 BC (Page 1 of 6)". BBC
History website. BBC. 5 September 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (1994) pp. 4–6
Jump up ^ "GGAT 72 Overviews" (PDF). A Report for Cadw by Edith Evans BA PhD MIFA
and Richard Lewis BA. Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust. 2003. p. 47. Retrieved
30 December 2008.
Jump up ^ "Stones of Wales – Pentre Ifan Dolmen". Stone Pages website. Paola
Arosio/Diego Meozzi. 2003. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
Jump up ^ "Stones of Wales – Bryn Celli Ddu Burial chamber". Stone Pages website.
Paola Arosio/Diego Meozzi. 2003. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
Jump up ^ "Parc le Breos Burial Chamber; Parc CWM Long Cairn". The Royal Commission
on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales website. Royal Commission on the
Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
Jump up ^ "Themes Prehistoric Wales: The Stone Age". BBC Cymru Wales website. BBC
Cymru Wales. 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
Jump up ^ "O'Donnell Lecture 2008 Appendix" (PDF). 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Koch, John (2009). Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of
History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 (2009) (PDF). Palaeohispanica.
pp. 339–351. ISSN 1578-5386. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
Jump up ^ Cunliffe, Karl, Guerra, McEvoy, Bradley; Oppenheimer, Røyrvik, Isaac,
Parsons, Koch, Freeman and Wodtko (2010). Celtic from the West: Alternative
Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature. Oxbow Books and
Celtic Studies Publications. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-84217-410-4.
Jump up ^ Cunliffe, Barry (2008). A Race Apart: Insularity and Connectivity in
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75, 2009, pp. 55–64. The Prehistoric
Society. p. 61.
Jump up ^ Koch, John T. (2009). "A CASE FOR TARTESSIAN AS A CELTIC LANGUAGE" (PDF).
Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica. 9.
Jump up ^ Jones, Barri; Mattingly, David (1990). "The Development of the
Provinces". An Atlas of Roman Britain. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers (published
2007). p. 151. ISBN 978-1-84217-067-0.
Jump up ^ Jones, Barri; Mattingly, David (1990). "The Development of the
Provinces". An Atlas of Roman Britain. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers (published
2007). p. 154. ISBN 978-1-84217-067-0.
^ Jump up to: a b Jones, Barri; Mattingly, David (1990). "The Economy". An Atlas of
Roman Britain. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers (published 2007). pp. 179–196. ISBN
978-1-84217-067-0.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Davies (2008) p.915
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p.531
Jump up ^ Frere, Sheppard Sunderland (1987). "The End of Roman Britain". Britannia:
A History of Roman Britain (3rd, revised ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p.
354. ISBN 0-7102-1215-1.
Jump up ^ Giles, John Allen, ed. (1841). "The Works of Gildas, The History, Ch.
14". The Works of Gildas and Nennius. London: James Bohn. p. 13.
Jump up ^ Phillimore, Egerton, ed. (1887). "Pedigrees from Jesus College MS. 20". Y
Cymmrodor. VIII. Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. pp. 83–92.
Jump up ^ Phillimore, Egerton (1888). "The Annales Cambriae and Old Welsh
Genealogies, from Harleian MS. 3859". In Phillimore, Egerton. Y Cymmrodor. IX.
Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. pp. 141–183.
Jump up ^ Rachel Bromwich, editor and translator. Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh
Triads. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, Third Edition, 2006. 441–444
Jump up ^ Ravilious, Kate (21 July 2006). "Ancient Britain Had Apartheid-Like
Society, Study Suggests". National Geographic News. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Myres, Natalie; Rootsi, Siiri; Lin, Alice A; Järve, Mari; King, Roy J;
Kutuev, Ildus; Cabrera, Vicente M; Khusnutdinova, Elza K; Pshenichnov, Andrey;
Yunusbayev, Bayazit; Balanovsky, Oleg; Balanovska, Elena; Rudan, Pavao; Baldovic,
Marian; Herrera, Rene J; Chiaroni, Jacques; Di Cristofaro, Julie; Villems, Richard;
Kivisild, Toomas; Underhill, Peter A (2010). "A major Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b
Holocene effect in Central and Western Europe – see discussion results at end of
article, the distribution maps and the supplementary tables". European Journal of
Human Genetics. 19 (1): 95–101. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2010.146. PMC 3039512 Freely
accessible. PMID 20736979.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (1994) pp. 56
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (1994) pp. 65–66
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 926
Jump up ^ David Hill and Margaret Worthington, Offa's Dyke: history and guide,
Tempus, 2003, ISBN 0-7524-1958-7
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 911
Jump up ^ Charles-Edwards, T M (2001). "Wales and Mercia, 613–918". In Brown,
Michelle P; Farr, Carol Ann. Mercia: an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe. Leicester
University Press. p. 104. ISBN 0-7185-0231-0. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Hill, David (2001). "Wales and Mercia, 613–918". In Brown, Michelle P;
Farr, Carol Ann. Mercia: an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Europe. Leicester University
Press. p. 176. ISBN 0-7185-0231-0. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 2
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 714
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 186
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 388
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 128
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 101
Jump up ^ Lieberman, Max (2010). The Medieval March of Wales: The Creation and
Perception of a Frontier, 1066–1283. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 6.
ISBN 0-521-76978-7. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Chapter 6: The Coming of the Normans". BBC Cymru Wales website. BBC
Cymru Wales. 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) pp. 133–134
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) pp. 143–144
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (1994) pp. 151–152
Jump up ^ "Tribute to lost Welsh princess". BBC News. 12 June 2000. Retrieved 5
March 2007.
^ Jump up to: a b Illustrated Encyclopedia of Britain. London: Reader's Digest.
1999. p. 459. ISBN 0-276-42412-3. A country and principality within the mainland of
Britain ... about half a million
Jump up ^ Davies, Age of Conquest, pp. 357, 364.
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 162
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 711
Jump up ^ A traditional story is that the English king who had just conquered their
lands had promised the Welsh to name a Prince of Wales "who spoke no English", only
to fulfill this promise by presenting his infant son, before the age he could speak
at all. But Edward II was not an infant when the title was granted; the story is
apocryphal and was first recorded in 1584. (Davies [1994] p. 175)
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 194
Jump up ^ "BBC – History – British History in Depth – Wales under the Tudors". BBC
website. BBC. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Lieberman, Max (2010). The Medieval March of Wales: The Creation and
Perception of a Frontier, 1066–1283. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 4.
ISBN 0-521-76978-7. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Davies (2008) p. 392
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Davies (2008) p. 393
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 818
Jump up ^ 'the most Welsh of Welsh industries' attributed to historian A. H. Dodd.
Davies (2008) p. 819
Jump up ^ "Wales – the first industrial nation of the World". Amgueddfa Cymru –
National Museum Wales. 5 October 2008. Archived from the original on 3 October
2011. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
Jump up ^ John, Arthur H. (1980). Glamorgan County History, Volume V, Industrial
Glamorgan from 1700 to 1970. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 183.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p. 284
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 285
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p. 461
Jump up ^ "David Lloyd George (1863–1945)". BBC Cymru Wales website. BBC Cymru
Wales. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 515
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (2008) p. 439
Jump up ^ Morgan, Kenneth O. (1982). Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880–1980. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. pp. 208–210. ISBN 0-19-821760-9.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008), p. 918
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Davies (2008) p. 807
Jump up ^ "Disestablishment, Cymru Fydd and Plaid Cymru". National Library of
Wales. llgc.org.uk. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 25
November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg's first protest, 1963". Gathering the
Jewels. gtj.org.uk. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 25
November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Wales on Air: The drowning of Tryweryn and Capel Celyn". BBc.co.uk. BBC.
Archived from the original on 6 December 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Flooding Apology". BBC website. BBC. 19 October 2005. Retrieved 18
October 2008.
Jump up ^ Clews, Roy (1980). To Dream of Freedom – The story of MAC and the Free
Wales Army. Y Lolfa Cyf., Talybont. pp. 15, 21 & 26–31. ISBN 0-86243-586-2.
Jump up ^ "Our history – Clywedog Dam, Wales −1967". Halcrow website. Halcrow Group
Ltd. 2011. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 8 January
2012.
Jump up ^ Clews, Roy (1980). To Dream of Freedom – The story of MAC and the Free
Wales Army. Y Lolfa Cyf., Talybont. pp. 22, 59, 60 & 216. ISBN 0-86243-586-2.
Jump up ^ Gwynfor, Evans (2000). The Fight for Welsh Freedom. Y Lolfa Cyf.,
Talybont. p. 152. ISBN 0-86243-515-3.
Jump up ^ "The Constitution Series: 1 – Wales in the United Kingdom" (PDF).
National Assembly for Wales. July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20
April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p. 236
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 237
^ Jump up to: a b Powys, Betsan (12 January 2010). "The long Welsh walk to
devolution". BBC News website. BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Countries within a country". 10 Downing Street website. 10 Downing
Street. 10 January 2003. Archived from the original on 9 September 2008. Retrieved
5 November 2010. The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Jump up ^ "UN report causes stir with Wales dubbed 'Principality'". WalesOnline
website. Media Wales Ltd. 3 July 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2010. ... the Assembly's
Counsel General, John Griffiths, [said]: "I agree that, in relation to Wales,
Principality is a misnomer and that Wales should properly be referred to as a
country.
^ Jump up to: a b "Wales.com FAQs". Wales.com website. Welsh Government. 2008.
Retrieved 24 August 2015.
Jump up ^ Bogdanor, Vernon (1995). The Monarchy and the Constitution. London:
Oxford University Press. p. 52. ISBN 0-19-827769-5. Retrieved 5 November 2010. In
his autobiography, the Duke of Windsor complained that, as Prince of Wales, there
was 'no specific routine job in the sense, for example, that a vice-president has a
job ... Though I was next in line to the Throne, with all that position implied, I
actually possessed no formal state duties or responsibilities.' 'This
constitutional vacuum', Jonathan Dimbleby, biographer of the Prince of Wales, has
noted, 'was not an oversight, but documentary evidence of the peculiar position
that the heir apparent occupies; there is no formal "role", except to wait.'
Jump up ^ ISO 3166-2 NEWSLETTER, 2011, p.27. Accessed 8 March 2012
Jump up ^ Jones, Ciaran (9 June 2017). "These are the 40 MPs who have been elected
across Wales". Wales Online.
Jump up ^ "Alun Cairns Welsh Secretary after Stephen Crabb's promotion". BBC News
website. BBC. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
Jump up ^ "UK Parliament -Parliament's role". United Kingdom Parliament website.
United Kingdom Parliament. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
Jump up ^ "The role of the Secretary of State for Wales" (PDF). Welsh Government
website. Welsh Government. 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September
2011. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "How the Assembly is elected". National Assembly for Wales website.
National Assembly for Wales. 2010. Archived from the original on 9 January 2009.
Retrieved 6 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Birrell, Derek (2012). Comparing Devolved Government. London, United
Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 45. ISBN 0-230-38978-3.
Jump up ^ "Plaid gamble pays off in Llanelli". BBC News website. BBC. 4 May 2007.
Retrieved 6 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Labour-Plaid coalition is sealed". BBC News website. BBC. 7 July 2007.
Retrieved 29 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Carwyn Jones officially nominated as First Minister". WalesOnline
website. Media Wales Ltd. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
Jump up ^ "Wales | Details of Labour-Plaid Agreement". BBC News website. BBC. 27
June 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
Jump up ^ "Welsh Assembly election 2016 results". BBC News. Retrieved 19 August
2016.
Jump up ^ "Welsh Assembly: Deadlock in vote for first minister". BBC News.
Retrieved 19 August 2016.
Jump up ^ "Welsh Government includes Lib Dem Williams at education". BBC News.
Retrieved 19 August 2016.
Jump up ^ "Nathan Gill leaves UKIP assembly group to sit as independent". BBC News.
Retrieved 19 August 2016.
Jump up ^ "Ex-leader Lord Elis-Thomas left party over Labour stance". BBC News. 15
October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
Jump up ^ Servini, Nick (6 April 2017). "UKIP's Mark Reckless to join Conservatives
in assembly". BBC News. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
Jump up ^ "Making laws for Wales". National Assembly for Wales website. National
Assembly for Wales. 2010. Archived from the original on 22 September 2010.
Retrieved 6 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Schedule 5 to the Government of Wales Act 2006 (as amended)". National
Assembly for Wales website. National Assembly for Wales. 2006. Archived from the
original on 20 November 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Government of Wales Act 1998". The National Archives website. HM
Government. 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Government of Wales Act 2006". The National Archives website. HM
Government. 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Wales says Yes in referendum vote". BBC. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 3
November 2011.
Jump up ^ "Your Members in the European Parliament". European Parliament. Archived
from the original on 23 April 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
Jump up ^ "USA". wales.com. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
Jump up ^ "Congressional Friends of Wales Caucus Welcomes First Minister Carwyn
Jones | Congressman Morgan Griffith". Morgangriffith.house.gov. Retrieved 23
September 2017.
Jump up ^ Part 1, Local Government (Wales) Act 1994
Jump up ^ "Local Authorities". Welsh Government. Archived from the original on 30
May 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b "History and Development of the Welsh Language in the Courts".
Her Majesty's Courts Service website. Her Majesty's Courts Service. 11 June 2007.
Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 450
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 86
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 225
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 263
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 453
Jump up ^ "Two of the four Welsh police forces 'require improvement' in the way
they prevent and investigate crime". ITV News. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 29
February 2016.
Jump up ^ "MPs urge UK government to build north Wales prison". BBC News. 3 March
2010. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
Jump up ^ HM Prison Service (21 September 2000). "Female Prisoners".
hmprisonservice.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 6 February 2011. Retrieved 31
December 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b UK 2005 – The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland (PDF). Office for National Statistics. 2004. pp. 2 &
30. ISBN 0-11-621738-3. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
Jump up ^ "Geography: About Wales". Visit Wales website. Welsh Government. 2010.
Retrieved 3 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Size of Wales project". Size of Wales. Archived from the original on 29
January 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
Jump up ^ "England and Wales". European Land Information Service. Archived from the
original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Celtic Sea". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 883. House of Commons. 16
December 1974. col. 317W.
Jump up ^ "Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition + corrections" (PDF).
International Hydrographic Organization. 1971. p. 42 [corrections to page 13].
Retrieved 12 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Darkes, Giles (January 2008). "How long is the UK coastline?". The
British Cartographic Society. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
Jump up ^ Glancey, Jonathan (2 August 2009). "High tea: Mount Snowdon's magical
mountaintop cafe". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Mountain upgraded to 'super' status". WalesOnline website. Media Wales
Ltd. 22 September 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "The Welsh 3000s Challenge". welsh3000s.co.uk. Retrieved 28 September
2010.
Jump up ^ "Aran Fawddwy". snowdoniaguide.com. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Welsh Government website. Welsh
Government. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Heritage Coasts". britainexpress.com. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Welsh beaches & coastline". www.wales.com. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p.778
Jump up ^ "Stormy Weather". BBC North West Wales website. BBC. 28 April 2006.
Archived from the original on 26 January 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p.814
Jump up ^ "In detail: The Sea Empress disaster". BBC News website. BBC. 2000.
Retrieved 26 September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Davies (2008) p. 75
Jump up ^ See Meic Stephens (ed.), Companion to Welsh Literature. The doggerel
verse was composed in English, probably for the benefit of visitors from across
Offa's Dyke.
^ Jump up to: a b "Seven Wonders of Wales". Visit Flintshire. Retrieved 3 April
2016.
Jump up ^ "The Cambrian Period of the Paleozoic Era: 542 to 488 Million Years Ago".
palaeos.com. 11 April 2002. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Sedgwick, A. (1852). "On the classification and nomenclature of the Lower
Paleozoic rocks of England and Wales". Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 8: 136–138.
doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1852.008.01-02.20.
Jump up ^ "The Silurian: The Silurian Period of the Paleozoic Era: 444 to 416 Mya".
palaeos.com. 11 April 2002. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved
10 February 2012.
Jump up ^ "The Ordovician: The Ordovician Period of the Paleozoic Era: 488 to 444
million years ago". palaeos.com. 11 April 2002. Archived from the original on 7
March 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Met Office: Regional Climate: Wales". Met Office
website. Met Office. 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Davies (2008) pp. 148–150
Jump up ^ Turner, Robert (26 July 2010). "Soggiest city in Britain pays high price
for rain". Media Wales Ltd. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Sun or Moon Rise/Set Table for One Year: Locations Worldwide – Navy
Oceanography Portal". US Navy website. US Navy. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 29
September 2010. Aberystwyth: 52° 41′ N 4° 09′ W 21 June sunrise: 03:52, sunset:
20:44; 24 December sunrise: 08:27, sunset: 16:05
Jump up ^ "Met Office: Climate: change glossary". Met Office website. Met Office.
2010. Archived from the original on 25 January 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b "Weather at Cardiff Airport (CWL):Weather and Climate in Cardiff
Area, Wales, U". Airports guides website. TravelSmart Ltd. 2010. Retrieved 26
September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b "Wales: climate". Met Office. Archived from the original on 13
January 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b "Met Office:Regional Climate: Wales". Met Office website. Met
Office. 2009. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 6 October
2009.
Jump up ^ "Digital Archive of Extreme UK Rainfall Events" (PDF). Hydro-GIS Ltd.
Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Clark, Ross (28 October 2006). "The wetter, the better". London: The
Independent. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
Jump up ^ Green, Mick (2007). "Wales Ring Ouzel Survey 2006" (PDF). Ecology Matters
Ltd. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Black ravens return to the roost". BBC. 24 January 2006. Retrieved 6
September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Red kite voted Wales' Favourite Bird". Royal Society for the Protection
of Birds. 11 October 2007. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "About Conwy". RSPB.org.uk. 16 April 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (2008) p. 533
Jump up ^ Vidal, John (13 November 2006). "Goats have roamed Snowdonia for 10,000
years; now they face secret cull". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August
2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (1994) pp. 286–288
Jump up ^ Perring, E.H.; Walters, S.M., eds. (1990). Atlas of the British Flora.
Melksham, Great Britain: BSBI. p. 43. ISBN 0-901158-19-4.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008), p.697
Jump up ^ Davies (2008), p.233
Jump up ^ Day, Graham (2002). Making sense of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales
Press. p. 87. ISBN 0-7083-1771-5.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008), p.233–4
^ Jump up to: a b "Llywodraeth Cymru | Welsh Government". gov.wales. Retrieved 24
February 2018.
Jump up ^ "South Wales coalfield timeline". University of Wales Swansea. 2002.
Retrieved 11 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Coal Exchange to 'stock exchange'". BBC News website. BBC. 26 April
2007. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
Jump up ^ "Coal and Shipping Metropolis of the World". Amgueddfa Cymru – National
Museum Wales website. Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. 18 April 2007.
Archived from the original on 5 January 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
^ Jump up to: a b Williams, Professor Phil (September 2003). The psychology of
distance: Wales: one nation. Papurau Gregynog. 3. Cardiff: Institute of Welsh
Affairs (published 2003). p. 31. ISBN 1-86057-066-6.
Jump up ^ Massey, Glenn (August 2009). "Review of International Business Wales"
(PDF). Welsh Government. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December
2009. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "A Review of Local Economic and Employment Development Policy Approaches
in OECD Countries" (PDF). OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED)
Programme. OECD. p. 8. Retrieved 11 September 2010.[permanent dead link]
^ Jump up to: a b c "Wales A Vibrant Economy" (PDF). Welsh Government. 2005. pp.
12, 22, 40, 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 2
October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Tourism hope over record 45 beach flags in Wales". BBC News website.
BBC. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Tourism – Sector Overview Wales". GO Wales website. GO Wales. Archived
from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Welsh Government | Written – Wales – the world's first 'Fair Trade
Nation'". Welsh Government website. Welsh Government. 6 June 2008. Archived from
the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
Jump up ^ Dr. Stamp, A.H. (1 June 2001). "The man who printed his own money".
Country Quest Magazine. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Carradice, Phil. "The collapse of the Welsh banks". BBC Cymru Wales
website. BBC. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "About the Bank". Bank of England website. Bank of England. 2010.
Retrieved 30 September 2010. The Bank (of England) has had a monopoly on the issue
of banknotes in England and Wales since the early 20th century.
Jump up ^ "The Bank of England's Role in Regulating the Issue of Scottish and
Northern Ireland Banknotes". Bank of England website. Bank of England. 2010.
Retrieved 30 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Commercial Bank of Wales, Carmarthen Branch, Papers". Archives Wales.
Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "www.royalmint.gov.uk". Royal Mint website. Royal Mint. 2010. Archived
from the original on 12 October 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "The New Designs Revealed". Royal Mint website. Royal Mint. 10 February
2012. Archived from the original on 22 May 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
Jump up ^ "Estimates of station usage" (Excel). 2011–12 report and data. Office of
Rail Regulation. May 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
Jump up ^ "Business leaders back electric railway demand". WalesOnline.co.uk. 25
January 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
Jump up ^ "Britain's Transport Infrastructure, Rail Electrification" (PDF).
Department for Transport. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2010.
Retrieved 7 June 2012.
Jump up ^ "Revived Swansea-Cork ferry service sets sail". BBC News website. BBC. 10
March 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
Jump up ^ "Swansea-Cork ferry: Fastnet Line to close service with loss of 78 jobs".
BBC News website. BBC. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
Jump up ^ "Lampeter, University of Wales", The Guardian, 1 May 2008, retrieved 17
October 2014
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p. 238
^ Jump up to: a b c d Davies (2008) p. 239
Jump up ^ "The Welsh language in 19th century education". BBC Cymru Wales history
website. BBC Cymru Wales. 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Nash, Roy (1980). Schooling in rural societies. London: Methuen & Co.
Ltd. p. 90. ISBN 0-416-73300-X. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Baker, Colin (1992). Attitudes and language. Multilingual Matters. 83.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. p. 99. ISBN 1-85359-142-4. Retrieved 24 November
2010.
Jump up ^ Fitz, John (2001). Shimahara, N. Ken; Holowinsky, Ivan Z.; Tomlinson-
Clarke, Saundra, eds. Local identity and national systems: the case of Wales.
Ethnicity, race, and nationality in education: a global perspective. Mahwah, New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-8058-3837-4. Retrieved
24 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) pp. 378–381
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 240
Jump up ^ Jones, Megan. "Welsh-medium education and Welsh as a subject" (PDF).
National Assembly for Wales. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
Jump up ^ "Schools by local authority, region and type of school".
statswales.gov.wales. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
Jump up ^ "Pupils by local authority, region and age group". statswales.gov.wales.
Retrieved 24 February 2018.
Jump up ^ "Full-time equivalent teachers by local authority, region and category".
Retrieved 24 February 2018.
Jump up ^ "health in Wales – 1960s". NHS Wales website. NHS Wales. Retrieved 8
September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (2008), p.361
Jump up ^ "NHS Wales – About Us". NHS Wales website. NHS Wales. Retrieved 8
September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Edwina Hart MBE AM". Welsh Government website. Welsh
Government. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 12 September
2010.
Jump up ^ "Welsh Health Survey 2009" (PDF). Welsh Government website. Welsh
Government. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Griffith, Hywel (21 October 2006). "Chronic condition of our health". BBC
News website. BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Brian R. Mitchell and Phyllis Deane, Abstract of British Historical
Statistics (Cambridge, 1962) pp 20, 22
Jump up ^ "Industrial Revolution". BBC. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
Jump up ^ LSJ Services [Wales] Ltd. "Population therhondda.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May
2006". Therhondda.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 May 2008. Retrieved 17
October 2009.
Jump up ^ "BBC Wales – History – Themes – Italian immigration". BBC. Retrieved 17
October 2009.
Jump up ^ "Socialist Unity – Debate & analysis for activists & trade unionists".
Jump up ^ "2011 Census – Population and Household Estimates for Wales" (PDF).
Office for National Statistics. March 2011. p. 6. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
Jump up ^ "O2011 Census: Key Statistics for Wales, March 2011". Ons.gov.uk. March
2011. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
Jump up ^ "O2011 Census: Key Statistics for Wales, March 2011". Ons.gov.uk. March
2011. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
Jump up ^ "A Statistical Focus on Ethnicity in Wales" (PDF). National Assembly for
Wales. 2004. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2011. Retrieved
10 February 2012.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 391
Jump up ^ Turner, Robin (8 January 2004). "Poles immigrate to Welsh town by
thousands". Western Mail. WalesOnline. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Ford, Richard (12 October 2007). "Break out the golabki as Polish workers
spread across map of Britain". The Times. London: TimesOnline. Retrieved 25
November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Census results 'defy tickbox row'". BBC Online. Retrieved 23 February
2014.
Jump up ^ "2011 Census: KS202EW National identity, unitary authorities in Wales
(Excel sheet 126Kb)". Office for National Statistics. 11 December 2012. p. 3.
Retrieved 28 September 2013.
Jump up ^ "Nationalia – Two out of three inhabitants of Wales consider Welsh to be
their national identity". Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b 2011 Census: First Results for Ethnicity, National Identity, and
Religion for Wales (PDF), Welsh Government, 2012, retrieved 6 March 2014
Jump up ^ "ONS, "Ethnicity and National Identity in England and Wales 2011", 2012,
p.8" (PDF).
Jump up ^ "2011 Census: KS201EW Ethnic group, local authorities in England and
Wales". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
Jump up ^ "Use of the census of population to discern trends in the Welsh language:
an aggregate analysis" (PDF). Office for National Statistics. 8 January 2004.
Retrieved 10 February 2012.
Jump up ^ "Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000" (PDF). United
States Census Bureau. July 2002. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories – 20%
sample data". Statistics Canada. 8 January 2004. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
Jump up ^ "Total Fertility Rate and General Fertility Rate by year".
Statswales.wales.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
Jump up ^ "Live births by year, marriage, parity and registration type".
Statswales.wales.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
Jump up ^ "One in 10 Welsh babies have foreign-born mothers". BBC News. 31 August
2012.
Jump up ^ Webber, Richard. "The Welsh diaspora: Analysis of the geography of Welsh
names" (PDF). Welsh Government. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 June
2012. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Reaney, P H; Wilson, R M (1997). A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd
ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1ii. ISBN 0-19-860092-5.
Jump up ^ "Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland, Mid-2017". Office for National Statistics. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June
2018.
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 54
Jump up ^ "Who were the Celts? ... Rhagor". Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales
website. Amgueddfa Cymru– National Museum Wales. 4 May 2007. Archived from the
original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
Jump up ^ National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012
Jump up ^ Official Languages Scheme, July 2013, Assembly Commission. Retrieved 20
September 2016.
Jump up ^ Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 262
Jump up ^ Davies (1994) p. 623
Jump up ^ Hill, Claire (2 October 2006). "Why butty rarely leaves Wales".
WalesOnline website. Media Wales Ltd. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "2011 Census, Key Statistics for Unitary Authorities in Wales". Office
for National Statistics. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
Jump up ^ "Census 2001: Main statistics about Welsh". Welsh Language Board.
Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 940
Jump up ^ "The Welsh Language Standards (No. 1) Regulations 2015".
www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "Statistical bulletin: 2011 Census: Key Statistics for Wales,
March 2011". Office for National Statistics. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 11
December 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b "Faith in Wales, Counting for Communities" (PDF). 2008. p. 21.
Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Glamorgan Archives, Glamorgan Presbyterian Church Marriage registers".
Archives Wales. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 9 September
2010.
Jump up ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: St. David". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008), p. 739
Jump up ^ "Evan Roberts (1878–1951)". National Library of Wales. 2007. Retrieved 2
October 2010.
Jump up ^ "From scholarship, sailors and sects to the mills and the mosques". The
Guardian. 18 June 2002. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
Jump up ^ "Islam and Britain". BBC. 2002. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
Jump up ^ "Islam in the British Isles". islamfortoday.com. Retrieved 22 February
2012.
Jump up ^ "Did You Know?". Islam Can. Archived from the original on 19 September
2016. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
Jump up ^ "Religion in Britain". diversiton.com. Archived from the original on 24
April 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "History of religion: Multicultural Wales". BBC. 15 June 2006. Retrieved
19 June 2010.
Jump up ^ "World Heritage – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
UNESCO World Heritage Convention website. UNESCO. 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c Snyder, Christopher Allen (2003). The Britons. Wiley-Blackwell.
pp. 258–261. ISBN 0-631-22260-X. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 525
Jump up ^ Ford, Patrick K (2008). The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales (2nd
ed.). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-
520-25396-4. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Koch, John Thomas (2006). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia.
Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 359 & 1324. ISBN 1-85109-440-7. Retrieved 26 November
2010.
Jump up ^ White, Donna R (1998). A century of Welsh myth in children's literature.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 123. ISBN 0-313-30570-6. Retrieved 26
November 2010.
Jump up ^ Koch, John Thomas (2006). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia.
Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 925–927. ISBN 1-85109-440-7. Retrieved 26 November
2010.
Jump up ^ Koch, John Thomas (2006). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia.
Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 759–760. ISBN 1-85109-440-7. Retrieved 26 November
2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (2008) p. 464
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) pp. 688–689
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 191
^ Jump up to: a b c d Davies (2008) p. 465
^ Jump up to: a b c d Davies (2008) p. 466
^ Jump up to: a b Williams, David (1961). A Short History of Modern Wales. London:
John Murray. p. 121.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 861
Jump up ^ The Pocket Guide, p.122.
Jump up ^ Los Angeles Times, "Obituary", 27 September 2000
Jump up ^ Emyr Humphreys: Conversations and Reflections, ed. M. Wynn Thomas.
University of Wales Press: Cardiff, 2002, p.8.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 597
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p. 594
Jump up ^ "Celtic Art in Iron Age Wales, NMOW". Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum
Wales. Archived from the original on 13 January 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
Jump up ^ Moody, Theodore William; Cróinín, Dáibhí Ó; Martin, Francis X; Byrne,
Francis John (2005). A New History of Ireland: Prehistoric and early Ireland.
London: Oxford University Press. p. 540. ISBN 0-19-821737-4. Retrieved 21 November
2010.
Jump up ^ Walsh, Alexander (1922). Scandinavian Relations with Ireland during the
Viking Period. Dublin: Talbot Press. p. 20. ISBN 1-152-77368-2. Retrieved 21
November 2010.
Jump up ^ "NMOW, Art in 18th Century Britain". Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum
Wales. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
Jump up ^ "NMOW, Welsh Artists of the 18th Century". Amgueddfa Cymru – National
Museum Wales. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 19 June
2010.
Jump up ^ "Royal Cambrian Academy". Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. Archived from
the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
Jump up ^ "'I am the king of painters'". London: The Guardian. 16 November 2001.
Retrieved 30 September 2010.
Jump up ^ "Charles Davenport Lockwood 1877–1949". stamfordhistory.org. Retrieved 30
September 2010.
Jump up ^ "The Kardomah". dylanthomas.com. City and County of Swansea Council.
Archived from the original on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) pp. 701–702
Jump up ^ Cooper, Emmanuel (28 January 2008). "Obituary-Susan Williams-Ellis". The
Guardian website. London: The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b "The dragon and war". BBC Cymru Wales website. BBC. 2010.
Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Welsh flag, 23 February 1959 vol 600 cc121-2W". Hansard. Parliament of
the United Kingdom. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Union Jack". Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p. 189
Jump up ^ Burson, Sam (2 March 2007). "'Stop using my Three Feathers'". Western
Mail. Cardiff: Media Wales Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Welsh National Anthem: History: About Wales". Visit Wales website. Welsh
Government. 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "The anthem in more recent years". BBC Cymru Wales website. BBC. 1
December 2008. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Welsh anthem – The background to Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau". BBC Cymru Wales
history website. BBC Cymru Wales. 1 December 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
Jump up ^ "NGB websites: About us: Sport Wales – Chwaraeon Cymru". Sport Wales
website. Sport Wales. 2010. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved
29 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 782
Jump up ^ "Questions facing Wales' regional plans". BBC Sport website. BBC. 3 April
2003. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "WRU axe falls on Warriors". BBC Sport website. BBC. 1 June 2004.
Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Evans, Alun. "A Brief History of the League". Welsh Premier League.
Retrieved 23 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "The Cardiff and Swansea Derby". BBC Cymru Wales website. BBC. 5 November
2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Gareth Bale: Ryan Giggs says winger can be Wales' greatest". BBC Sport.
BBC. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
Jump up ^ "What we do at the ECB". England and Wales Cricket Board. Retrieved 23
November 2010.
Jump up ^ "History of Welsh county cricket". Glamorgan Cricket. Archived from the
original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Snooker". BBC Wales south east. BBC. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Colin Jackson, Record breaking 110m hurdler". BBC Wales south east. BBC.
2009. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson becomes people's peer". BBC News
website. BBC. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Nicole Cooke Retires". Cardiff Ajax Cycling Club. 15 January 2013.
Retrieved 16 February 2017.
Jump up ^ "Joe Calzaghe, Wales's greatest ever boxer?". BBC Wales south east. BBC.
Retrieved 23 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Davies, Sean (25 March 2008). "Wales' boxing world champions". BBC Sport
website. BBC. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Crowd Yells Fury as Louis Gets the Verdict Daily News, 31 August 1937, at
Trove
^ Jump up to: a b "How Wales became a magnet for major sports events". BBC Sport.
BBC. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
Jump up ^ "1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games". Commonwealth Games
Federation. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 14 September
2015.
Jump up ^ "Highlights: Juventus 1–4 Real Madrid". ITV plc. 3 June 2017. Retrieved
26 June 2017.
Jump up ^ Turner, Helen (1 April 2010). "Celebration for UK's first digital
country". WalesOnline website. Media Wales Ltd. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c "About BBC Cymru Wales". BBC website. BBC. 2010. Retrieved 30
September 2010.
Jump up ^ Globalisation and Its Impact on Wales. Welsh Affairs Select Committee,
Second Report of Session 2008–09. House of Commons. 2009. p. 624. ISBN 0-215-52634-
1. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Bafta TV award nominees announced". WalesOnline website. Media Wales
Ltd. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
Jump up ^ Globalisation and Its Impact on Wales. Welsh Affairs Select Committee,
Second Report of Session 2008–09. House of Commons. 2009. p. 598. ISBN 0-215-52634-
1. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
Jump up ^ ap Dyfrig, Rhodri; Jones, George (2006). "The Welsh Language in the
Media" (PDF). Mercator Institute for Media, Languages and Culture. Aberystwyth
University. pp. 13–14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2011. Retrieved
25 November 2010.
Jump up ^ ap Dyfrig, Rhodri; Jones, George (2006). "The Welsh Language in the
Media" (PDF). Mercator Institute for Media, Languages and Culture. Aberystwyth
University. pp. 16–18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2011. Retrieved
25 November 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b "Concern over newspapers' decline in Wales". BBC News website.
BBC. 28 August 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d ap Dyfrig, Rhodri; Jones, George (2006). "The Welsh Language
in the Media" (PDF). Mercator Institute for Media, Languages and Culture.
Aberystwyth University. pp. 22–23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June
2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Luft, Oliver (12 November 2010). "Wales on Sunday to unveil redesign this
weekend". Press Gazette website. Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 16
June 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Jones, Alun Ffred AC/AM (4 March 2010). "Remit letter for the Welsh Books
Council 2010–11" (PDF). Welsh Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22
February 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "What is the Welsh Books Council?". Welsh Books Council website. Welsh
Books Council. 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b ap Dyfrig, Rhodri; Jones, George (2006). "The Welsh Language in
the Media" (PDF). Mercator Institute for Media, Languages and Culture. Aberystwyth
University. p. 34. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 25
November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Y Fasnach Lyfrau Ar-Lein – Welsh Book Trade Info". Welsh Books Council
website. Welsh Books Council. 22 November 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Phone fault hits Welsh magazine". BBC News website. BBC. 24 October
2005. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "About". Poetry Wales website. Poetry Wales. 2010. Retrieved 25 November
2010.
Jump up ^ "Planet: The International Magazine for Wales". Poetry Wales website.
Poetry Wales. 2010. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 25
November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Area of agricultural land, by type of crop and grass (Thousand
Hectares)". StatsWales. Retrieved 2 October 2010. Total agricultural area (2004):
1633.5 thousand hectares (16,335 km2), Wales area 20,779 km2
Jump up ^ Turner, Robin (3 November 2004). "laverbread". WalesOnline website. Media
Wales Ltd. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008) p.293
Jump up ^ "Wales: Cultural life: Music, literature and film". Britannica (Online
ed.). 2006.
Jump up ^ "Welsh Folk Song Society". canugwerin.com. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 179
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 281
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 353
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 677
Jump up ^ "Music Preview: National Youth Orchestra of Wales". WalesOnline website.
Media Wales Ltd. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Davies (2008), p. 532.
Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains". AFI. Retrieved 20 December
2013
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 222
Jump up ^ Davies (2008) p. 223
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (2008) p. 224
Jump up ^ Price, Karen (22 January 2010). "Movers and shakers revitalising our arts
– Cont". WalesOnline website. Media Wales Ltd. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
Jump up ^ "Why so funny? – The top 10 Welsh comedians". WalesOnline website. Media
Wales Ltd. 18 April 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b c Davies (2008) p. 192
^ Jump up to: a b c d Davies (2008) p. 193
Jump up ^ "Caernarfon festival to have its last dance". BBC News website. BBC. 2
October 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "Clog maker hot-foots to new home". BBC News website. BBC. 28 December
2007. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Smith, Mike (22 February 2013). "30th birthday celebrations for National
Dance Company Wales". walesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
Jump up ^ "The forgotten festivals of Wales". Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum
Wales website. Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. 7 September 2007. Archived
from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
Jump up ^ "St. Dwynwen's Day-Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen January 25th". Amgueddfa Cymru
– National Museum Wales website. Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. 6 May
2007. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
Jump up ^ Wood, Hilaire (2000). "Welsh Customs for Calan Haf". Celtic Well.
applewarrior.com. Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 3
October 2010.
Bibliography
Census 2001, 200 Years of the Census in ... Wales (2001)
Davies, John (1994). A History of Wales. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-014581-8.
Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Baines, Menna; Lynch, Peredur I., eds. (2008). The
Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-
0-7083-1953-6.
External links
Find more about
Wales
at Wikipedia's sister projects
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Wikimedia Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Travel guide from Wikivoyage
Learning resources from Wikiversity
Welsh Government
National Assembly for Wales
Wales Legislation Online, Cardiff Law School
BBC Wales
Geographic data related to Wales at OpenStreetMap
Wales at Curlie (based on DMOZ)
VisitWales.com The official international guide to places to stay and things to do
in Wales.
VisitWales.co.uk The official UK guide to places to stay and things to do in Wales.
Wales – Official Gateway to Wales
Gathering the Jewels – Welsh Heritage and Culture
Photographs of Wales on Geograph Britain and Ireland
show
Places adjacent to Wales
showvte
Wales articles
show
Articles relating to Wales
Authority control
WorldCat Identities GND: 4064435-2 LCCN: n80014574 NARA: 10044287 NDL: 00576091
VIAF: 252978342
Categories: WalesCeltic nationsEnglish-speaking countries and territoriesIsland
countriesNUTS 1 statistical regions of the United KingdomUnited Kingdom by
countryGreat Britain
Navigation menu
Not logged inTalkContributionsCreate accountLog inArticleTalkReadView sourceView
historySearch

Search Wikipedia
Go
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Wikinews
Wikiquote
Wikivoyage

Languages
বববলব
ગગગગગગગ
हहनदद
ಕನನಡ
മലയയളള
मररठद
ગગગગગ
తలగ
‫اردو‬
165 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 13 July 2018, at 09:37 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation,
Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersContact WikipediaDevelopersCookie
statementMobile viewWikimedia Foundation Powered by MediaWiki