Llanfairpwllgwyngyll

Llanfairpwll Ynys Môn

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is a village on the island of Anglesey in Wales. Situated on the Menai Strait close to Menai Bridge and Bangor, it is best known for having the longest officially recognised place name in the United Kingdom, and one of the longest in the world. It is signposted on surrounding roads as Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, and generally known as Llanfairpwll or Llanfair locally. The name is also seen shortened to Llanfair PG, which is sufficient to distinguish it from the many other Welsh villages with Llanfair in their names.

It is a popular tourist destination, with many people stopping at the railway station to be photographed next to the station sign, visiting the nearby visitors' centre, or having 'passports' stamped at a local shop. Another tourist attraction is the nearby Marquess of Anglesey's Column, which at a height of 27 m offers views over Anglesey and the Menai Strait. Designed by Thomas Harrison, the monument celebrates the heroism of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey at the Battle of Waterloo. In recent times the village has grown and is now somewhat like a northern suburb of Bangor, on the other side of the Menai Strait.

Name

A sign showing the name is visible in the background.

The village's long name was contrived in the 1860s for the prestige of having the longest name of a railway station in Great Britain, and could not be considered an authentic word in the Welsh language. A translation into English would yield "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio near the red cave". According to Sir John Morris-Jones the name was created by a local tailor, whose name he does not give.

The village was originally known as Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, and there was a nearby hamlet called Llantysilio Gogogoch. The names were linked by an in-between feature, the chwyrn drobwll, or rapid whirlpool.

There have been several attempts to steal the village's record. The Carmarthenshire village of Llanfynydd unofficially adopted the name Llanhyfryddawelllehynafolybarcudprindanfygythiadtrienusyrhafnauole in 2004 in protest at plans to erect a wind farm nearby (the name means "a quiet beautiful village, an historic place with rare kite under threat from wretched blades" in English). A station on the Fairbourne Railway was named Gorsafawddacha'idraigodanheddogleddollônpenrhynareurdraethceredigion (translated as "the Mawddach station and its dragon teeth at the Northern Penrhyn Road on the golden beach of Cardigan Bay") for promotional purposes. No such attempts have gained widespread recognition amongst official bodies or transport authorities.

External links

• Village website (which has the longest Internet domain name)
• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch article at H2G2