Portal:Wales

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Wales (Welsh: Cymru [ˈkəmrɨ] ^ⓘ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic Sea to the south-west. As of 2021^[update], it had a population of 3.2 million. It has a total area of 21,218 square kilometres (8,192 sq mi) and over 2,700 kilometres (1,680 mi) of coastline. It 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. Its capital and largest city is Cardiff.

A distinct Welsh culture emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was briefly united under Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1055. After over 200 years of war, the conquest of Wales by King Edward I of England was completed by 1283, though Owain Glyndŵr led the Welsh Revolt against English rule in the early 15th century, and briefly re-established an independent Welsh state with its own national parliament (Welsh: senedd). In the 16th 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 David Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century: a nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, was formed in 1925, and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. A governing system of Welsh devolution is employed in Wales, of which the most major step was the formation of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament, formerly the National Assembly for Wales) in 1998, responsible for a range of devolved policy matters. (Full article...)

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The Neath and Tennant Canals are two independent but linked canals in South Wales, usually regarded as a single canal. The Neath Canal was opened from Glynneath to Melincryddan, to the south of Neath, in 1795 and extended to Giants Grave in 1799, in order to provide better shipping facilities. With several small later extensions it reached its final destination at Briton Ferry. The canal was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long and included 19 locks.

The Tennant Canal was a development of the Glan-y-wern Canal, which was built across Crymlyn Bog to transport coal from a colliery on its northern edge to a creek on the River Neath. It closed after 20 years, but was enlarged and extended by George Tennant in 1818, to link the River Neath to the River Tawe at Swansea docks. To increase trade, he built an extension to Aberdulais basin, where it linked to the Neath Canal.

Use of the canals for navigation ceased in the 1930s, but because they supplied water to local industries and to Swansea docks, they were retained as water channels. The first attempts at restoration began in 1974; the section north of Resolven was restored in the late 1980s, and the canal from Neath to Abergarwed has been restored more recently. This project involved the replacement of Ynysbwllog aqueduct, which carries the canal over the river Neath, with a new 32-metre (35 yd) plate girder structure, believed to be the longest single-span aqueduct in Britain.

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The national flag of Wales is The Red Dragon (Welsh: Y Ddraig Goch), consisting of a red dragon passant on a green and white field. As with any heraldic charge, the exact representation of the dragon is not standardised and many interpretations exist.

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Did you know...?

... that from a standing start, Wales rugby union international Roy John could jump up and reach the crossbar set at 3.2 metres (10 ft 6 in) above the ground?
... that unlike most other churches in Anglesey, St Ffinan's Church was built in Romanesque revival style?
... that the 15th-century church of St Twrog, Bodwrog has some bull's head decorations, showing its link with a prominent local family of that time?
... that legend says that Welsh noblewoman Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam was so beloved that when she died 3000 knights, nobles and weeping peasants followed her body to its burial place?

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Asser (d. 908/909) was a Welsh monk from St. David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. In about 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St. David's and join the circle of learned men which Alfred was recruiting for his court. After spending a year at Caerwent due to an illness, he accepted. In 893 Asser wrote a biography of Alfred, called the Life of King Alfred. The manuscript survived to modern times in only one copy, which was part of the Cotton library. That copy was destroyed in a fire in 1731, but transcriptions that had been made earlier, allied with material from Asser's work that was included by other early writers, have enabled the work to be reconstructed. The biography is now the main source of information about Alfred's life, and provides far more information about Alfred than is known about any other early English ruler. Asser also assisted Alfred in his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, and possibly with other works.

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In the news

Wikinews Wales portal

General images

The following are images from various Wales-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Flag of Saint David (from Culture of Wales)
Image 2A Plaid Cymru rally in Machynlleth in 1949, where the Parliament for Wales Campaign began (from History of Wales)
Image 3Britain 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, while the pale green areas to the north were inhabited by the Gaels and Picts. (from History of Wales)
Image 4Red Dragon of Wales (from Culture of Wales)
Image 5"Cymdeithas yr Iaith" (Society for the Language) bilingual road sign protest, 1972. (from History of Wales)
Image 6Statue of Owain Glyndŵr (c. 1354 or 1359 – c. 1416) at Cardiff City Hall
Image 7Cawl, a Welsh dish of meat and vegetables (from Culture of Wales)
Image 8Senedd-Welsh Parliament, Cardiff Bay. (from History of Wales)
Image 9Harlech Castle was one of a series built by Edward I to consolidate his conquest. (from History of Wales)
Image 10King Hywel Dda depicted enthroned in a 13th-century manuscript (from History of Wales)
Image 11Medieval kingdoms of Wales shown within the boundaries of the present day country of Wales and not inclusive of all (from History of Wales)
Image 12Owain Glyndŵr painting by AC Michael (from Culture of Wales)
Image 13Dowlais Ironworks (1840) by George Childs (1798–1875) (from History of Wales)
Image 14Medieval map of Welsh realms (from History of Wales)
Image 15Owain Glyndŵr (from History of Wales)
Image 16Big Pit, National Coal Museum. (from History of Wales)
Image 17Battle at Mametz Wood by Christopher Williams (1918), commissioned by Secretary of State for War at the time, David Lloyd George. (from History of Wales)
Image 18Crempog - Anglesey style (from Culture of Wales)
Image 19Bryn Celli Ddu, a late Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey
Image 20Tom Jones performing with Janis Joplin in 1969 (from Culture of Wales)
Image 21Opening of the Sixth Senedd in Cardiff in 2021 (from History of Wales)
Image 22Map of the Roman invasion of Wales (from History of Wales)
Image 23Portrait of William Morgan. (from History of Wales)
Image 24Offa's Dyke (Clawdd Offa) Map. (from History of Wales)
Image 25The Bard, 1774, by Thomas Jones (1742–1803) (from Culture of Wales)
Image 26Caradog by Thomas Prydderch. Caradog was leader of the north Walian Celtic tribe, the Ordovices, and led multiple Celtic tribes against the Romans. (from History of Wales)
Image 27Gravestone of King Cadfan ap Iago of Gwynedd (died c. 625) in Llangadwaladr church (from History of Wales)
Image 28Market Day in Old Wales by Sydney Curnow Vosper (1910) (from Culture of Wales)
Image 29Medieval crwth instrument (from Culture of Wales)
Image 30Facsimile of Part of Column 579 from the Red Book of Hergest (from Culture of Wales)
Image 31Two of the furnaces of the Blaenavon Ironworks (from History of Wales)
Image 32Standard of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, King of Powys 1063-1075. (from History of Wales)

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