North Wales


North Wales is an unofficial region of Wales. Retail, transport and educational infrastructure are centred on Wrexham, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno, Bangor and Caernarfon. It is bordered to the rest of Wales with the counties of Ceredigion and Powys, and to the east by the English counties of Shropshire, Merseyside, and Cheshire. People from north Wales are sometimes referred to as "Gogs", derived from "gogledd" - the Welsh for "north".
The north of Wales was traditionally divided into three regions: Upper Gwynedd ; Lower Gwynedd, a large island off the north coast. The division with the rest of Wales is arbitrary and depends on the particular use being made. For example, the boundary of North Wales Police differs from the boundary of the North Wales area of the Natural Resources Wales and the North Wales Regional Transport Consortium.
The historic boundary follows the pre-1996 county boundaries of Merionethshire and Denbighshire which in turn closely follow the geographic features of the River Dyfi to Aran Fawddwy, then crossing the high moorlands following the watershed until reaching Cadair Berwyn and then following the River Rhaeadr and River Tanat to the Shropshire border.
Montgomeryshire, one of the historic counties of Wales, is sometimes referred to as being in North Wales.

History

The region is steeped in history and was for almost a millennium known as the Kingdom of Gwynedd. The mountainous stronghold of Snowdonia formed the nucleus of that realm and would become the last redoubt of independent Medieval Wales — only overcome in 1283. To this day it remains a stronghold of the Welsh language and a centre for Welsh national and cultural identity.

World Heritage & Biosphere Sites

The area is home to two of the three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales. These are Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and canal and, collectively, the Edwardian castles and town walls of the region which comprise those at Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Conwy and Harlech. It also shares with Powys and Ceredigion the distinction of hosting the only UNESCO Biosphere reserve in Wales, namely, Biosffer Dyfi Biosphere.

Political divisions

The region is made up of the following administrative areas:
In addition to the six Local Authority divisions, North Wales is also divided into the following preserved counties for various ceremonial purposes:
was a European Parliament constituency until 1999. Currently, there is an electoral region for the Senedd with the name, which covers the northeast of Wales as well as the northern-most coastal areas of north-western Wales; the rest of North Wales is covered by Mid and West Wales.

Geography

The area is mostly rural with many mountains and valleys. This, in combination with its coast, means tourism is the principal industry. Farming, which was once the principal economic force in the area, is now much reduced in importance. The average income per capita of the local population is the lowest in the UK and much of the region has EU Objective 1 status.
The eastern part of North Wales contains the most populous areas, with more than 300,000 people living in the areas around Wrexham and Deeside. Wrexham, with a population of 63,084 in 2001 is the largest town. The total population of North Wales is 687,937. The majority of other settlements are along the coast, including some popular resort towns, such as Rhyl, Llandudno, Pwllheli and Tywyn. The A55 road links these towns to cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham and the port of Holyhead for ferries to Ireland; The A470 runs from Llandudno to Cardiff; and the A483 from Wrexham to Swansea. There are two cathedral citiesBangor and St. Asaphand a number of medieval castles The area of North Wales is about 6,172 square kilometres, making it slightly larger than the country of Brunei, or the island of Bali.
The highest mountain in Wales, England and Ireland, is Snowdon in northwest Wales.

Railways

The most important line is the North Wales Coast Line which branches off the West Coast Main Line from London Euston at Crewe proceeding west via Chester, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor to Holyhead, connecting with Irish Ferries and Stena Line ferry services to Dublin Port.
At Llandudno Junction the Conwy Valley line branches, heading north to Llandudno and south to Blaenau Ffestiniog. The Ffestiniog Railway connects Blaenau Ffestiniog to Minffordd on the Cambrian Coast Line as Porthmadog Harbour and the Welsh Highland Railway to Caernarfon.
From Chester, direct trains run to Liverpool Lime Street as well as the Merseyrail, likewise Wrexham Central, Wrexham General and Hawarden Bridge links to Bidston and the Merseyrail. Direct Northern trains run from Chester to Manchester Piccadilly.
The Welsh Marches Line connects Chester and Crewe to Shrewsbury before continuing to Cardiff Central. Wrexham, Chirk, Ruabon and Gobowen are between Chester and Shrewsbury. At Shrewsbury the Cambrian Coast Line connects Machynlleth to Aberystwyth and to Tywyn Harlech, Minffordd, Porthmadoc and Pwllheli.
On the Cambrian Coast:
At Tywyn there is Tywyn Wharf and the Talyllyn Railway.
At Fairbourne there is the Fairbourne Railway.
At Welshpool there is the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway.
Inland from the rest of the railway network:
There is the Llanberis Lake Railway the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Llanberis.
The Bala Lake Railway served Bala.
Not connected to Ruabon is the Llangollen Railway which so far links Llangollen to Corwen.
The Gobowen to Oswestry, Cambrian Railways is working on reopening the lines.
The Anglesey Central Railway is also being slowly restored.

Tramways

In Llandudno the Great Orme Tramway links the Great Orme.

Geology

North Wales has a very diverse and complex geology with Precambrian schists along the Menai Strait and the great Cambrian dome behind Harlech and underlying much of western Snowdonia. In the Ordovician period much volcanism deposited a range of minerals and rocks over the north western parts of Gwynedd whilst to the east of the River Conwy lies a large area of upland rolling hills underlain by the Silurian mudstones and grits comprising the Denbigh and Migneint Moors. To the east, around Llangollen, to the north on Halkyn Mountain and the Great Orme and in eastern Anglesey are beds of limestone from which metals have been mined since pre-Roman times. Added to all this are the complexities posed by Parys Mountain and the outcrops of unusual minerals such as Jasper and Mona Marble which make the area of special interest to geologists.

Language

North Wales has a distinct regional identity. Its dialect of the Welsh language differs from that of other regions, such as South Wales, in some ways: for example llefrith is used in most of the North instead of llaeth for "milk"; a simple sentence such as go upstairs now might be Dos i fyny'r grisiau rŵan in North Wales, and Cer lan y stâr nawr in South Wales. Colloquially, a person from North Wales is known as a North Walian, or a Gog. There are Welsh medium schools scattered all across North Wales, ranging from primary to secondary schools.

Economy

North Wales Growth Deal

In 2016 the UK Government invited North Wales to submit a Growth Deal Bid, to "create thousands of jobs, boost the economy, improve transport and communication links, focus on renewable energy, support tourism and more". A bid was prepared by the North Wales Business Council, which consists of the Leaders and Chief Executives of the 6 councils, the Vice Chancellors of Wrexham Glyndŵr University and Bangor University the Chief Executives of Coleg Cambria and Grwp Llandrillo Menai, and North Wales Mersey Dee Business Council. In the 2018 budget Philip Hammond announced that £120M would be made available by the UK Government to support the Growth Deal. In December 2018, Ken Skates confirmed that the Welsh Government would match the UK Government funding, and also offered to match any additional funding support which the UK Government might make available. In November 2019 the Heads of Terms Agreement for the North Wales Growth Deal was signed by the representatives of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, Alun Cairns the UK Government Secretary of State for Wales, and Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely on behalf of Welsh Government.

Local media

Local newspapers

Two daily newspapers are published in the region. The region-wide "North Wales edition" of the Daily Post, based at Bryn Eirias on Colwyn Bay's Abergele Road, is distributed from Monday to Saturday, whilst The Leader publishes two editions for Wrexham and Flintshire and is based at the headquarters of Newsquest in Mold after NWN Media Ltd dissolved after existing since 1920.
Additionally, nine weekly newspapers provide local and community news:

Reach PLC titles

The weekly Aberystwyth-based Cambrian News covers southern Gwynedd and publishes separate editions for the Arfon/Dwyfor and Meirionydd districts.
A weekly Welsh-language newspaper, Y Cymro is published each week by the Cambrian News from its Porthmadog office alongside two localised Welsh titles, Y Cyfnod and Y Dydd. Yr Herald Gymraeg is distributed by Trinity Mirror as a pull-out section in the Wednesday edition of the Daily Post. There are also 24 Papurau Bro providing community news and generally published each month.

Online

A number of hyper-local websites in the area provide locally sourced news online. In Conwy county, gives Welsh language coverage of the Colwyn Bay area since 2011 and has been serving the Abergele area since 2010. is a full-time operation covering Wrexham and the surrounding area, and is based at offices in Wrexham town centre. A full-time citizen led online news site started in early 2013 and covers Connah's Quay, Mancot, Pentre, Shotton, Queensferry, Sealand, Broughton, Hawarden, Ewloe, Sandycroft and parts of Saltney.

Radio

Although no BBC local radio stations exist in Wales, the Corporation's national services BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru cover the region from their broadcasting centres in Bangor, and Wrexham. The Bangor studios produce a large number of Radio Cymru programmes with some music and feature output for Radio Wales originating from Wrexham.
Three commercial radio stations serve the area — Capital North West and Wales broadcasts local drivetime programming for Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy county as well as Cheshire and the Wirral with a Welsh language opt-out service for the former Coast FM area on 96.3 FM. Capital Cymru airs an extended local programming service, predominantly in the Welsh language, for Gwynedd and Anglesey. Across the entire region, Heart North Wales also airs local peak-time programming in English, including an extended news programme on weeknights. All three stations broadcast from studios in Gwersyllt on the outskirts of Wrexham.
Three community radio stations broadcast on FM — Calon FM serving Wrexham County Borough and parts of southern Flintshire, Tudno FM broadcasting to Llandudno & surrounding areas and Môn FM across the Isle of Anglesey and parts of Gwynedd. Radio Glan Clwyd - an extension of hospital service Radio Ysbyty Glan Clwyd - broadcasts on 1287 AM in the Bodelwyddan, St Asaph, Rhuddlan, Towyn and Kinmel Bay areas.
Towards the western side of North Wales, local hills mean national BBC FM coverage can be quite poor, often suffering interference from Irish stations from the west.

Television

News coverage of North Wales is generally provided within the BBC's Wales Today, Newyddion and Ffeil programmes and on ITV's ITV News Cymru Wales. BBC Cymru Wales news teams are based at the Corporation's Bangor and Wrexham studios while ITV Cymru Wales runs a newsroom in Colwyn Bay.
S4C has an administrative office in Caernarfon, where a cluster of independent production companies are also based or partly based including Rondo Media, Cwmni Da, Antena, Owain Roberts Animations and Tinopolis.

Sport

Football

play in the English football league system; having been a member of the Football League for over 80 years, in 2008 they were relegated into the Conference National for the first time in their existence. They now play in the Vanarama National League. They remain the highest ranked team in the region, and play at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham and train at Colliers Park, Gresford.
There are a number of teams including Bangor City F.C. who have appeared in UEFA competitions, playing within the semi-professional domestic leagues the Welsh Premier League and the Cymru Alliance.
Due to the close proximity of North Wales to the North West of England, support for the English clubs of Liverpool F.C., Everton F.C. and Manchester United F.C. has been historically strong.

Rugby League

Wales was represented in the Super League by the Crusaders RL, they re-located to Wrexham for the 2010 season from south Wales. They played at the Racecourse Ground and trained at Stansty Park both in Wrexham before folding in 2011. They have now been replaced by the Championship 1 side, North Wales Crusaders.
North Wales has its own amateur league, the North Wales Championship.

Rugby Union

In September 2008 it was announced by the Welsh Rugby Union that a development team based in North Wales would be created, with a long-term goal of becoming the fifth Welsh team in the Celtic League. It was envisaged that this would both help the growth of the game in the area, and provide a larger pool of players for the Welsh national team to be selected from. The team was named RGC 1404.