The area has been settled since theNeolithic era (4000–2000 BC), withsubsistence agriculture andfishing being the most common occupations for much of its early history. The island ofAnglesey was at that point reachable only by boat across theMenai Strait. A largely destroyed, collapseddolmen can be found from this period in the parish, located at Ty Mawr north of the present-day church; early Ordnance Survey maps show a long cairn on the site.[8] The probable remains of a hillfort, with a fragmentary bank and ditch, were recorded on an outcrop known as Craig y Ddinas.[9]
The area was briefly invaded and captured by theRomans underGaius Suetonius Paulinus, temporarily abandoned in order to consolidate forces againstBoudicca, then held until the end of Roman Britain.
With the withdrawal of the Roman forces, the area fell under the control of the earlymedievalKingdom of Gwynedd. There has likely been a small Christian religious site, perhaps amonastic cell, in the area since the 7th century.[10] Surveys of the later medieval period show that the tenants of thetownship of Pwllgwyngyll, as it was then known, held a total of 9bovates of land from theBishop of Bangor under the feudal system.[11] A church was built during the medieval period and dedicated toMary, probably under Norman influence: the building, later demolished and replaced by a Victorian-era church, was unusual in having a semi-circular apse, a feature more usually associated with cathedrals.[12] Despite religious activity, the rural nature of the settlement meant that the parish had a population of only around 80 in 1563.
Much of the land was absorbed into the Earldom of Uxbridge, which later became theMarquisate of Anglesey, and was subject toenclosures. In 1844, for example, 92% of the land in Llanfairpwll was owned by just three individuals. The population of the parish reached 385 by 1801.
In 1826, Anglesey was connected to the rest of Wales by the construction of theMenai Suspension Bridge byThomas Telford, and connected withLondon in 1850 with the building of theBritannia Bridge and the busyNorth Wales Coast railway line, which connected the rest of Great Britain to the ferry port ofHolyhead. The old village, known as'Pentre Uchaf' ("upper village") was joined by new development around therailway station, which became known as'Pentre Isaf', the "lower village".
The first meeting of theWomen's Institute took place in Llanfairpwll in 1915, and the movement (which began in Canada) then spread through the rest of theBritish Isles.[13]
The original name of the medievaltownship, within whose boundaries the present-day village lies, wasPwllgwyngyll, meaning "the pool of the white hazels".[14][15] Pwllgwyngyll was one of two townships making up the parish, the other being Treforion; its name was first recorded as'Piwllgunyl' in an ecclesiastical valuation conducted in the 1250s for theBishop of Norwich.[16] The parish name was recorded asLlanfair y Pwllgwyngyll ('Llanfair' meaning "[St.] Mary's church";y meaning "(of) the") as far back as the mid 16th century, inLeland'sItinerary. The suffixing of the township name to that of the church would have served to distinguish the parish from the many other sites dedicated to Mary in Wales.
Longer versions of the name are thought to have first been used in the 19th century in an attempt to develop the village as a commercial and tourist centre. The long form of the name is the longest place name in theUnited Kingdom and one of thelongest in the world at 58 characters (51 "letters" since "ch" and "ll" aredigraphs, and are treated as single letters in theWelsh language). The village is still signpostedLlanfairpwllgwyngyll, marked onOrdnance Survey maps asLlanfair Pwllgwyngyll and therailway station is officially namedLlanfairpwll, a form used by local residents. The name is also shortened toLlanfair PG, sufficient to distinguish it from other places in Wales calledLlanfair (meaning "[St.] Mary's church").
Illustration of a sign showing the name and English translation
James Pringle Weavers shop with English translation of the nameThe sign at therailway station gives an approximation of the correct pronunciation forEnglish speakers.Postmark from the villageSt Mary's Church
The long name was supposedly contrived in 1869 as an earlypublicity stunt to give the station the longest name of any railway station in Britain.[17] According to SirJohn Morris-Jones the name was created by a local tailor, whose name he did not confide, letting the secret die with him.[18][19] This form of the name adds a reference to the whirlpool in the Menai Strait known as theSwellies and to the small chapel ofSt. Tysilio, located on a nearby island.[20] The final-gogogoch ("red cave") is supposed to have been an addition inspired by theCardiganshire parish ofLlandysiliogogo, rather than by any local features.[21]
Literally translated, the long form of the name means: "[The]church of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [of the]pool (pwll)[22][a] of the white hazels (gwyn gyll) near to [lit. "over against"] (go ger) the fierce whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the church of [St.]Tysilio (Llantysilio) of the red cave (gogo[f] goch)". Various elements have occasionally been translated differently, for example "the white pool among the hazel trees"[23] or "the cave of St Tysilio the Red".[24]
The true originator and date of the longer version of the name is less certain, however: an ecclesiastical directory published a few years before the claimed renaming gives what it calls the "full" parish name in the slightly differing form ofLlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerbwlltysiliogogo ("St Mary's church of the pool of the white hazels over against the pool of StTysilio Gogo [Tysilio of the cave]"),[14] whileLlan-vair-pwll-gwyn-gyll-goger-bwll-dysilio-gogo appears in a paper on placenames published in 1849, its author noting that "the name was generally abridged" by locals.[7] While the addition regarding the Swellies is supposed only to have been made in the 1860s, early 19th century guidebooks had already suggested a derivation of the elementpwllgwyngyll frompwll,gwyn andgwyll ("gloomy raging pool"), in reference to the Swellies.[25]
A few thousand local residents welcome about 200,000 visitors per year.[26] The most popular attraction is theLlanfairpwll railway station that features the plate with the full name of the village. Other places of interest in the area includeAnglesey Sea Zoo,Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber,St. Tysilio's Church, and Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens.[27]
In his 1957 appearance onYou Bet Your Life, the Welsh academic John Hughes answered hostGroucho Marx's question about the location of his birthplace by mentioning the town.
In the 1966Stephen Sondheim-penned song "The Boy From...", the singer details her unrequited love for a boy from the (fictional) island of Tacarembo la Tumbe del Fuego Santa Malipas Zatatecas la Junta del Sol y Cruz. The final verse includes the lyric: "Tomorrow he sails/He's moving to Wales/To live in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch" (with the very last line of the song simply being the exhortation, "och!").[29] Part of the song's humour stems from the singer's attempts to catch her breath after repeatedly singing the unwieldy place names.
In the 1968 movieBarbarella, Dildano proposes that the password for a meeting is "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch".
The name was submitted toGuinness World Records as the longest word to appear in a publishedcryptic crossword, having been used by compilerRoger Squires in 1979. The clue was "Giggling troll follows Clancy, Larry, Billy and Peggy who howl, wrongly disturbing a place in Wales (58)", where all but the last five words formed an anagram.[30]
In the 1980s, the village's name was the subject of a question on the American quiz show$ale of the Century. HostJim Perry later showed a giant cue card bearing the name of the village, he explained what each part of the name meant before joking "and it's pronounced...exactly the way you think it is!"[citation needed]
In 1995, Welsh bandSuper Furry Animals released its debutEP,Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllantysiliogogogochynygofod (In Space).[31]
In 2002, the village's website was listed as the longest URL on the Internet.[32]
The computer gameCivilization V awards the "Longest. Name. Ever."Steam achievement to players for having a city namedLlanfairpwllgwyngyll.[33]
In September 2015,Channel 4 News weatherman Liam Dutton went viral around the world after accurately pronouncing the name of the town in one of his weather reports.[34]
^abHume, Rev. A. (1849)."Philosophy of Geographical Names".Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool (6): 44. Retrieved25 February 2020.
^McDonald, Fred; Cresswell, Julia (1993).The Guinness Book of British Place Names. Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Publications. p. 100.ISBN978-0-85112-576-3.
^Owen, Hywel Wyn (2015).The Place-Names of Wales (Revised and expanded ed.). Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 63.ISBN978-1-78316-164-5.
^Davies, Ellis (1959).Flintshire Place-names. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 141.
^Edwards, J. Hugh, ed. (1912).Wales: A National Magazine. Vol. II.
^Suskin, Steven (9 March 2010).Showtunes: the Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers (4th Revised and expanded ed.). Oxford University Press, USA. p. 266.ISBN978-0-19-531407-6.
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