Gwynedd

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the county of Wales. For the ancient kingdom, see Kingdom of Gwynedd.

Gwynedd may also refer to Upper Gwynedd Township, Pennsylvania.

**Gwynedd principal area**

Geography
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 2nd 2,548 km² ? %
Admin HQ	Caernarfon
ISO 3166-2	GB-GWN
ONS code	00NC
Demographics
Population: - (2005 est.) - Density	Ranked 13th 118,000 Ranked 20th 46 / km²
Ethnicity	99.0% White
Welsh language - Any skills	Ranked 1st 76.1%
Politics
Image:Gwynedd arms.png The Arms of Gwynedd County Council 1974 - 1996 http://www.gwynedd.gov.uk/
Control	Plaid
MPs	Elfyn Llwyd Betty Williams Hywel Williams
AMs	Dafydd Elis-Thomas Denise Idris Jones Alun Ffred Jones (Constituency) North Wales (Part), Mid and West Wales (Part) (Regional)
MEPs	Wales

Gwynedd (IPA: ['gwɪ.nɛð]) is a principal area in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although one of the biggest in terms of geographical area, it was also one of the most sparsely populated. A large proportion of the population being Welsh-speaking, it became once again a centre of nationalism, with Plaid Cymru gaining a toehold which helped the party on to greater successes.

From 1200 until 1283 Garth Celyn, Aber Garth Celyn, now Abergwyngregyn, the home of the Welsh rulers Llywelyn Fawr, Dafydd ap Llywelyn and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, five miles to the east of Bangor, was to all intent and purpose the capital of Wales. The royal home was seized by Edward Longshanks in 1283 and held by the Crown of England from then until 1553. The castles of Conwy, Caernarfon and Beaumaris formed a triangle around Garth Celyn.

It is the home of the University of Wales, Bangor.

Gwynedd includes the scenic Llŷn Peninsula, and most of the Snowdonia National Park.

The name "Gwynedd" is also used for a preserved county, covering Anglesey as well as the principal area.

[edit] History

The modern Gwynedd was originally created on April 1, 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the entirety of the former administrative counties of Anglesey, and Caernarvonshire along with all of Merionethshire apart from Edeyrnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd), and also a few parishes in Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoget, Llanrwst Rural and Tir Ifan.

In the latest round of local government reorganisation, on April 1, 1996, it was reconstituted to cover a different area, losing Anglesey, which became an independent unitary, and Aberconwy (which included the Denbighshire parts) to the new Conwy county borough. Modern Gwynedd is governed by Gwynedd Council.

As the new Gwynedd covers most of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire (less the part in the borough of Conwy) and Merionethshire (less for former Edeyrnion Rural District), the reconstituted area was originally named Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed it Gwynedd on April 2.

The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy - in 2003 the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the modern Gwynedd along with Anglesey, and that the borough of Conwy is entirely within Clwyd.

The original Gwynedd contained several districts, these were Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey. As a unitary authority the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain in use as areas for area committees.

A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 from the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name "Gwynedd". In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, "Gwynedd" had been proposed as a name for a local auhority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police.

The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of the County of Gwynedd, and was run a as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy Borough County Council, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council does still appoint 9 of the 18 members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority (Conwy council appoints 3, and the National Assembly for Wales appoints the remaining 6).

[edit] See also

Bodysgallen Hall
List of places in Gwynedd for all villages, towns and cities in Gwynedd.
Snowdonia National Park
Llŷn Peninsula

Image:Commons-logo.svg	Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gwynedd

Gwynedd as an administrative county from 1974 to 1996

Principal areas of Wales	Image:Flag of Wales 2.svg
Subdivisions created by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 Anglesey \| Blaenau Gwent \| Bridgend \| Caerphilly \| Cardiff \| Carmarthenshire \| Ceredigion \| Conwy \| Denbighshire \| Flintshire \| Gwynedd \| Merthyr Tydfil \| Monmouthshire \| Neath Port Talbot \| Newport \| Pembrokeshire \| Powys \| Rhondda Cynon Taff \| Swansea \| Torfaen \| Vale of Glamorgan \| Wrexham