Wednesday, October 05, 2011

ABC Wednesday - L

What else could I choose for the letter L but the village with the longest name in Britain?
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch meaning Saint Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio of the red cave.

The town was originally called Llanfairpwllgwyngyll but had the extra letters added on in the late nineteenth century, some say as an early publicity stunt to attract tourists. It certainly worked as the small town on the island of Anglesey just off the North Wales coast is a popular tourist destination, everyone wanting to have their photo taken with the famous railway sign.

If you ever visit Wales you'll find hundreds of places beginning with Llan, which means church, such as Llangollen, (church of Collen), Llandeilo (Teilo), Llanmadoc (Madoc) and so on.

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16 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

"Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch meaning Saint Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio of the red cave."

Of COURSE it does; it's SO obvious. (Hardly)

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Roy Schulze said...

I like how they include the pronunciation on the sign, but then they'd pretty much have to since Welsh, to my Anglo-Saxon at least, seems almost like a secret code.

L is for Loss

Jane and Chris said...

I've only ever known 2 people who could pronounce that name!
Jane x

Dr Stu said...

Llamedos? LLareggub? Those are my two favourites ;-)

Carver said...

Wow that's a very long name. Great one for L day.

Chubskulit Rose said...

Whoa, that's the first time i've seen a very long name.

My ABC, please come and see.

Joy said...

Its a lot harder to say than Holyhead. Love the sign.

The Poet said...

Hello.
WoW! Imagine trying to spell that name if you're not Welsh!

Lovely post.
Thanks for sharing & visiting.

The Last Kiss

Live2cherish said...

Are you serious about the long name?

Leslie: said...

I've seen that name before but don't ever expect me to pronounce it! lol I'd probably spit! lol You're looking good there! :D

Katney said...

Perfect--and of course I believe the how rest of the alphabet is in there as well.

ChrisJ said...

Great photo and to see the name again. I love North Wales. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Furtheron said...

my son's girlfriend can say it very well but then she comes originally from somewhere that starts Llan... and is living somewhere that starts Llan... right next door to the Llan in fact

She was txting a friend the other day when staying with us, my son pointed out that it looked like she'd "sat on the keyboard"... "That is Welsh!" she said as she cuffed him around the head

James Higham said...

I've been there many times - can you spell it with your eyes closed?

Chronicles of Illusions said...

love it ;)

www.las-palmas-3d.com said...

Pretty effective piece of writing, thanks for the post.