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Snowdonia
Snowdonia, or Eryri (Welsh: [ɛrəri] ⓘ), is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The lower Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.
The national park has an area of 823 square miles (2,130 km2) (the fourth-largest in the UK), and covers most of central and southern Gwynedd and the western part of Conwy County Borough. This is much larger than the area traditionally considered Snowdonia, and in addition to the five ranges above includes the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris, and Aran ranges and the Dyfi Hills. It also includes most of the coast between Porthmadog and Aberdyfi. The park was the first of the three national parks of Wales to be designated, in October 1951, and the third in the UK after the Peak District and Lake District, which were established in April and May 1951 respectively. The park received 3.89 million visitors in 2015.
The name "Snowdon" means "snow hill" and is derived from the Old English elements "snāw" and "dūn", the latter meaning "hill". It is first recorded as Snawdune in 1095. "Snowdonia" is derived from the name of the mountain and is first recorded in 1284, but there is no evidence it survived in common use until it was re-popularised in the nineteenth century. The Welsh name of the mountain is Yr Wyddfa, and is unrelated to the name of the area.
Eryri is first recorded in 1191. It likely derived from eryr, meaning "ridge", with the collective form eryri referring to the area around Snowdon. A popular interpretation is that the name means "place of the eagle", as eryr also means "eagle" and the two meanings are probably cognate.
Before the boundaries of the national park were designated, "Snowdonia" was generally used to refer to a smaller upland area of northern Gwynedd centred on the Snowdon massif. The national park covers an area more than twice that size, extending south into the Meirionnydd area.
This difference is apparent in books published before 1951. In George Borrow's 1862 Wild Wales he states that "Snowdon or Eryri is no single hill, but a mountainous region, the loftiest part of which [is] called Y Wyddfa", making a distinction between the summit of the mountain and the surrounding massif. The Mountains of Snowdonia by H. Carr & G. Lister (1925) defines "Eryri" as "composed of the two cantrefs of Arfon and Arllechwedd, and the two commotes of Nant Conwy and Eifionydd", which corresponds to Caernarfonshire with the exception of southwest Llŷn and the Creuddyn Peninsula.
In Geography Volume 26, a journal of the Geographical Association published in 1941, Thomas Cotterill Warrington, writes a section titled "Nomenclature in the Mountains of Carnarvonshire" defining both "Snowdonia" and "Eryri". "Snowdonia" was described by Warrington as a "tourist's or mountaineer's term" which encompassed the district containing Pen-y-Gwryd at its centre. Its boundaries were described as stretching from the Conwy valley to Fairy Glen gorge (near Betws-y-Coed), then from the Lledr Valley towards Dolwyddelan, and then across the hills to the valley of Ffestiniog and to Porthmadog (Portmadoc), before following the road to Caernarfon passing Dolbenmaen and Llanllyfni. "Eryri" was defined by Warrington to encompass all of what he described as "Snowdonia" plus adding the highlands between Bwlch Mawr and Yr Eifl.
In the 1946 book National Parks for Britain, by Henry Chessell, he stated that the term Snowdonia was a Latin term dating to Edward I of England and applied to the "mountain district of Carnarvonshire". Which encompasses the masses of Snowdon, the Carneddau, Glyderau, Moel Hebog, as well as the mountains extending from Moel Siabod forming the Moelwynion which was in neighbouring Merionethshire. The Nant Ffrancon Pass, Llanberis Pass, the glen between Siabod, the Glyderau and Capel Curig, and the Gwynant valley to Beddgelert, separates those mountain groups. Snowdonia was also suggested to extend further south into Merionethshire, with this part bounded by the north by Afon Glaslyn, the glen between Dolgellau and Trawsfynydd to the east, Cadair Idris (overlooking the Mawddach estuary) to the south and the coast to the west.
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Snowdonia
Snowdonia, or Eryri (Welsh: [ɛrəri] ⓘ), is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The lower Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.
The national park has an area of 823 square miles (2,130 km2) (the fourth-largest in the UK), and covers most of central and southern Gwynedd and the western part of Conwy County Borough. This is much larger than the area traditionally considered Snowdonia, and in addition to the five ranges above includes the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris, and Aran ranges and the Dyfi Hills. It also includes most of the coast between Porthmadog and Aberdyfi. The park was the first of the three national parks of Wales to be designated, in October 1951, and the third in the UK after the Peak District and Lake District, which were established in April and May 1951 respectively. The park received 3.89 million visitors in 2015.
The name "Snowdon" means "snow hill" and is derived from the Old English elements "snāw" and "dūn", the latter meaning "hill". It is first recorded as Snawdune in 1095. "Snowdonia" is derived from the name of the mountain and is first recorded in 1284, but there is no evidence it survived in common use until it was re-popularised in the nineteenth century. The Welsh name of the mountain is Yr Wyddfa, and is unrelated to the name of the area.
Eryri is first recorded in 1191. It likely derived from eryr, meaning "ridge", with the collective form eryri referring to the area around Snowdon. A popular interpretation is that the name means "place of the eagle", as eryr also means "eagle" and the two meanings are probably cognate.
Before the boundaries of the national park were designated, "Snowdonia" was generally used to refer to a smaller upland area of northern Gwynedd centred on the Snowdon massif. The national park covers an area more than twice that size, extending south into the Meirionnydd area.
This difference is apparent in books published before 1951. In George Borrow's 1862 Wild Wales he states that "Snowdon or Eryri is no single hill, but a mountainous region, the loftiest part of which [is] called Y Wyddfa", making a distinction between the summit of the mountain and the surrounding massif. The Mountains of Snowdonia by H. Carr & G. Lister (1925) defines "Eryri" as "composed of the two cantrefs of Arfon and Arllechwedd, and the two commotes of Nant Conwy and Eifionydd", which corresponds to Caernarfonshire with the exception of southwest Llŷn and the Creuddyn Peninsula.
In Geography Volume 26, a journal of the Geographical Association published in 1941, Thomas Cotterill Warrington, writes a section titled "Nomenclature in the Mountains of Carnarvonshire" defining both "Snowdonia" and "Eryri". "Snowdonia" was described by Warrington as a "tourist's or mountaineer's term" which encompassed the district containing Pen-y-Gwryd at its centre. Its boundaries were described as stretching from the Conwy valley to Fairy Glen gorge (near Betws-y-Coed), then from the Lledr Valley towards Dolwyddelan, and then across the hills to the valley of Ffestiniog and to Porthmadog (Portmadoc), before following the road to Caernarfon passing Dolbenmaen and Llanllyfni. "Eryri" was defined by Warrington to encompass all of what he described as "Snowdonia" plus adding the highlands between Bwlch Mawr and Yr Eifl.
In the 1946 book National Parks for Britain, by Henry Chessell, he stated that the term Snowdonia was a Latin term dating to Edward I of England and applied to the "mountain district of Carnarvonshire". Which encompasses the masses of Snowdon, the Carneddau, Glyderau, Moel Hebog, as well as the mountains extending from Moel Siabod forming the Moelwynion which was in neighbouring Merionethshire. The Nant Ffrancon Pass, Llanberis Pass, the glen between Siabod, the Glyderau and Capel Curig, and the Gwynant valley to Beddgelert, separates those mountain groups. Snowdonia was also suggested to extend further south into Merionethshire, with this part bounded by the north by Afon Glaslyn, the glen between Dolgellau and Trawsfynydd to the east, Cadair Idris (overlooking the Mawddach estuary) to the south and the coast to the west.