Llangollen

Llangollen [ ɬanɡoɬen ] is a market town in the county of Denbighshire in north-east Wales, UK. The town lies on the River Dee in the margins of Berwyn Mountains.

Large economic importance of tourism because of the city lies on the main route to Snowdonia in North Wales. There are some interesting historical relics in the area: the Valle Crucis Abbey, founded in 1200; the column of Eliseg, a remarkable stone cross from the 9th century; Castle Dinas Bran -, celebrations of a Welsh prince from the 13th century, and a bridge over the Dee from the 14th century.

Eisteddfod

Llangollen is the home of 1946 as an expression of the peoples newly launched International Eisteddfod. Choirs, folk dance groups and artists from around the world participate in the Welsh art festival held annually. In the beginning there were 42 choirs from 14 countries; today take part in more than 120 choirs and dance groups from over 30 countries. The festival is one of the largest of its kind and draws in the festival week around 130,000 visitors. In 2004, the Llangollener Eisteddfod was - unsuccessfully - nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Urban Development

Llangollen is long primarily agricultural area in a century. The local water mill is over 600 years old; they gave farmers their flour. Sheep farming was predominant, and the weaving durable textiles had its place on the farms. Later, several factories were built for the processing of wool and cotton along the Dee.

To get to Llangollen on the north bank of the Dee, cross the Bishop Trevor Bridge, built by that very bishop and expanded in the 14th century under Elizabeth I to a beautiful arched bridge. For North Wales and Ireland travelers, the city was a long time ago a master station, and the numerous stagecoach inns along Bridge Street and Church Street. Real prosperity set in Victorian times but only one with the Holyhead Road, built by Thomas Telford and was completed in 1826. This created a continuous connection from the port of Holyhead on Anglesey through the north Wales to London; the road is now a historic highway and feeder to the A5 motorway. As a result, Llangollen from a small Welsh village rapidly developed into a considerable town. The most impressive Victorian buildings in the city are to be found in the Castle Street; the road is the shopping area of Llangollen and was built in 1850-1870 as a direct connection from Telford's new highway to the bridge over the Dee. Showpiece of Victorian architecture is the town hall built in 1867.

Shortly before the Victorian era was the Llangollen Canal as a branch of the Shropshire Union Canal, a so-called Narrowboat Canal, was built. The most spectacular piece of this channel is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a 35 m high and 305 m long trough bridge, downstream from Llangollen. Although primarily intended for the transport of limestone, shale, coal and wool, the new waterway has also triggered tourism. Attraction of the Victorian Llangeollen were the original Pleasure Boats of Captain Jones. The barges were towed visitors to sights such as the Valle Crucis Abbey, Eliseg 's Pillar and the Horseshoe Falls.

The railroad of the Vale of Llangollen Railway Llangollen reached in 1861. Middle of the 1960s was shut down, the distance between Ruabon and Bala. A few enthusiasts attended in September 1975 for the re-opening as a museum railway Llangollen Railway. Meanwhile, the 12 km route along the Dee Valley are operated.

Queen Victoria used the rail link to Llangollen during her visit in 1889., You, the city had ever visited in 1832, shortly before her accession to the throne. To celebrate its jubilee honored the Llangollen regent in 1899 with the construction of the Victoria Promenade on the south bank of the Dee. Visitors and locals strolling on her still today the river bank.

Plas Newydd

On the Butler Hill on the outskirts of Llangollen is Plas Newydd, one of the strangest houses of the United Kingdom, as well as the fate of the two women who for 50 years lived, is one of the strangest that time. Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby her companion, both of which came from the Irish nobility, to the applicable conventions resisted, left Ireland and rented the cottage in Llangollen on the outskirts of the city, there to spend their lives together. The two hermitesses were known with time as the "Ladies of Llangollen ", and many celebrities of their time came to visit them, including William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, the Lakeland poet William Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott and the actress Sarah Siddons.

The cottage was originally a simple building, covered with stone slabs and square. The upstairs had three windows, and in the basement was located on left and right of the central door. Between 1789 and 1814 the exterior was more demanding. In addition, a storage, and a further space is added to the rear side. 1798, the first transformation phase was completed; the house had now the first floor three piece windows and a Gothic pointed arch windows on the library. Until 1814 then the bay windows were added upstairs. Below carved canopies were made ​​up of oak on the window. At this time the house was certainly the most beautiful; a whitewashed Gothic Cottage ( the Elizabethan half-timbered paneling got the house only in Victorian times ) surrounded by flower beds and espalier fruit and with an eye on a green meadow.

A curiosity of that kind is the interior of the house dar. Those who visited the ladies for the second time, had to bring as a gift either a wood carving or a piece of colored glass. With these gifts of friendship, a space was boarded by one; the pieces of glass were used as windowpanes. The Eichenschnitzerein in the small hall date back to the year 1192.

Castel Dinas Bran -

Although only a few ruins of Dinas Bran Castle are left, you can barely see the ruins on the hill at the edge of the Dee Valley. The name refers to a Dinas hillfort from the Iron Age, the medieval castle builders have designed their own purposes accordingly. The Wall from the Iron Age and the trench that comprise the eastern part of the hill in a wide arc, are clearly visible. Also there is a rock-hewn medieval ditch, 4.5 to 6 m deep, vertical side walls which are still in place.

The castle has an unexpected size; the rectangular floor plan has a length of about 90 m and a width of 40 m. At the eastern end of the site are the remains of a small square donjon are on ground floor level, which is perhaps older than the rest of the system. On the northeast corner, there are remains of foundations of a long, narrow and unusually designed gatehouse with twin towers of the English type. In addition, there is astride the southern wall something that could have been designed as a D tower. The main upright masonry to recognize from the valley, well, all that was left from the hall building of the castle.

Dinas Bran ( Welsh for fortress of Bran ), which is also used as a possible Grail into consideration, was probably this part of Powys Gruffydd Maelor built in 1260 by Madog ap, Prince. The castle seems to have served more prestige, not a real need for protection, and in this respect it has probably surpassed all other strongholds of the Welsh. In 1277, when the army of Edward I was advancing inexorably, the occupation, the castle finally burned down. The British commander Henry de Lacy suggested in a letter to the king, to build the fortress again, because in Wales no stronger and in England is to be found no more. But his proposal fell on deaf ears, the troops marched off, and Dinas Bran - has been left to decay.

Swell

• Encyclopædia Britannica: Britannica CD 99 Multimedia Edition
• H. E. Conrad: Wales; Prestel Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7913-0594-8, page 156
• Elizabeth Mavor: The Ladies of Llangollen: a study of romantic friendship; Daphne, 1st Edition, Göttingen 1994, ISBN 3-89137-016-4.
• Castles in Wales. The Automobile Association; The Wales Tourist Board, 1982, ISBN 0-86145-125-2, page 71