Llanfairpwllgwyngyll

There has been human activity and settlement in the area of the village since the Neolithic era (4000–2000 BC), with subsistence agriculture and fishing the most common occupations for much of its early history. The island of Anglesey was at that point reachable only by boat across the Menai Strait. A largely destroyed, collapsed dolmen 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.[9] The probable remains of a hillfort, with a fragmentary bank and ditch, were recorded on an outcrop known as Craig y Ddinas.[10]

The area was briefly invaded and captured by the Romans under Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, temporarily abandoned in order to consolidate forces against Boudicca, then held until the end of Roman Britain.

With the withdrawal of the Roman forces, the area fell under the control of the early medieval Kingdom of Gwynedd. There has probably been a small Christian religious site, perhaps a monastic cell, here since the 7th century. [11] Surveys of the later medieval period show that the tenants of the township of Pwllgwyngyll, as it was then known, held a total of 9 bovates of land from the Bishop of Bangor under the feudal system.[12] A church was built during the medieval period and dedicated to Mary, 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. [13] 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 the Marquisate of Anglesey, and was subject to enclosures. 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 the Menai Suspension Bridge by Thomas Telford, and connected with London in 1850 with the building of the Britannia Bridge and the busy North Wales Coast railway line, which connected the rest of Great Britain to the ferry port of Holyhead. The old village, known as Pentre Uchaf ("upper village") was joined by new development around the railway station, which became known as Pentre Isaf, the "lower village".

The first meeting of the Women's Institute took place in Llanfairpwll in 1915, and the movement (which began in Canada) then spread through the rest of the British Isles.[14]

The long form of the name is the longest place name in the United Kingdom and one of the longest in the world at 58 characters (51 "letters" since "ch" and "ll" are digraphs, and are treated as single letters in the Welsh language).

Literally translated, the name means: [The] church of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [of the] pool (pwll)[15] of the white hazels (gwyn gyll) near [lit. "over against"] (go ger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the church of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) of the red cave (-ogo[f] goch). The latter element has also been translated as "the cave of St Tysilio the Red".[16]

The parish, and village itself, was originally known as Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll: this form of the name is still often used. Pwllgwyngyll, "the pool of the white hazels",[17] was the original name of the medieval township within whose boundaries the present-day village lies:[18] 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 the Bishop of Norwich:[19] the suffixing of the township name to that of the church would have served to distinguish the church from the many other sites dedicated to Mary in Wales. The parish name was recorded as Llanfair y Pwllgwyngyll (y = "(of) the") as far back as the mid 16th century, in Leland's Itinerary.

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 (see below). The village is, however, still signposted Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, marked on Ordnance Survey maps as Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll and the railway station is officially named Llanfairpwll, a form used by local residents. The name is also shortened to Llanfair PG, sufficient to distinguish it from other places in Wales called Llanfair.

llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb)

• Wilfred Mitford Davies (1895–1966) Welsh artist and publisher, went to school in the town
• Sir John "Kyffin" Williams, KBE, RA (1918–2006) Welsh landscape painter, lived at Pwllfanogl, Llanfairpwll
• John Lasarus Williams (1924–2004), known as John L, was a Welsh nationalist activist.
• Naomi Watts (born 1968), English actress and film producer, lived in the town as a child
• Taron Egerton (born 1989), Welsh actor, went to school in the town
• Siobhan Owen (born 1993), soprano and harpist from Llanfairpwll who now lives in Adelaide, emigrated aged two.

• Llanfairpwll F.C., the village's football club
• List of long place names

• Village website, listed in the 2002 Guinness Book of Records as the world's longest valid Internet domain name
• Llanfairpwllgwyngyll at Curlie
• Explanation of village name
• Flickr photos
• Photos of Llanfair PG and surrounding area on geograph