View allAll Photos Tagged Guidebook
The guidebook says Yosemite Point is where you can see the iconic Eastern part of the Valley, if you go over the jumble of boulders to the East. This is where you can see Half Dome, Tenaya Canyon, the Clark Range, Clouds Rest, Mt. Starr King, and North Dome from above, and on the North rim.
The brother, Tomas, lives in Spain, in Barcelona. He has a brand-new office in Athens, Greece. Last he was there, he got a guide book about Sweden! From his Swedish colleague, Peter, who is married to an American woman. Lynn, who has a British friend, Neil, who after living and working in Sweden for twenty years wrote this guide book about Sweden. So I will now read it to figure out what I have been doing wrong all my life! Oh, and the brother got the guide book about Spain btw.
This new series complements my award-winning guidebook, Chicago in Stone and Clay: A Guide to the Windy City's Architectural Geology. Henceforth I'll just call it CSC.
The CSC sections and page reference for the buildings featured here: 5.7, 5.8, 5.9; pp. 47-53.
Facing northeastward from Michigan Boulevard, a little south of Washington Street.
In CSC's introduction, I state that "to the person with the heart, soul, and understandings of a geologist, the city is not a denial of nature. It’s a vast affirmation of it." And this is true of Chicago more than any other urban center I know. This place stands proud and naked on its flat. low, and ancient lakebed, interfingered with the water, sky, and land around it. And everything in it hums with vital energy received from its surroundings.
In the photo above, advection fog formed from warm spring breezes blowing over Lake Michigan's cold surface drifts between the tops of skyscrapers of three architectural generations. In the left foreground there's the first Prudential Building ("One Pru," completed in 1954). In my childhood it was the Windy City's tallest building. Its exterior materials include Indiana's Salem Limestone, aluminum, and the rare Norwegian Støren Trondhjemite.
To its right, the Aon Center (once the Standard Oil Building, then the Amoco Building), dates to 1973. Its 83-story immensity was originally clad in Carrara Marble panels—lovely and gleaming in the light, but cut too thin. When they began to buckle and fall after prolonged exposure to the lakeshore's fearsome combination of wind, ample precipitation, and temperature extremes, they were replaced at very great cost with Mount Airy Granodiorite from North Carolina.
And poking up behind One Pru's antenna is the Postmodernist Two Pru (2 Prudential Plaza, 1990). It's primarily clad in Spanish Mondariz Granite.
All these structures, and I hope many more, will be grist for my mill in coming posts of this set. Then we'll delve deeper into this remarkable city's huge inventory of geologically derived materials.
For much more on the sites touched upon here, get and read Chicago in Stone and Clay, described at its Cornell University Press webpage.
The other photos and discussions in this series can be found in my "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion album. In addition, you'll find other relevant images and descriptions in my Architectural Geology: Chicago album.
United Counties was, geographically, one of the smaller bus operators prior to the formation of the National Bus Company - clustered primarily in the counties of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. This 1950s (dated by adverts) guide is, artistically rather a throwback to the 1930s and I wonder if earlier artwork was used? By the early '50s, with post-WW2 austerity on the wane, holidays and coaching excursions became more available and booklets such as these were issued by most bus and coach operators to publicise their excursions and express services.
Map printout from the internet (pasted on to the left page) and details on bookstores that I had planned to check out during my trip to NYC in my Moleskine notebook.
From the 2013 Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour guidebook —
"Sign Company: Coastal Neon
Date: 1953
They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway! This landmark sign from Joe Marty’s was accompanied by neon from adjacent restaurant El Chico, in which pizza magnate “Shakey” Johnson reportedly spun pies in the early days. The lettering on this wonderful sign is none other than Joe’s signature.
Sacramento native Joe Marty’s baseball stats are impressive: he was the 1936 Pacific Coast batting champion, and played for the Sacramento Solons, San Francisco Seals, and Chicago Cubs. He scored a home run for the Cubs in the 1938 World Series versus the Yankees.
Joe Marty’s was a shrine to baseball— decorated with the original 1948 home plate from (then) nearby Edmonds Field (now Target) and festooned with caps, pennants, and signed photos from baseball legends. Some recall that Joe was known to kick out patrons for ordering “sissy drinks.” We’ll have a martini, Joe!"
troybooks.co.uk/a-witch's-natural-history.html
CHAPTER 13:
BEYOND THE CROOKED STILE
It is said that Mother Goose is derived from Frau Holt, or Herodias, the goddess of the witches of northern Europe, who flies at night astride a goose, naked and (even in my childhood imagination) voluptuous in spite of the cold. She flies at the head of the Furious Horde, the Wild Hunt, her raven hair streaming out behind her, her red slitted pupils glowing on Samhain night. To be sure, she flies above the Ridgeway, where the feet of the living and of the dead have passed for millennia; a spirit path if ever there was one. At Bishopstone in Wiltshire, it draws nigh the Icknield Way, the Iron Age road to Norfolk, and between the high road and the low road lie a series of colossal gouges in the chalk which even the tourist guidebooks describe as “another world”. Five miles to the east, the chalk escarpment is rippled by glaciation to form “the Devil’s Step Ladder”, and beyond it the Uffington White Horse, smattered in spring with an interpunction of twayblades and spotted orchids, seems set to leap across the downs. Beneath that is a hill with a flattened top, where St. George purportedly slew the dragon, its blood scouring the grass to the chalk beneath it. There are few landscapes which contain so awe-inspiring an arrangement of sacred objects. The best way for the witch to approach them is from the Ridgeway itself, down one of the many paths that branch from it, and to do so, one must invariably negotiate a stile. Perhaps one day you may meet me at one of them.
In times of old, you might have left a crooked sixpence there. Weyland the Smith, whose megalithic forge lies just off the Ridgeway on the route between Uffington and Bishopstone, would certainly have accepted it, provided you did not attempt to fob him off with a lesser coin of copper. The Neolithic long barrow, sentried by four gaunt, pitted sarsen stones, is surrounded by towering beech trees, whose nuts crack underfoot as one approaches, and barn owls screech in the darkness. Come here at the winter solstice, with the rising of the sun, and the shadows shift like ghosts around you. Legend insists that Weyland will shoe your horse; I have a suspicion that he prefers to beat swords and axe-heads upon his forge, for he is not so far removed from the Green Knight, the Holly King who reigns throughout the winter, armed to the teeth in readiness to meet his rival, the Oak, on the occasion of his beheading. His namesake, the Icelandic Vőlundr, once decapitated a king’s sons by slamming the lid of a treasure chest down upon their necks; later he raped a princess who asked him to mend her ring. The stone at nearby Snivelling Corner was supposedly thrown by Weyland at an incompetent assistant. It is best not to bother him with trifles. But this does not stop wayfarers from leaving behind an assortment of charms, from elaborately woven corn dollies to the Rastafarian wicker man currently on display at the Uffington museum – a practice which dates back at least as far as 1939, when a “Witch’s moon dial”, made from human bone, was deposited there. Mary Chalmers, a woman skilled at curing cows and sheep, who lived at Little Moreton, east of Didcot, was the proud owner of a skull named “Wayland Smithy”, which was sold in a curiosity shop after she died in 1810. Satanic rites at Weyland’s Smithy have even been blamed for a robbery at the thirteenth century church at Compton Beauchamp in 1998, in the course of which the tabernacle was smashed, and the chalice and sacrament stolen – if the churchwarden is to be believed – for nefarious uses at the long barrow.
On a morning in early spring, the Smithy is a different place; cowslips sprout from the burial mound, and the beech buds burst with pale, translucent leaves. The resident toad, who lives beneath the beech tree to your right, emerges glass-eyed from his torpor. Everything is waking, except for Weyland himself, who sinks into the earth as the sap rises in the trees. From here, one may turn east, dodging the cagouled walkers, and return to the White Horse and the hill fort that rears above it, listening for the cronks of ravens on the way. Alternatively, one may descend towards the Vale, seeking Hardwell Camp, another fort which lies forgotten, brooding in a hazel coppice. Or one may turn up one’s collar and head westwards down the Ridgeway, towards Russley Downs and Bishopstone. If you would come with me now, you will take this route.
No, do not look up yet to admire the scenery, and if you tarry until the autumn, do not be distracted by the berries of sloe, spindle, bryony and woody nightshade. Look down at the Ridgeway itself. You are walking on prehistory, for surely the Roman road must have been pre-dated in these parts by a pathway joining the White Horse to the Smithy. More than that; you are walking on the palaeontological past, for the chalk of the Ridgeway is composed of the microscopic remains of Palaeozoic sea creatures. The rounded, flattened stone which just crunched beneath your walking boots is an echinoid, a sea urchin, millions of years old, revered by the old witches and Doreen Valiente alike as “thunder stones” or “shepherds’ crowns”. More than a hundred miles from the coast, you are now beachcombing on the Ridgeway. Pick up the test, and your witch’s intuition will feel the pulse of life still within it. On the underside is the beaked mouth, crusted with chalk. On the dorsal side there is a five-pointed star. Treasure it in your pocket, and use it for sortilege, along with the petrified bivalve and the knob of coral you found beside it. Keep searching, and you will discover that these are not uncommon; the challenge is to find a brachiopod, a little clam with a muppet-like mouth. The exultation of this discovery should carry you in a reverie all the way to Russley Downs.
As you draw near to your destination, a hare darts and jinks in front of you. It has shot from out of hiding in the undergrowth at the side of the Ridgeway, like a bolt from a crazed crossbow, fired by a drunkard through a maze of mirrors. It is not by accident that the verb “to jink”, used to describe the hare’s habit of rapidly changing direction in flight from a pursuer, has affinities with the word “jinx”. The crooked path of the hare has helped to establish its reputation as a magical creature from time immemorial. The ancient dramatist Aeschylus records that Artemis, who had always opposed the expedition against Troy, was enraged when two eagles devoured a pregnant hare, which the diviner Calchas interpreted, to her further indignation, as an omen of the victory of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Boudica, the Briton warrior queen, driven into a fury by the rape of British women by Roman soldiers, released a hare in the course of a rite in honour of the war goddess Andraste, before a retaliatory raid in which captured Roman women were skewered on spears, their breasts severed and stuffed in their mouths. It is possible that the hare represented the Romans Boudica intended to hunt down, but it is equally likely that the release of the hare was the unleashing of a curse. Even the Christian tradition is unable to obscure the magical significance of hares. A late medieval saint’s life which very likely reflects the influence of an earlier pagan tale, the Historia Divae Monacellae, records that a hare pursued by Brychwel Ysithrog, Prince of Powys, took refuge under the skirt of the kneeling Saint Melangell, and his dogs cringed in terror at the sight of her. At her trial in 1662, the Nairnshire witch Isobel Gowdie confessed that she had the power to change into a hare at will by reciting the charm: “I shall go into a hare/ With sorrow, and sighing, and mickle care,/ And I shall go in the Devil’s name/ Till I come home again.” Indeed, there are innumerable folk tales from across the country which attest to the ability of witches to transform themselves into hares, a fact which is taken as proven when a woman is found with an injury corresponding to that inflicted on a hare by its pursuers. John Monro, an eighteenth century doctor who ran the Bethlehem hospital for the mentally ill, better known as “Bedlam”, recorded the case of a Mr. Walker, who had been in the company of the devil for seven years, and had seen a vision of “the fall of all mankind”. Mr. Walker attributed his affliction to a hare he had killed some twenty-seven years earlier, “which he did not think to be a common hare but… something he knew not of what infinite power.” It is not surprising, therefore, that you feel an affinity with this creature, as it scarpers bulge-eyed down the gorge to your right. It beckons you on its crooked way.
Here, therefore, you must depart from the Ridgeway, for your path lies through that gorge in the chalk. At present, there is only a metal gate, but you will feel that you have climbed a stile. Half way down, it is marked on either side by two thorn trees. The gouged hill rears on either side of you. Linnets twitter. Black-faced sheep stare at you. You feel as though you are on a processional way to the underworld; you left your sixpence in case you need to cross the Styx. It is fitting that it is littered with innumerable carcasses. They are partridges, their flayed sternums, wishbones and coracoids gleaming white, picked clean of red flesh. Their wings lie as though dropped by accident, like forgotten handkerchiefs. A mournful whistle overhead; a buzzard takes wing. Crows wheel and craw. You descend to the depths of the gorge, your progress halted by a stile beside a spring. The silence here is uncanny, and you acknowledge another ancient presence. Strip lynchets rear to your right, traversed by the trails of bullocks. Strange optical illusions cause the landscape to writhe as you walk through it. You may climb the stile and pass through a wooded tunnel, lined with hart’s-tongue ferns, to the twittering world of Bishopstone and its duck-pond, or you may turn aside and walk back uphill another way, for the gorge down which you walked has been joined by another. Look up the second gorge. It is surmounted by a colossal field system. Scramble up the hill towards it; a stairway for giants. When you reach the top, sit and stare. The mundane world stretches out beneath you: Swindon with its monstrous, magic roundabouts barely besmirches the landscape. The Vale seems interminable, stretching into mist, and something within you has taken flight, with the buzzards and the crows. Above you and behind you: a stile, and the Ridgeway, awaiting your return.
As I sit here beside you, I can still remember the voice of my father; he was younger than I am now, and I was only four. I was ready for sleep, and he was reading from Mother Goose:
There was a crooked man
And he walked a crooked mile
He found a crooked sixpence
Upon a crooked stile…
I knew then that this was not a nursery rhyme, but a canticle of the Craft uttered by Fraw Holt herself, and I have sought the crooked mile ever since. It is crooked because it is the way of the hare, of the shape-changed witch, and because it must negotiate a course between sacred objects. It is a mile in the more liberal sense of the word: negotiating it may take a minute, or it may take a lifetime. The sixpence is the price of my soul. The stile is a real one, leading down into the gorge above Bishopstone, but it is also a metaphorical one. It is a gateway to the otherworld, the world of the sabbat. Against it, the crooked man leans his staff; beneath it lies the pot of ointment which gives him, his crooked mouse – and their crooked cat – the gift of flight.
Inktober Day 14, 2024 Prompt: Guidebook. With fond memories of how some books have the capacity to open up new worlds.
One of the many district or area guides produced by the railways to lure tourists and sell their travel services; this was issued by the London Midland & Scottish Railway in 1930 and details the attractions, scenery and transport options for the Peak District that is largely situated in Derbyshire. Surrounded as it is by the populous areas of Lancashire, Yorkshire, the East Midlands and the West Midlands the area has long been popular with visitors.
The subtitle "The romantic country of Dorothy Vernon" relates to the heiress of Haddon Hall, in the Peaks, who according to legend eloped, in 1563, against her father's wishes and married John Manners; we can see this being played out in the illustration!
For many years the LMSR did not have such a strong corporate 'look' or identity for their publciity, certainly when measured against say the LNER. In early post-Grouping years much of the publicity continued to follow int he style of the old LNWR, one of the major constituents of the company. By 1930 the y were getting more adventurous in terms of style and design, perhaps realising that rivals were stealing a march, but they still did not have a 'family' look about them. This booklet is typical in that it is quite different to other similar area guides. The cover is quite striking but sadly unattributed which is a shame as the illustration and lettering are quite 'period' in style, if not cutting edge graphics. Likewise the logo on the back cover " Travel LMS both ways" is not often seen. The 'Clock Face map of the Peak District is attributed to " Creak Davis" and I can only think this is perhaps Ralph Richard Creak-Davis (1903 - 2002) who changed his name by deed poll to Angus Brent in 1938? It certainly captures the heavily engineered ex-Midland Railway mainline through the Peaks.
The railway map of Derbyshire shows the LMSR's penetration of the area - with the West Coast Main Line to the west and the Midland Main Line north from Derby to both Manchester and Sheffield. The cuts of the 1960s saw the once great Midland main line south of Buxton and north of Matlock sadly closed, leaving large parts of what is now a congested National Park with little or no public transport. The map also shows one or two of the county's remarkable railway lines such as the Cromford and High Peak Railway line.
These are from the Alien World: A Complete Illustrated Guide published in 1980. I posted illustrations from another book in the series in DBG #13, that one was a bit ridiculous, but this one goes to whole other level. The weirdest thing is the crossover between futuristic sci-fi imagery and Conan the Barbarian style fantasy characters.
On Ebenalp in the Swill Alps.
Taken on my honeymoon in Europe, planned with 3 Rick Steves guidebooks/maps
Places that can't be found in any guidebook or map and yet there are many, even in an almost rainless year. What to do to find them? All I can say is to try and test your undestanding of how nature in this stange island works. That's tough!
But the reward is blowing! 😉
«Αυτά κι αν δεν φαίνονται!..» 😖
Snowdonia, or Eryri 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 shorter 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'. Snowdonia is simply taken from the name of the mountain.
The origins of Eryri are less clear. Two popular interpretations are that the name is related to eryr, 'eagle', and that it means 'highlands' and is related to the Latin oriri ('to rise'). Although eryri is not any direct form of the word eryr in the meaning 'eagle', it is a plural form of eryr in the meaning 'upland'.
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 1907 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 Snowdonia: The National Park of North Wales (1949), F. J. North states that "When the Committee delineated provisional boundaries, they included areas some distance beyond Snowdonia proper".
Snowdonia National Park, also known as Eryri National Park in English and Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri in Welsh, was established in October 1951. It was the third national park in the United Kingdom, following the Peak District and Lake District in April and May of the same year. It covers 827 square miles (2,140 km2) in the counties of Gwynedd and Conwy, and has 37 miles (60 km) of coastline.
The park is governed by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, which has 18 members: 9 appointed by Gwynedd, 3 by Conwy, and 6 by the Welsh Government to represent the national interest. The authority's main offices are at Penrhyndeudraeth.
The park authority used Snowdonia and Snowdon when referring to the national park and mountain in English until February 2023, when it resolved to primarily use the Welsh names, Eryri and Yr Wyddfa. There will be a transitional period of approximately two years in which the authority will continue to use the English names in parentheses — for example "Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)" — where the context requires.
Unlike national parks in other countries, national parks in the UK are made up of both public and private lands under a central planning authority. The makeup of land ownership in the national park is as follows:
More than 26,000 people live within the park, of whom 58.6% could speak Welsh in 2011. While most of the land is either open or mountainous land, there is a significant amount of agricultural activity within the park.
The national park does not include the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which forms a unique non-designated enclave within the park boundaries. The town was deliberately excluded from the park when it was established because of its slate quarrying industry. The boundaries of the Peak District National Park exclude the town of Buxton and its adjacent limestone quarries for a similar reason.
The geology of Snowdonia is key to the area's character. Glaciation during a succession of ice ages, has carved from a heavily faulted and folded succession of sedimentary and igneous rocks, a distinctive rocky landscape. The last ice age ended only just over 11,500 years ago, leaving a legacy of features attractive to visitors but which have also played a part in the development of geological science and continue to provide a focus for educational visits. Visiting Cwm Idwal in 1841 Charles Darwin realised that the landscape was the product of glaciation. The bedrock dates largely from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods with intrusions of Ordovician and Silurian age associated with the Caledonian Orogeny. There are smaller areas of Silurian age sedimentary rocks in the south and northeast and of Cenozoic era strata on the Cardigan Bay coast though the latter are concealed by more recent deposits. Low grade metamorphism of Cambrian and Ordovician mudstones has resulted in the slates, the extraction of which once formed the mainstay of the area's economy.
The principal ranges of the traditional Snowdonia are the Snowdon massif itself, the Glyderau, the Carneddau, the Moelwynion and the Moel Hebog range. All of Wales' 3000ft mountains are to be found within the first three of these massifs and are most popular with visitors. To their south within the wider national park are the Rhinogydd and the Cadair Idris and Aran Fawddwy ranges. Besides these well-defined areas are a host of mountains which are less readily grouped though various guidebook writers have assigned them into groups such as the 'Arenigs', the 'Tarrens' and the 'Dyfi hills'.
Snowdon's summit at 1085 metres (3560 feet) is the highest in Wales and the highest in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands. At 905 metres (2970 feet) Aran Fawddwy is the highest in Wales outside of northern Snowdonia; Cadair Idris, at 893 metres (2930 feet), is next in line.
Rivers draining the area empty directly into Cardigan Bay are typically short and steep. From north to south they include the Glaslyn and Dwyryd which share a common estuary, the Mawddach and its tributaries the Wnion and the Eden, the smaller Dysynni and on the park's southern margin the Dyfi. A series of rivers drain to the north coast. Largest of these is the Conwy on the park's eastern margin which along with the Ogwen drains into Conwy Bay. Further west the Seiont and Gwyrfai empty into the western end of the Menai Strait. A part of the east of the national park is within the upper Dee (Dyfrydwy) catchment and includes Bala Lake, the largest natural waterbody in Wales. A fuller list of the rivers and tributaries within the area is found at List of rivers of Wales.
There are few natural waterbodies of any size in Wales; Snowdonia is home to most. Besides Bala Lake, a few lakes occupy glacial troughs including Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris at Llanberis and Tal-y-llyn Lake south of Cadair Idris. Llyn Dinas, Llyn Gwynant, and Llyn Cwellyn to the south and west of Snowdon feature in this category as do Llyn Cowlyd and Llyn Ogwen on the margins of the Carneddau. There are numerous small lakes occupying glacial cirques owing to the former intensity of glacial action in Snowdonia. Known generically as tarns, examples include Llyn Llydaw, Glaslyn and Llyn Du'r Arddu on Snowdon, Llyn Idwal within the Glyderau and Llyn Cau on Cadair Idris.
There are two large wholly man-made bodies of water in the area, Llyn Celyn and Llyn Trawsfynydd whilst numerous of the natural lakes have had their levels artificially raised to different degrees. Marchlyn Mawr reservoir and Ffestiniog Power Station's Llyn Stwlan are two cases where natural tarns have been dammed as part of pumped storage hydro-electric schemes. A fuller list of the lakes within the area is found at List of lakes of Wales. In 2023, the park standardised its Welsh language lake names, to be also used in English.
The national park meets the Irish Sea coast within Cardigan Bay between the Dovey estuary in the south and the Dwyryd estuary. The larger part of that frontage is characterised by dune systems, the largest of which are Morfa Dyffryn and Morfa Harlech. These two locations have two of the largest sand/shingle spits in Wales. The major indentations of the Dovey, the Mawddach and Dwyryd estuaries, have large expanses of intertidal sands and coastal marsh which are especially important for wildlife: see #Natural history. The northern tip of the national park extends to the north coast of Wales at Penmaen-bach Point, west of Conwy, where precipitous cliffs have led to the road and railway negotiating the spot in tunnels.
There are only three towns within the park boundary, though there are several more immediately beyond it. Dolgellau is the most populous followed by Bala on the eastern boundary and then Harlech overlooking Tremadog Bay. More populous than these is the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which is within an exclave, that is to say it is surrounded by the national park but excluded from it, whilst the towns of Tywyn and Barmouth on the Cardigan Bay coast are within coastal exclaves. Llanrwst in the east, Machynlleth in the south and Porthmadog and Penrhyndeudraeth in the west are immediately beyond the boundary but still identified with the park; indeed the last of these hosts the headquarters of the Snowdonia National Park Authority. Similarly the local economies of the towns of Conwy, Bethesda, and Llanberis in the north are inseparably linked to the national park as they provide multiple visitor services. The lower terminus of the Snowdon Mountain Railway is at Llanberis. Though adjacent to it, Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr are less obviously linked to the park.
There are numerous smaller settlements within the national park: prominent amongst these are the eastern 'gateway' village of Betws-y-Coed, Aberdyfi on the Dovey (Dyfi) estuary and the small village of Beddgelert each of which attract large numbers of visitors. Other sizeable villages are Llanuwchllyn at the southwest end of Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid), Dyffryn Ardudwy, Corris, Trawsfynydd, Llanbedr, Trefriw and Dolwyddelan.
Six primary routes serve Snowdonia, the busiest of which is the A55, a dual carriageway which runs along the north coast and provides strategic road access to the northern part of the national park. The most important north–south route within the park is the A470 running from the A55 south past Betws-y-Coed to Blaenau Ffestiniog to Dolgellau. It exits the park a few miles to the southeast near Mallwyd. From Dolgellau, the A494 runs to Bala whilst the A487 connects with Machynlleth. The A487 loops around the northwest of the park from Bangor via Caernarfon to Porthmadog before turning in land to meet the A470 east of Maentwrog. The A5 was built as a mail coach road by Thomas Telford between London and Holyhead; it enters the park near Pentrefoelas and leaves it near Bethesda. Other A class roads provide more local links; the A493 down the Dovey valley from Machynlleth and up the coast to Tywyn then back up the Mawddach valley to Dolgellau, the A496 from Dolgellau down the north side of the Mawddach to Barmouth then north up the coast via Harlech to Maentwrog. The A4212 connecting Bala with Trawsfynydd is relatively modern having been laid out in the 1960s in connection with the construction of Llyn Celyn. Three further roads thread their often twisting and narrow way through the northern mountains; A4085 links Penrhyndeudraeth with Caernarfon, the A4086 links Capel Curig with Caernarfon via Llanberis and the A498 links Tremadog with the A4086 at Pen-y-Gwryd. Other roads of note include that from Llanuwchllyn up Cwm Cynllwyd to Dinas Mawddwy via the 545 metre (1788') high pass of Bwlch y Groes, the second highest tarmacked public road in Wales and the minor road running northwest and west from Llanuwchllyn towards Bronaber via the 531 metre (1742') high pass of Bwlch Pen-feidiog.
The double track North Wales Coast Line passes along the northern boundary of the park between Conwy and Bangor briefly entering it at Penmaen-bach Point where it is in tunnel. Stations serve the communities of Conwy, Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan and Bangor. The single-track Conwy Valley Line runs south from Llandudno Junction, entering the park north of Betws-y-coed which is served by a station then west up the Lledr valley by way of further stations at Pont-y-pant, Dolwyddelan and Roman Bridge. After passing through a tunnel the passenger line now terminates at Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station. Prior to 1961 the route continued as the Bala and Ffestiniog Railway via Trawsfynydd to Bala joining another former route along the Dee valley which ran southwest via Dolgellau to join the still extant coastal Cambrian Line south of Barmouth. The Pwllheli branch of the Cambrian Line splits from the Aberystwyth branch at Dovey Junction and continues via stations at Aberdovey, Tywyn, Tonfanau, Llwyngwril, Fairbourne and Morfa Mawddach to Barmouth where it crosses the Mawddach estuary by the Grade II* listed wooden Barmouth Bridge, a structure which also provides for walkers and cyclists. Further stations serve Llanaber, Tal-y-bont, Dyffryn Ardudwy, Llanbedr, Pensarn and Llandanwg before reaching Harlech. Tygwyn, Talsarnau and Llandecwyn stations are the last before the line exits the park as it crosses the Dwyryd estuary via Pont Briwet and turns westwards bound for Pwllheli via Penrhyndeudraeth, Porthmadog and Criccieth.
Many sections of dismantled railway are now used by walking and cycling routes and are described elsewhere. The Bala Lake Railway is a heritage railway which has been established along a section of the former mainline route between Bala and Llanuwchllyn. Other heritage railways occupy sections of former mineral lines, often narrow gauge and are described in a separate section.
The national park is served by a growing bus network, branded Sherpa'r Wyddfa (formerly Snowdon Sherpa). Together with the TrawsCymru network of buses this provides a car-free option to tourists and locals wishing to travel across the National Park.
The network was relaunched in July 2022 with a new brand, Sherpa'r Wyddfa, to reflect the National Park's new push for the promotion of Welsh place names. As such the publicity and websites for the newly branded service only use these Welsh names, even for English language users.
Snowdonia is one of the wettest parts of the United Kingdom; Crib Goch in Snowdonia is the wettest spot in the United Kingdom, with an average rainfall of 4,473 millimetres (176.1 in) a year over the 30-year period prior to the mid-2000s. (There is a rainfall gauge at 713 metres, 2340' on the slopes below Crib Goch.)
The earliest evidence for human occupation of the area dates from around 4000–3000 BCE with extensive traces of prehistoric field systems evident in the landscape. Within these are traces of irregular enclosures and hut circles. There are burial chambers of Neolithic and Bronze Age such as Bryn Cader Faner and Iron Age hillforts such as Bryn y Castell near Ffestiniog.
The region was finally conquered by the Romans by AD 77–78. Remains of Roman marching camps and practice camps are evident. There was a Roman fort and amphitheatre at Tomen y Mur. Roads are known to have connected with Segontium (Caernarfon) and Deva Victrix (Chester) and include the northern reaches of Sarn Helen.
There are numerous memorial stones of Early Christian affinity dating from the post-Roman period. The post-Roman hillfort of Dinas Emrys also dates to this time. Churches were introduced to the region in the 5th and 6th centuries. Llywelyn the Great and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had various stone castles constructed to protect their borders and trade routes. Edward I built several castles around the margins including those at Harlech and Conwy for military and administrative reasons. Most are now protected within a World Heritage Site. Some of Snowdonia's many stone walls date back to this period too. In the Middle Ages, the title Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdonia (Tywysog Cymru ac Arglwydd Eryri) was used by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd; his grandfather Llywelyn Fawr used the title Prince of north Wales and Lord of Snowdonia.
The 18th century saw the start of industrial exploitation of the area's resources, assisted by the appearance in the late part of the century of turnpike trusts making it more accessible. The engineer Thomas Telford left a legacy of road and railway construction in and around Snowdonia. A new harbour at Porthmadog linked to slate quarries at Ffestiniog via a narrow gauge railway. At its peak in the 19th century the slate industry employed around 12,000 men. A further 1000 were employed in stone quarrying at Graiglwyd and Penmaenmawr. Mining for copper, iron and gold was undertaken during the 18th and 19th centuries, leaving a legacy of mine and mill ruins today. Ruins of the gold industry are found at Cefn Coch on the Dolmelynllyn estate.
The Snowdonia Society is a registered charity formed in 1967; it is a voluntary group of people with an interest in the area and its protection.
Amory Lovins led the successful 1970s opposition to stop Rio Tinto digging up the area for a massive mine.
The park's entire coastline is a Special Area of Conservation, which runs from the Llŷn Peninsula down the mid-Wales coast, the latter containing valuable sand dune systems.
The park's natural forests are of the mixed deciduous type, the commonest tree being the Welsh oak. Birch, ash, mountain-ash and hazel are also common. The park also contains some large (planted) coniferous forested areas such as Gwydir Forest near Betws-y-Coed, although some areas, once harvested, are now increasingly being allowed to regrow naturally.
Northern Snowdonia is the only place in Britain where the Snowdon lily (Gagea serotina), an arctic–alpine plant, is found and the only place in the world where the Snowdonia hawkweed Hieracium snowdoniense grows.
One of the major problems facing the park in recent years has been the growth of Rhododendron ponticum. This fast-growing invasive species has a tendency to take over and stifle native species. It can form massive towering growths and has a companion fungus that grows on its roots producing toxins that are poisonous to any local flora and fauna for a seven-year period after the Rhododendron infestations have been eradicated. As a result, there are a number of desolate landscapes.
Mammals in the park include otters, polecats, feral goats, and pine martens. Birds include raven, red-billed chough, peregrine, osprey, merlin and the red kite. The rainbow-coloured Snowdon beetle (Chrysolina cerealis) is only found in northern Snowdonia.
Snowdonia has a particularly high number of protected sites in respect of its diverse ecology; nearly 20% of its total area is protected by UK and European law. Half of that area was set aside by the government under the European Habitats Directive as a Special Area of Conservation. There are a large number of Sites of special scientific interest (or 'SSSIs'), designated both for fauna and flora but also in some cases for geology. Nineteen of these sites are managed as national nature reserves by Natural Resources Wales. The park also contains twelve Special Areas of Conservation (or 'SACs'), three Special Protection Areas (or 'SPAs') and three Ramsar sites. Some are wholly within the park boundaries, others straddle it to various degrees.
There are numerous SSSIs within the park, the most extensive of which are Snowdonia, Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt, Morfa Harlech, Rhinog, Berwyn, Cadair Idris, Llyn Tegid, Aber Mawddach / Mawddach Estuary, Dyfi, Morfa Dyffryn, Moel Hebog, Coedydd Dyffryn Ffestiniog and Coedydd Nanmor.
The following NNRs are either wholly or partly within the park: Allt y Benglog, Y Berwyn (in multiple parts), Cader Idris, Ceunant Llennyrch, Coed Camlyn, Coed Cymerau, Coed Dolgarrog, Coed Ganllwyd, Coed Gorswen, Coed Tremadog, Coedydd Aber, Coedydd Maentwrog (in 2 parts), Coed y Rhygen, Cwm Glas Crafnant, Cwm Idwal, Hafod Garregog, Morfa Harlech, Rhinog and Snowdon.
The twelve SACs are as follows: Snowdonia SAC which covers much of the Carneddau, Glyderau, and the Snowdon massif, Afon Gwyrfai a Llyn Cwellyn, Corsydd Eifionydd / Eifionydd Fens (north of Garndolbenmaen), the Coedydd Derw a Safleoedd Ystlumod Meirion / Meirionydd Oakwoods and Bat Sites - a series of sites between Tremadog, Trawsfynydd, and Ffestiniog and Beddgelert and extending up the Gwynant. It also includes many of the oakwoods of the Mawddach and its tributaries. Afon Eden – Cors Goch Trawsfynydd, Rhinog, Cadair Idris (in 2 parts), Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt, River Dee and Afon Dyfrdwy a Llyn Tegid (Wales), Mwyngloddiau Fforest Gwydir / Gwydyr Forest Mines (north of Betws-y-Coed) and a part of the Berwyn a Mynyddoedd De Clwyd / Berwyn and South Clwyd Mountains SAC. The Pen Llyn a'r Sarnau / Lleyn Peninsula and the Sarnau SAC covers the entire Cardigan Bay coastline of the park and the sea area and extends above the high water mark at Morfa Harlech, Mochras and around the Dovey and Mawddach estuaries.
The three SPAs are Dovey Estuary / Aber Dyfi (of which a part is within the park), Berwyn (of which a part is within the park) and Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt.
The three designated Ramsar sites are the Dyfi Biosphere (Cors Fochno and Dyfi), Cwm Idwal and Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake).
The area's economy was traditionally centred upon farming and from the early 19th century increasingly on mining and quarrying. Tourism has become an increasingly significant part of Snowdonia's economy during the 20th and 21st centuries.
The extensive farming of sheep remains central to Snowdonia's farming economy.
Significant sections of the park were afforested during the 20th century for timber production. Major conifer plantations include Dyfi Forest, Coed y Brenin Forest between Dolgellau and Trawsfynydd, Penllyn Forest south of Bala, Beddgelert Forest and Gwydyr (or Gwydir) Forest near Betws-y-Coed which is managed as a forest park by Natural Resources Wales.
The region was once the most important producer of slate in the world. Some production continues but at a much reduced level from its peak. The park boundaries are drawn such that much of the landscape affected by slate quarrying and mining lies immediately outside of the designated area.
Construction of a nuclear power station beside Llyn Trawsfynydd began in 1959 with the first power produced in 1965. The site was operational until 1991 though it continues as an employer during its decommissioning phase. Pumped storage hydroelectric schemes are in operation at Llanberis and Ffestiniog.
Research indicates that there were 3.67 million visitors to Snowdonia National Park in 2013, with approximately 9.74 million tourist days spent in the park during that year. Total tourist expenditure was £433.6 million in 2013.
Many of the hikers in the area concentrate on Snowdon itself. It is regarded as a fine mountain, but at times gets very crowded; in addition the Snowdon Mountain Railway runs to the summit.
The other high mountains with their boulder-strewn summits as well as Tryfan, one of the few mountains in the UK south of Scotland whose ascent needs hands as well as feet are also very popular. However, there are also some spectacular walks in Snowdonia on the lower mountains, and they tend to be relatively unfrequented. Among hikers' favourites are Y Garn (east of Llanberis) along the ridge to Elidir Fawr; Mynydd Tal-y-Mignedd (west of Snowdon) along the Nantlle Ridge to Mynydd Drws-y-Coed; Moelwyn Mawr (west of Blaenau Ffestiniog); and Pen Llithrig y Wrach north of Capel Curig. Further south are Y Llethr in the Rhinogydd, and Cadair Idris near Dolgellau.
The park has 1,479 miles (2,380 km) of public footpaths, 164 miles (264 km) of public bridleways, and 46 miles (74 km) of other public rights of way. A large part of the park is also covered by right to roam laws.
The Wales Coast Path runs within the park between Machynlleth and Penrhyndeudraeth, save for short sections of coast in the vicinity of Tywyn and Barmouth which are excluded from the park. It touches the park boundary again at Penmaen-bach Point on the north coast. An inland alternative exists between Llanfairfechan and Conwy, wholly within the park. The North Wales Path, which predates the WCP, enters the park north of Bethesda and follows a route broadly parallel to the north coast visiting Aber Falls and the Sychnant Pass before exiting the park on the descent from Conwy Mountain. The Cambrian Way is a long-distance trail between Cardiff and Conwy that stays almost entirely within the national park from Mallwyd northwards. It was officially recognised in 2019, and is now depicted on Ordnance Survey maps.
The use of the English names for the area has been divisive, with an increase in protests against their use since 2020; these led to the national park authority deciding to use Welsh names as far as legally possible in November 2022. An early example of pressure to deprecate Snowdon and Snowdonia was a 2003 campaign by Cymuned, inspired by campaigns to refer to Ayers Rock as Uluru and Mount Everest as Qomolangma.
In 2020 an e-petition calling for the removal of the English names was put forward to the Senedd, but rejected as responsibility lies with the national park authority. In 2021 an e-petition on the same topic attracted more than 5,300 signatures and was presented to the national park authority.
On 28 April 2021 Gwynedd councillor John Pughe Roberts put forward a motion to use the Welsh names exclusively, calling this a "question of respect for the Welsh language". The motion was not considered and delayed, as the national park authority already appointed a "Welsh Place Names Task and Finish Group" to investigate the issue. The park authority however cannot compel other bodies and/or individuals to stop using the English names, with the proposals facing some criticism.
In May 2021, following the dismissal of the motion, YouGov conducted a poll on Snowdon's name. 60% of Welsh adults supported the English name Snowdon, compared to 30% wanting the Welsh name Yr Wyddfa. Separating by language, 59% of Welsh speakers preferred the Welsh name, but 37% of these still wanted Snowdon to be used as well. 69% of non-Welsh speakers firmly supported Snowdon as the Mountain's name. The proposals to rename Snowdon are usually accompanied with proposals to rename Snowdonia.
On 16 November 2022, Members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority committee voted to use the Welsh names Yr Wyddfa and Eryri to refer to the mountain and the national park, rather than the English names, in materials produced by the authority. The national park authority described the decision as "decisive action" and the authority's head of culture heritage stated that Welsh place names were part of the area's "special qualities" and that other public bodies, English-language press and filming companies have used the Welsh-language names. Before the decision the park had already prioritised the Welsh names by using them first and giving the English names in parentheses. The name "Snowdonia" cannot be abandoned entirely, as it is set in law and so must be used in statutory documents. The authority announced a review of the authority's branding in 2023 to adapt to the new approach to Welsh place names.
Gwynedd is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.
Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of 979 square miles (2,540 km2) and a population of 117,400. After Bangor (18,322), the largest settlements are Caernarfon (9,852), Bethesda (4,735), and Pwllheli (4,076). The county has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 64.4%, and is considered a heartland of the language.
The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. Much of the county is covered by Snowdonia National Park (Eryri), which contains Wales's highest mountain, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa; 3,560 feet, 1,090 m). To the west, the Llŷn Peninsula is flatter and renowned for its scenic coastline, part of which is protected by the Llŷn AONB. Gwynedd also contains several of Wales's largest lakes and reservoirs, including the largest, Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid).
The area which is now the county has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales, which under the House of Aberffraw remained independent from the Kingdom of England until Edward I's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech, which form part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire.
In the past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish fine, meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish Féni, an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to fían, 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps *u̯en-, u̯enə ('strive, hope, wish') is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed, at the end of the Roman era. Venedotia was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from c. AD 500 which reads: Cantiori Hic Iacit Venedotis ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd'). The name was retained by the Brythons when the kingdom of Gwynedd was formed in the 5th century, and it remained until the invasion of Edward I. This historical name was revived when the new county was formed in 1974.
Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th century, when it was conquered by England. The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the entirety of the historic counties of Anglesey and Caernarfonshire, and all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd); and also a few parishes of Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Tir Ifan.
The county was divided into five districts: Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey.
The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included the former Denbighshire parishes) passed to the new Conwy County Borough. The remainder of the county was constituted as a principal area, with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, as it covers most of the areas of those two historic counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. The present Gwynedd local government area is governed by Gwynedd Council. As a unitary authority, the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain as area committees.
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 two local government areas of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Conwy county borough is now entirely within Clwyd.
A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 by 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 authority 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 Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council still appoints nine of the eighteen members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints three; and the Welsh Government appoints the remaining six.
There has been considerable inwards migration to Gwynedd, particularly from England. According to the 2021 census, 66.6% of residents had been born in Wales whilst 27.1% were born in England.
The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park, which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in the south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter.
Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy.
The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in the slate quarries.
Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county.
The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai, both now part of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.
The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.
Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh. According to the 2021 census, 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh,[7] while 64.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census.
It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales.[9] The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5–15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011.
The proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd declined between 1991 and 2001,[10] from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%.
The Annual Population Survey estimated that as of March 2023, 77.0% of those in Gwynedd aged three years and above could speak Welsh.
Notable people
Leslie Bonnet (1902–1985), RAF officer, writer; originated the Welsh Harlequin duck in Criccieth
Sir Dave Brailsford (born 1964), cycling coach; grew up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon
Duffy (born 1984), singer, songwriter and actress; born in Bangor, Gwynedd
Edward II of England (1284–1327), born in Caernarfon Castle
Elin Fflur (born 1984), singer-songwriter, TV and radio presenter; went to Bangor University
Bryn Fôn (born 1954), actor and singer-songwriter; born in Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire.
Wayne Hennessey (born 1987), football goalkeeper with 108 caps for Wales; born in Bangor, Gwynedd
John Jones (c. 1530 – 1598), a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest and martyr; born at Clynnog
Sir Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet (1832–1891), landowner and politician, co-founder of the Y Wladfa settlement in Patagonia
T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), archaeologist, army officer and inspiration for Lawrence of Arabia, born in Tremadog
David Lloyd George (1863–1945), statesman and Prime Minister; lived in Llanystumdwy from infancy
Sasha (born 1969), disc jockey, born in Bangor, Gwynedd
Sir Bryn Terfel (born 1965), bass-baritone opera and concert singer from Pant Glas
Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), architect of Portmeirion
Owain Fôn Williams, (born 1987), footballer with 443 club caps; born and raised in Penygroes, Gwynedd.
Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), poet from the village of Trawsfynydd; killed in WWI
for those who are not that satisfied with their christmas presents.. i may create remedy - for about a month my architectural guidebook "Baubezogene Kunst. DDR." is on the book market. if you‘re interested please give my a hind via flickr mail - i have new copies in stock! in six routes throughout the east german part i documented 120 artworks on 504 pages with more than 500 images, texts and maps - available for 48€ excluding shipping.
This series complements my award-winning guidebook, Chicago in Stone and Clay: A Guide to the Windy City's Architectural Geology. Henceforth I'll just call it CSC.
The CSC section and page reference for the building featured here: 5.9; pp. 51-53.
Standing on the southern side of E. Randolph Street and looking northwestward.
Behold the lower half, approximately, of the 83-story Aon Center, formerly known as the Standard Oil Building and the Amoco Building. Completed in 1973, it was originally clad in slabs of Italian Carrara Marble sliced too thin to bear the rigors of Chicago's continental climate.
By the time I took this photo, the Carrara's replacement, Mount Airy Granodiorite, had been doing its job for about a decade. While it is no means as lustrous as the original, its monumental paleness nevertheless conveys the building's "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" messaging quite adequately. The spire-topped Two Prudential Plaza snuggling next to it provides a nice contrast, too, with its darker, pinkish-gray Mondariz Granite exterior.
As noted in previous posts, I love the Aon, that great hulking beast, all the more for its problems and its detractors. It's good that we have been able to construct such breathtaking structures before our time to do such things runs out.
Quarried in North Carolina, the Mount Airy has been radiometrically dated to 334 ± 3 Ma ago, which places its origin in the Mississippian subperiod (Lower Carboniferous period). As a granodiorite, it's a granitoid rock whose feldspar content is mostly in the form of plagioclase. True granites, on the other hand, contain a higher proportion of alkali feldspars. Such petrologic distinctions are lost on architects, builders, and quarry operators, however. So they call this rock selection the Mount Airy Granite instead.
As is duly noted in CSC, the Mount Airy Granodiorite can also be found and scrutinized at two other Windy City sites—the Congress Plaza Hotel and Graceland Cemetery's Lehmann Mausoleum.
For much more on the site touched upon here, get and read Chicago in Stone and Clay, described at its Cornell University Press webpage.
The other photos and discussions in this series can be found in my "Chicago in Stone and Clay" Companion album. In addition, you'll find other relevant images and descriptions in my Architectural Geology: Chicago album.