Merionethshire

Merionethshire Welsh: Meirionnydd
Motto: Tra môr, tra Meirion (While the sea lasts, so shall Meirionnydd)
Ancient extent of Merionethshire
Geography
1831 area	385,291 acres (1,559.22 km2)
1911/1961 area	422,372 acres (1,709.28 km2)
HQ	Dolgellau
Chapman code	MER
History
Created	1284
Succeeded by	Meirionnydd
Demography
1831 population - 1831 density	35,315[1] 0.1/acre
1911 population - 1911 density	45,565 0.1/acre
1961 population - 1961 density	38,310 0.1/acre
Politics
Governance	Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974)
Coat of arms of Merionethshire County Council

Merionethshire (Welsh: Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd) is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, a vice county and a former administrative county.

The administrative county of Merioneth, created under the Local Government Act 1888, was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 on April 1, 1974. The bulk formed the Meirionnydd district in the new county of Gwynedd, with a small area in the north east, Edeirnion Rural District, becoming part of the Glyndŵr district of Clwyd. As a result of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, which came into force in 1996, the Glyndŵr area lies within the county of Denbighshire, with the rest of the old county remaining in Gwynedd.

The administrative entity of Merionethshire was briefly revived in 1996, when the unitary area of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire was created. It was, however, renamed Gwynedd almost immediately.^[2]

The spelling of the Welsh name in standard modern orthography is Meirionnydd (for the geographical area) or Sir Feirionnydd (for the county), with a double <nn>, but the variant with a single <n> is sometimes found in older works.^[3][4]

Geography

Merionethshire was a maritime county, bounded to the north by Caernarfonshire, to the east by Denbighshire, to the south by Montgomeryshire and Cardiganshire, and to the west by Cardigan Bay. With a total area of 1,731 km², it was one of the more sparsely populated counties in Great Britain.

The Merioneth area remains one of the strongest Welsh-speaking parts of Wales. The coastline consists alternately of cliffs and stretches of sand and the area generally is the most mountainous in Wales; a large part of the Snowdonia National Park lies within it. The greatest heights are Aran Fawddwy 905 m (2,970 ft) and Cadair Idris 893 m (2,929 ft). The chief rivers are the Dwyryd, the Mawddach and the Dyfi. Waterfalls and small lakes are numerous, the largest being Bala Lake (4 miles long and 1-mile (1.6 km) broad).

History

The county was formed in 1284 under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan from the Cantrefi of:

• Meirionnydd
• Dunoding (but only the larger Ardudwy commote)
• Penllyn and the Lordship of Dinmael

Merioneth was an important part of the Welsh slate industry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with major quarrying centres at Blaenau Ffestiniog in the north of the county and Corris in the south.

Main Towns

The main towns are

• Dolgellau (former county town, and administrative centre)
• Aberdyfi
• Bala
• Barmouth
• Blaenau Ffestiniog
• Corwen
• Ffestiniog
• Harlech
• Tywyn

The main industries today are agriculture, forestry and tourism.

Places of special interest (with grid reference)

• Cadair Idris (SH711130)
• Castell y Bere (SH667085)
• Cymer Abbey (SH721195)
• Harlech Castle (SH5731)
• Portmeirion Italianate village (SH589372)
• Rhug Chapel (SJ063439)
• Tomen-y-mur Roman Fort (SH7038)
• Ffestiniog Railway (SH6946)
• Corris Railway (SH7507)
• Talyllyn Railway (SH5800)
• Fairbourne Railway (SH6112)

See also

• List of Lord Lieutenants of Merionethshire
• List of High Sheriffs of Merionethshire

References

1. ^ Vision of Britain - 1831 Census
2. ^ "The County of Gwynedd (Electoral Changes) Order 2002, Welsh Statutory Instrument 2002 No. 3274 (W.312)". Office of Public Sector Information. 2002. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/wales/wsi2002/20023274e.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-27. 
3. ^ Double 'nn' is found in the title of a number of Welsh-language books, e.g. Crwydro Meirionnydd, a companion to the area by T. I. Ellis (Llandybie, 1954), and the county atlas published by the old county council (Atlas Merionnydd, Y Bala, 1972).
4. ^ For the single 'n' variant see, for example, Melville Richards, Welsh Administrative and Territorial Units. University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1969.

Coordinates: 52°50′N 3°50′W / 52.833°N 3.833°W / 52.833; -3.833