83-786: 52°56′13″N 3°10′59″W / 52.937°N 3.183°W / 52.937; -3.183 Glyn Ceiriog ( Welsh : Glynceiriog ) is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough , north-east Wales . Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and community is technically known, in traditional Welsh naming style, as Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog or sometimes Llansanffraid Glyn Ceiriog , which means church of St Ffraid (the Welsh name of Saint Brigid of Kildare ) in
166-459: A coal seam , and draw slate referred to shale that fell from the mine roof as the coal was removed. The British Geological Survey recommends that the term "slate" be used in scientific writings only when very little else is known about the rock that would allow a more definite classification. For example, if the characteristics of the rock show definitely that it was formed by metamorphosis of shale, it should be described in scientific writings as
249-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under
332-594: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified
415-663: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had
498-406: A long-lasting weathertight roof with a lifespan of around 60–125 years. Some mainland European slate suppliers suggest that using hook fixing means that: The metal hooks are, however, visible and may be unsuitable for historic properties. Slate tiles are often used for interior and exterior flooring, stairs, walkways and wall cladding. Tiles are installed and set on mortar and grouted along
581-535: A metashale. If its origin is uncertain, but the rock is known to be rich in mica, it should be described as a pelite . Slate can be made into roofing slate, a type of roof tile which are installed by a slater . Slate has two lines of breakability—cleavage and grain—which make it possible to split the stone into thin sheets. When broken, slate retains a natural appearance while remaining relatively flat and easy to stack. A series of "slate booms" occurred in Europe from
664-423: A rock in which the individual mineral crystals remain microscopic in size, producing a characteristic slaty cleavage in which fresh cleavage surfaces appear dull. This is in contrast to the silky cleaved surfaces of phyllite , which is the next-higher grade of metamorphic rock derived from mudstone. The direction of cleavage is independent of any sedimentary structures in the original mudrock, reflecting instead
747-570: A rudimentary damp-proof membrane . Small offcuts are used as shims to level floor joists. In areas where slate is plentiful it is also used in pieces of various sizes for building walls and hedges, sometimes combined with other kinds of stone. Because it is a good electrical insulator and fireproof, it was used to construct early-20th-century electric switchboards and relay controls for large electric motors . Because of its thermal stability and chemical inertness, slate has been used for laboratory bench tops and for billiard table tops. Slate
830-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into
913-478: A subsidiary of GHA Coaches . Services operate to Llangollen via Chirk and to Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog on service 64. Infrequent services on route 65 connect the village to Wrexham via Ruabon . Rail services are available from Chirk , 5 mi (8.0 km) away. A number of Welsh literary figures have lived in or near Glyn Ceiriog. Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )
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#1732791507300996-423: A variety of colors even from a single locality; for example, slate from North Wales can be found in many shades of grey, from pale to dark, and may also be purple, green, or cyan. Slate is not to be confused with shale, from which it may be formed, or schist . The word "slate" is also used for certain types of object made from slate rock. It may mean a single roofing tile made of slate, or a writing slate , which
1079-989: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave
1162-460: Is a fine-grained, foliated , homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale -type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism . It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic rock. Foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering, but instead is in planes perpendicular to the direction of metamorphic compression. The foliation in slate, called " slaty cleavage ",
1245-545: Is administered by Wrexham County Borough Council , is in the Ceiriog Valley electoral ward , and has an independent councillor . The Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog Community Council meets every fourth Thursday in the month. Ten councillors represent the villages of Glyn Ceiriog, Garth, Pandy and Nantyr. Since 2011, Glyn Ceiriog has been represented in the Senedd by Ken Skates , the Welsh Labour Member of
1328-542: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. Slate Slate
1411-494: Is caused by strong compression in which fine-grained clay forms flakes to regrow in planes perpendicular to the compression. When expertly "cut" by striking parallel to the foliation with a specialized tool in the quarry, many slates display a property called fissility , forming smooth, flat sheets of stone which have long been used for roofing , floor tiles, and other purposes. Slate is frequently grey in color, especially when seen en masse covering roofs. However, slate occurs in
1494-688: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to
1577-637: Is south of Llangollen . Glyn Ceiriog was historically administered as the civil parish of Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog , ("St Ffraid's in the Ceiriog Valley"). From 1889 until 1974, Glyn Ceiriog was part of the administrative county of Denbighshire , which was divided into various rural districts . From 1895 to 1935, Glyn Ceiriog was in the Chirk Rural District , which merged in 1935 with Llansilin Rural District to form
1660-511: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain
1743-673: Is used by building professionals as a result of its beauty and durability. Slate is incredibly durable and can last several hundred years, often with little or no maintenance. Natural slate is also fire resistant and energy efficient. Slate roof tiles are usually fixed (fastened) either with nails or with hooks (as is common with Spanish slate). In the UK, fixing is typically with double nails onto timber battens (England and Wales) or nailed directly onto timber sarking boards (Scotland and Northern Ireland). Nails were traditionally of copper, although there are modern alloy and stainless steel alternatives. Both these methods, if used properly, provide
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#17327915073001826-732: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows
1909-500: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in
1992-466: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in
2075-632: The Ceiriog Rural District . Glyn Ceiriog was in the Ceiriog Rural District from 1935 to 1974. In 1974, Denbighshire was abolished as an administrative county, and Glyn Ceiriog was incorporated into the Glyndŵr district of the new county of Clwyd . Both of those were dissolved in 1996, and Glyn Ceiriog became a part of the new unitary authority of Wrexham County Borough, in which it currently remains. Today, Glyn Ceiriog
2158-538: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol
2241-684: The Mid North at Mintaro and Spalding . Slate is abundant in Brazil , the world's second-largest producer of slate, around Papagaios in Minas Gerais , which extracts 95 percent of Brazil's slate. However, not all "slate" products from Brazil are entitled to bear the CE mark . Most slate in Europe today comes from Spain , the world's largest producer and exporter of natural slate, and 90 percent of Europe's natural slate used for roofing originates from
2324-756: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and
2407-640: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has
2490-594: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for
2573-500: The 1870s until the First World War following improvements in railway, road and waterway transportation systems. Slate is particularly suitable as a roofing material as it has an extremely low water absorption index of less than 0.4%, making the material resistant to frost damage. Natural slate, which requires only minimal processing, has an embodied energy that compares favorably with other roofing materials. Natural slate
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2656-596: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in
2739-536: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,
2822-486: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for
2905-597: The Ceiriog Valley, but it has come to be known simply as Glyn Ceiriog, or even Glyn for short. The name Llansanffraid is now more associated with other villages of the same name. It is in the Clwyd South Senedd constituency and Clwyd South UK parliamentary constituency . A former slate mining village, it lies on the River Ceiriog and on the B4500 road, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Chirk . It
2988-550: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published
3071-711: The Senedd for Clwyd South . From 2010 to 2019, Glyn Ceiriog was represented in the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Susan Jones , the Labour Party member of parliament for Clwyd South. Since the 2019 general election , it has been represented by Simon Baynes of the Conservative Party . Glyn Ceiriog is located in the Ceiriog Valley, a valley created by the River Ceiriog . Geologically,
3154-496: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,
3237-704: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither
3320-551: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of
3403-526: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer
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3486-487: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to
3569-630: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of
3652-475: The area has Ordovician and Silurian strata. The soil is thin and peaty. Glyn Ceiriog, being the principal village for the Ceiriog Valley, is home to many of the Valley’s resources: • Village Post Office • Cross Stores Village Shop • Glyn Valley Hotel • The Oak / Y Dderwen • Valley Doctors Surgery • Valley Pharmacy • Christian Centre • Ceiriog Memorial Hall • Llansanffraid Church Glyn Ceiriog
3735-668: The calls of all four species of wild turkey in North America: eastern, Rio Grande, Osceola and Merriam's. Slate is found in the Arctic and was used by Inuit to make the blades for ulus . China has vast slate deposits; in recent years its export of finished and unfinished slate has increased. Deposits of slate exist throughout Australia, with large reserves quarried in the Adelaide Hills in Willunga , Kanmantoo , and
3818-460: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of
3901-405: The cleavage direction, so caution is required in using reduction ellipsoids to estimate deformation. Before the mid-19th century, the terms "slate", " shale ", and " schist " were not sharply distinguished. In the context of underground coal mining in the United States, the term slate was commonly used to refer to shale well into the 20th century. For example, roof slate referred to shale above
3984-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within
4067-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of
4150-479: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over
4233-592: The direction of compaction, which begin to impart cleavage to the rock. Slaty cleavage is fully developed as the clay minerals begin to be converted to chlorite and mica. Organic carbon in the rock is converted to graphite . Slate is mainly composed of the minerals quartz, illite , and chlorite, which account for up to 95% of its composition. The most important accessory minerals are iron oxides (such as hematite and magnetite ), iron sulfides (such as pyrite ), and carbonate minerals. Feldspar may be present as albite or, less commonly, orthoclase . Occasionally, as in
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#17327915073004316-479: The direction of regional compression. Slaty cleavage is continuous, meaning that the individual cleavage planes are too closely spaced to be discernible in hand samples. The texture of the slate is totally dominated by these pervasive cleavage planes. Under a microscope, the slate is found to consist of very thin lenses of quartz and feldspar (QF-domains) separated by layers of mica (M-domains). These are typically less than 100 μm (micron) thick. Because slate
4399-634: The edges. Chemical sealants are often used on tiles to improve durability and appearance, increase stain resistance, reduce efflorescence , and increase or reduce surface smoothness. Tiles are often sold gauged, meaning that the back surface is ground for ease of installation. Slate flooring can be slippery when used in external locations subject to rain. Slate tiles were used in 19th century UK building construction (apart from roofs) and in slate quarrying areas such as Blaenau Ffestiniog and Bethesda , Wales there are still many buildings wholly constructed of slate. Slates can also be set into walls to provide
4482-491: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of
4565-469: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval
4648-476: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to
4731-456: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period
4814-595: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for
4897-506: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to
4980-555: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c. 600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )
5063-622: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in
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#17327915073005146-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,
5229-402: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to
5312-412: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,
5395-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase
5478-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over
5561-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by
5644-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in
5727-449: The purple slates of North Wales , ferrous ( iron(II) ) reduction spheres form around iron nuclei, leaving a light-green, spotted texture. These spheres are sometimes deformed by a subsequent applied stress field into ovoids, which appear as ellipses when viewed on a cleavage plane of the specimen. However, some evidence shows that reduced spots may also form after deformation and acquire an elliptical shape from preferential infiltration along
5810-409: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of
5893-412: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in
5976-751: The slate from Wales and Cumbria is colored slate (non-blue): purple and formerly green in Wales and green in Cumbria. In North America, slate is produced in Newfoundland , eastern Pennsylvania , Buckingham County, Virginia , and the Slate Valley region in Vermont and New York , where colored slate is mined in the Granville, New York , area. A major slating operation existed in Monson, Maine , during
6059-753: The slate industry there. Lesser slate-producing regions in present-day Europe include Wales (with UNESCO landscape status and a museum at Llanberis ), Cornwall (famously the village of Delabole ), Cumbria (see Burlington Slate Quarries , Honister Slate Mine and Skiddaw Slate ) and, formerly in the West Highlands of Scotland, around Ballachulish and the Slate Islands in the United Kingdom . Parts of France ( Anjou , Loire Valley , Ardennes , Brittany , Savoie ) and Belgium (Ardennes), Liguria in northern Italy , especially between
6142-456: The town of Lavagna (whose name is inherited as the term for chalkboard in Italian ) and Fontanabuona valley; Portugal especially around Valongo in the north of the country. Germany 's Moselle River region, Hunsrück (with a former mine open as a museum at Fell ), Eifel , Westerwald , Thuringia and north Bavaria ; and Alta , Norway (actually schist , not a true slate). Some of
6225-526: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from
6308-622: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to
6391-428: Was formed in low heat and pressure, compared to most other metamorphic rocks, some fossils can be found in slate; sometimes even microscopic remains of delicate organisms can be found in slate. The process of conversion of mudrock to slate involves a loss of up to 50% of the volume of the mudrock as it is compacted. Grains of platy minerals, such as clay minerals , are rotated to form parallel layers perpendicular to
6474-589: Was once the home of extensive slate quarries. The Glyn Valley Tramway was built to take the slate to a wharf on the Shropshire Union Canal and later to sidings on the Great Western Railway line from Chester to Shrewsbury . Although the valley does not have a primary industry any longer, there are a few recent and long standing manufacturing businesses supplying the valley and beyond. Bus services are provided by Bryn Melyn,
6557-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through
6640-517: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern
6723-502: Was traditionally a small, smooth piece of the rock, often framed in wood, used with chalk as a notepad or notice board, and especially for recording charges in pubs and inns. The phrases "clean slate" and " blank slate " come from this usage. Slate is a fine-grained, metamorphic rock that shows no obvious compositional layering but can easily be split into thin slabs and plates. It is usually formed by low-grade regional metamorphism of mudrock . This mild degree of metamorphism produces
6806-460: Was used by earlier cultures as whetstone to hone knives, but whetstones are nowadays more typically made of quartz. In 18th- and 19th-century schools, slate was extensively used for blackboards and individual writing slates , for which slate or chalk pencils were used. In modern homes slate is often used as table coasters. In areas where it is available, high-quality slate is used for tombstones and commemorative tablets. In some cases slate
6889-482: Was used by the ancient Maya civilization to fashion stelae . Slate was the traditional material of choice for black Go stones in Japan, alongside clamshell for white stones. It is now considered to be a luxury. Pennsylvania slate is widely used in the manufacture of turkey calls used for hunting turkeys. The tones produced from the slate, when scratched with various species of wood striker, imitates almost exactly
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