102-550: The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR; Welsh : Rheilffordd Eryri ) is a 25-mile (40.2 km) long, restored 1 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 597 mm ) narrow gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd , operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog , and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass . At Porthmadog it connects with
204-592: A 1914 light railway order (LRO) was processed. It was originally drawn up by the local Caernarfonshire authorities and aimed to link the PGSSR and NWNGR but had been delayed by the First World War . It was revived by two local politicians and a Scottish distillery owner, Sir John Henderson Stewart . In July 1921, Stewart also obtained control of the Festiniog Railway , to obtain extra rolling stock for
306-441: 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
408-594: 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
510-441: A branch to Bryngwyn and the slate quarries around Moel Tryfan , which has not been restored. (This branch forms a footpath "rail trail", the lower section of which has been resurfaced and supplied with heritage notice-boards.) There is also the 3 ⁄ 4 -mile (1.2 km) long Welsh Highland Heritage Railway which runs from Porthmadog along the trackbed of the former Cambrian Railways exchange siding and connects to
612-581: A breakdown of relations between the two companies in 2008. Since then efforts have been made to improve relations and these are still ongoing. The original Welsh Highland never had an official Welsh translation of its name, despite the fact that North Wales has always been a heartland for the Welsh language. Local people tended to refer to it by informal names such as Y Lein Bach or Lein Bach Beddgelert (the little Beddgelert railway). In contrast,
714-663: 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
816-649: A faster and more regular service from Caernarfon and Beddgelert also played a part. The last passenger train ran on 5 September 1936 and, in February 1937, the FR decided not to run the WHR again. As there was no provision for the Ffestiniog Railway Company to hand back its lease and the WHR was bankrupt, the line became dormant. In 1941, the authorities decided to requisition the movable assets for use in
918-459: A junction with the 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge London and North Western Railway line at Dinas to Bryngwyn with a branch from Tryfan Junction via Waunfawr to Llyn Cwellyn ( Snowdon Ranger ). The line was opened in 1877 and was extended to South Snowdon ( Rhyd Ddu ) in 1881, a total of 9 miles (14 km). This closed to passengers in 1914 but goods traffic continued up to its absorption by
1020-419: A key on the token staff. This means the last train must use the token staff to pass through the section, so it can be used for trains to travel in the opposite direction. For additional protection, both the footplate crew and the guard must see the token or ticket before the train can depart. At some stations an additional "Shunt" token is used to allow shunting to take place (such as a locomotive "running round"
1122-483: A long, complicated and controversial history and includes several court cases and public inquiries. The origins of the WHRL restoration efforts, tentatively began in 1961 when disagreements within the volunteers of the Festiniog Railway and a group of like-minded railway enthusiasts , joined to form The Welsh Highland Railway Society . This group is the precursor of what eventually became WHR Ltd., which owns and operates
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#17327731425711224-532: A new station site in Porthmadog and a link to the Festiniog Railway. McAlpine & Sons were contracted to refurbish the existing lines and complete the link between Rhyd Ddu and Croesor Junction, thus creating a railway that ran from Dinas to join the Festiniog Railway at Porthmadog. Like the modern day WHR, the railway was opened in stages. The former NWNGR section re-opened on 31 July 1922 and
1326-486: A ride, the journey took too long and the service had a reputation for being unreliable. The Croesor Tramway had run from Porthmadog since 1863 up into the Croesor Valley and the slate quarries in this area. This was a horse-worked line laid to a nominal 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge. The NWNGR had originally built a 1 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 597 mm ) narrow gauge line from
1428-443: A serious application to turn the route into a long-distance footpath. Although these plans were ultimately unfruitful, the statutory powers ensured that the trackbed was kept mainly intact, rather than sold off bit by bit, which would have made restoration much more difficult and potentially expensive. However, some parts, such as the sites of Rhyd Ddu and Dinas stations, were sold off. The Welsh Highland Railway's restoration has
1530-479: 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
1632-428: A train). They are provided at Dinas, Rhyd Ddu, Beddgelert and at Pont Croesor. The shunt token can only be withdrawn (used) with permission from Control and if there are no trains approaching the station in the adjacent single line sections. Withdrawing the token causes two yellow lights to go out on a red warning board on the line approaching the station, preventing other trains from entering the station. The majority of
1734-489: Is also a miniature railway and a tea room at its main Porthmadog station. Although WHR Ltd lost the battle for control of the WHR to the Festiniog Railway Company, they have also been involved in its restoration. On 12 January 1998, both companies signed an agreement, commonly known as the "98 agreement". In return, for dropping its objections to the Festiniog Railway Company's application to restore
1836-674: 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. John Henderson Stewart Sir John Henderson Stewart, 1st Baronet , DL , JP , FRGS (26 November 1877 – 6 February 1924)
1938-688: 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
2040-511: 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
2142-408: Is used to control train access to single line sections. Communication between train crew and Control always occurs using a landline at stations. There is no in-cab radio system and current regulations forbid use of such whilst in motion. As a backup system only, the guard carries a company mobile telephone for use in an emergency. This is not a primary system as cellular coverage is intermittent over
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#17327731425712244-732: 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
2346-500: 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
2448-466: 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
2550-963: 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
2652-761: The Electric Token System (ETS), a more advanced system in which tokens can be obtained at either end of a section from a token instrument. ETS has been used on the Ffestiniog Railway for many years and the FR Co. were anxious to obtain enough ETS instruments to equip the WHR. After a long search, sufficient ETS equipment to operate the entire railway has been obtained from the Irish railway company Iarnród Éireann . The equipment became redundant after Iarnród Éireann modernised its signalling systems in
2754-538: 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
2856-550: The Ffestiniog Railway and to the short Welsh Highland Heritage Railway . In Porthmadog it uses the United Kingdom's only mixed gauge flat rail crossing . The restoration, which had the civil engineering mainly built by contractors and the track mainly built by volunteers, received a number of awards. Originally running from Dinas , near Caernarfon , to Porthmadog Harbour , the current line includes an additional section from Dinas to Caernarfon. The original line also had
2958-591: The Ffestiniog Railway means that the FR Co. controls almost 40 miles of narrow gauge railway and it promotes both lines jointly as the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways or Rheilffyrdd Ffestiniog ac Eryri . The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway ( Welsh : Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru ) is a 1-mile (1.6 km) long heritage narrow gauge railway owned and operated by Welsh Highland Railway Ltd. (WHR Ltd.). It operates from its main station at Tremadog Road, Porthmadog to its terminus at Pen-y-Mount, where it connects to
3060-756: 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
3162-640: 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
Welsh Highland Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3264-681: The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway (WHHR). Legal problems meant they were unable to take over the old company so, in the 1970s, the group purchased the former standard gauge exchange sidings (the Beddgelert Siding ) near Tremadog Road, Porthmadog , from British Railways to use as a base. In 1980, they began running passenger services over the line that is now known as the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway . They also acquired an original WHR locomotive Russell , which began working passenger services in 1987. In
3366-594: 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
3468-596: 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
3570-536: 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 ,
3672-486: 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
3774-409: The FR Co. started to promote their operation as The Welsh Highland Railway or, in a largely Welsh-speaking area, Rheilffordd Eryri. In the end, WHR Ltd was only able to build around a third of the way to Pont Croesor, with trains terminating at a location known as Traeth Mawr Loop (opened in 2007). The reasons behind this and the consequences, continue to be a subject of debate and led directly to
3876-495: The FR Co.'s decision to take over the restoration of the WHR. After a long legal battle between the two companies, the FR Co. won control of the WHR track bed and it re-opened the railway in stages, starting in 1997. The line was completed in 2011. With Caernarfon Council having a longer-term plan to reinstate the town's rail transport link to Bangor , speculation mounted that the FR/WHR would potentially later extend itself. However,
3978-520: The FR would then operate trains from the WHR Ltd's Porthmadog (WHHR) railway station , to unspecified destinations on the WHR, using WHR Ltd locomotives, rolling stock and (where possible) WHR Ltd staff. Revenue from these trains would be retained by the FR, but they would, in turn, pay a hire fee for the use of the locomotive and rolling stock and a track access fee for the use of WHR Ltd's line between Porthmadog (WHR) and Pen y Mount. Another key part of
4080-506: The FR's highly restrictive loading gauge . Russell is now owned by WHR Ltd and has been restored to its original profile. 590 notably retained its original form until its demise. The railway is a single track line with passing loops at Dinas , Waunfawr , Rhyd Ddu , Beddgelert and Pont Croesor halt. There is also a loop at Hafod y Llyn , which is normally locked out of use as a stabling point for engineering trains. As with any single track railway, there are strict rules managing
4182-436: The Ffestiniog Railway Company owned Welsh Highland Railway. WHR Ltd's primary focus is on recreating the atmosphere of the original Welsh Highland Railway. This includes replicas of original buildings, using original and replica carriages and rolling stock and the staff wearing period costume. It also has a museum at its Gelert's Farm Works and every train halts there on the return journey to allow passengers to visit it. There
Welsh Highland Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
4284-573: The Ffestiniog Railway wrote to the council in January 2014 to confirm that they would not themselves be supportive of such a scheme in narrow gauge, but supported the reconnection of the town to the national rail network using standard gauge. The modern Welsh Highland Railway is a tourist railway owned and operated by the Festiniog Railway Company. It is longer than the original line and starts from Caernarfon rather than Dinas. The extension
4386-550: 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
4488-521: The Second World War. Much of the rolling stock was sold off and most of the track was lifted. The Croesor Tramway section was left intact in case the slate quarries re-opened and remained until finally lifted in 1948–9. In 1943, the Ffestiniog Railway surrendered its lease and, in exchange for £550 compensation, it was allowed to keep 'Single Fairlie' Moel Tryfan (although it only paid £150). Various legal manoeuvres followed this, including
4590-496: The WHR and the Festiniog Railway to Blaenau Ffestiniog and then changing again to take the standard gauge railway to their original starting point. Despite these attempts, the FR Co. were unsuccessful, the last passenger train ran in 1936 and the last goods service in 1937. The early tourist industry did not provide sufficient visitors to make the railway pay, especially during the Depression . Competition from buses which ran
4692-541: The WHR in 1922. In 1902, the newly formed PBSSR took over the failed Portmadoc, Croesor and Beddgelert Tram Railway with the aim of extending it to South Snowdon slate quarry in the Nant Gwynant Pass. Work was abandoned by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, although the tunnels through the Aberglaslyn Pass were mostly completed. The name Welsh Highland Railway first appeared in 1921 when
4794-421: The WHR made a loss. The FR Co. attempted to change the line's fortunes by re-focussing on the tourist market. This included painting the carriages bright colours, including yellow and blue and promoting the Aberglaslyn Pass as a destination by renaming Nantmor station as Aberglaslyn . They also tried to promote round trip (return) journeys, with passengers taking the standard gauge line to Dinas , travelling on
4896-568: The WHR main line at Pen-y-Mount junction . The original Welsh Highland Railway was formed in 1922 from the merger of two companies – the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (NWNGR) and the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway (PBSSR), successor to the Portmadoc, Croesor and Beddgelert Tram Railway . It was never a commercial success; the carriages of the 1890s were outdated and uncomfortable for so long
4998-491: The WHR. The LRO was passed in 1922, following a public inquiry. The budget was £75,000 and much of the funding was borrowed from the Ministry of Transport and local authorities. According to the historian Peter Johnson , this would become a burden as the railway needed to generate the unlikely sum of £3,750 profit each year to service the debt. Two further LROs enabled improvements to the railway's alignment at Beddgelert ,
5100-496: 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,
5202-704: 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
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#17327731425715304-603: 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
5406-526: 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
5508-487: 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
5610-630: 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
5712-414: The adjacent standard gauge rail, but that the narrow gauge crosses on rail of a similar section which is joined on either side in succession to 80 lb/yd (36 kg/m)rail and then to the normal 60 lb/yd (30 kg/m) rail used for the narrow gauge. Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] ) is a Celtic language of
5814-456: The agreement defined the names of the two companies' operations during the period that the line was restored. The FR Co. promoted their section as The Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarfon) (WHR C) and WHR Ltd. changed its operational name from The Welsh Highland Railway to The Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) (WHR P) . When the two sections were connected in 2008, WHR Ltd. changed its operational name to The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway and
5916-460: 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
6018-414: 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
6120-489: 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
6222-400: The crossing on foot. After 1923, it was unable to pay debenture interest and, in 1927, the county council sued and put the railway into receivership. Services continued and by 1933, it was run down and the local authorities decided to close it. In 1934, the company agreed to lease the line to the Festiniog Railway Company for 42 years. It was a disaster, with the FR forced to pay rent even if
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#17327731425716324-479: 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
6426-579: The driver of a taxi which he took to the castle, which was otherwise unoccupied at the time, from Dundee. He was deeply in debt at the time, as his business was not doing well and an Edinburgh company in which he also had large interests, Aitken, Melrose & Co Ltd, had collapsed the previous day. An inquest returned a verdict of suicide . He was 46 years old. On 1 October 1924, one of Stewart's creditors, John Quiller Rowett , to whom he owed nearly £100,000, hanged himself in his London home. This United Kingdom business-related biographical article
6528-529: The early 2000s. As the WHR has no telephone cabling to connect the system, the FR Co. is developing a more modern alternative method of connecting the ETS machines. Until the system is finished, the WHR will continue using its current token systems. Just outside Porthmadog, the railway crosses the Network Rail -owned Cambrian Coast line using a flat crossing . It existed on the old Welsh Highland Railway and
6630-491: 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
6732-411: 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
6834-413: 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
6936-400: 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
7038-527: 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
7140-431: 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
7242-449: 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 )
7344-399: The length of the line. His Majesty's Railway Inspectorate , the organisation responsible for safety on British railways, insists on landlines as the main form of safety critical communication. The signalling on the WHR is much simpler than that used on the Ffestiniog Railway or the UK national rail network. To enter any section of line, the train crew must obtain permission from Control and
7446-426: The mid-1980s, a number of FR Co. employees became concerned about impact of possible competition from a rebuilt WHR and passed this view on to the FR management. In 1987, this resulted in a confidential offer to buy the WHR track bed from the official receiver for £16,000 to prevent the WHR being developed. In 1989, the offer became public, causing a backlash against the FR Co. In 1990, a change of directors resulted in
7548-622: 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
7650-400: The movement of trains to prevent more than one entering a section. The line is managed from a single " Control " office at Porthmadog Harbour Station , which also performs the same task for the Ffestiniog Railway . Control is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of trains, logs train movements on a train graph and acts as a single point of contact in emergencies. A system of tokens
7752-448: 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,
7854-473: 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
7956-551: 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 ,
8058-498: The points at passing loops are operated automatically using the Automatic Train Operated Trailable (ATOTP) system, rather than a manually operated lever or point motor. There are also no signals to indicate that a train can enter a section. A "Stop" board at the end of the platform orders the train to stop until the train crew have obtained permission to proceed from control and a token. At the end of
8160-436: 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
8262-471: 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
8364-502: 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
8466-407: 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
8568-541: The predecessor companies: Moel Tryfan and Russell . When these proved insufficient, Baldwin 590 was acquired by H.F. Stephens and several Festiniog Railway locomotives saw regular use on the Welsh Highland Railway throughout its entire pre-closure existence from 1923 to 1937. 590 was planned to be part of a larger fleet to replace Moel Tryfan and Russell but it gained so little popularity that Stephens never bought another. By 1936 Moel Tryfan
8670-422: The railway; WHR Ltd would be allowed to construct the section of the railway from Pen y Mount to Pont Croesor and then operate their own services over it until such time as the "Head of Steel" arrived at Pont Croesor from the north. The Pen y Mount to Pont Croesor section would then be handed over to the FR's construction company for incorporation into the rest of the WHR. Finally, in between its principal services,
8772-415: The relevant token . Each section of line is a token block section . The WHR uses the traditional Staff and Ticket system in which trains can either be issued with the section token staff or a numbered ticket. Tickets allow multiple trains to pass one-at-a-time through a section in one direction. The Controller advises the train crew which method they will be using. Tickets are kept in a locked box opened by
8874-401: The remainder on 1 June 1923. The WHR venture was not a success and was beset with problems from the start. Indeed, 1923 was its most successful year. Much hoped-for revenue from quarry traffic never materialised as the slate industry had fallen into decline. Its passenger services were also unsuccessful and could not compete with the local bus services, which often took half the time to complete
8976-409: 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
9078-425: The restored lines are known as Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru and Rheilffordd Eryri . Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru (= Welsh Highland Railway ) has been used since 1980 by WHR Ltd. and its predecessors. Rheilffordd Eryri ( Eryri = Land of Eagles , the Welsh name for Snowdonia ) is the Welsh title used by the Festiniog Railway Company for its Welsh Highland Railway operations. Two locomotives were inherited from
9180-536: The same journey. Its rolling stock was out of date, it lacked locomotives and carriages and its marketing was inadequate. In 1924, winter passenger services were discontinued due to poor traffic. A dispute with the Great Western Railway over the costs of the crossing over its line at Porthmadog also caused problems, despite the crossing having been used since 1867 without any charges or problems. The railway even had to resort to escorting passengers across
9282-444: The section, the train can proceed into the platform provided the lights are lit on the home (shunt token warning) board, the point indicator is lit and the relevant platform is clear. One of the disadvantages of the staff and ticket system is that it is very inflexible. If a locomotive fails in a station, for example, a token staff may be at the wrong end of a section and will have to be moved by road. This situation does not occur under
9384-651: 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
9486-526: 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
9588-527: Was a Scottish whisky distiller . Stewart was the son of Alexander Stewart of Dundee, and became sole partner of Alexander Stewart & Son, whisky distillers, of Dundee : his share amounted to £150,000. He was also sole partner of Fraser, Stewart & Co, whisky merchants, and deputy chairman of Sheffield Steel Products. He was created a baronet in the 1920 Birthday Honours . He married Ethel Bailey, daughter of John Fraser of Monkbarns, Arbroath, on 22 March 1904. His son Sir Bruce Stewart, 2nd Baronet,
9690-490: Was born on 6 September 1904 and became a Flying Officer in the New Zealand Air Force . A casualty of prohibition , he died owing £570,000, which would be between £30 and £120 million in 2007 money. On 7 February 1924 his body was discovered at Fingask Castle , his Perthshire home, by two businessmen who had come for a meeting with him. He had been shot through the head. He was last seen the previous day by
9792-482: Was broken up at Dinas. Despite the unpopularity of 590 , the WHHR (Porthmadog) is currently refurbishing a similar Baldwin to act as a replica. During the ownership of the WHR by the Festiniog Railway Company, Moel Tryfan and Russell were cut down to allow them to traverse the Festiniog Railway to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Moel Tryfan proved suitable, but Russell , even in cut down form, was not low or narrow enough to fit
9894-414: Was built on the trackbed of the former standard gauge railway. Dinas station is also built on the standard gauge railway site, rather than the original narrow gauge site, with the line moving onto the original WHR alignment just south of the station. It is marketed by the FR Co. as The Welsh Highland Railway and Rheilffordd Eryri (In the Welsh language , Eryri = "Snowdonia"). The WHR's connection to
9996-622: 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
10098-597: Was out of use at Boston Lodge . When Russell and 590 were withdrawn the following year, they were placed in Dinas shed, but when the Second World War broke out, the Ministry of War came to see about appropriating them for the war effort. After some examination of the engines and questioning of those who had worked them, Russell (regarded as a good engine) was removed for further use, and 590 (seen as an unreliable, rough rider with difficult controls and inadequate adhesion)
10200-518: 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
10302-517: 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
10404-492: Was the source of much conflict between the old company and the Great Western Railway over the cost of WHR trains using the crossing. On the modern WHR, the crossing is called Cae Pawb. Cae Pawb means "everybody's field" and is a reference to the nearby field of allotments. Information, from the engineers involved, is that the Network Rail line crosses on solid steel billets to the same head, foot and height measurements as
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