Portal:Wales

The Wales Portal

Wales (Welsh: Cymru [ˈkəmrɨ] ^ⓘ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Located on the island of Great Britain, it is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic Sea to the south-west. As of 2021^[update], it had a population of 3.2 million. It has a total area of 21,218 square kilometres (8,192 sq mi) and over 2,700 kilometres (1,680 mi) of coastline. It is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. Its capital and largest city is Cardiff.

A distinct Welsh culture emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was briefly united under Gruffudd ap Llywelyn in 1055. After over 200 years of war, the conquest of Wales was completed by King Edward I of England in 1283, though Owain Glyndŵr led the Welsh Revolt against English rule in the early 15th century, and briefly re-established an independent Welsh state with its own national parliament (Welsh: senedd). In the 16th century the whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the late 19th and early 20th century by David Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century: a nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, was formed in 1925, and Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh language society, in 1962. A governing system of Welsh devolution is employed in Wales, of which the most major step was the formation of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament, formerly the National Assembly for Wales) in 1998, responsible for a range of devolved policy matters. (Full article...)

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Llantwit Major is a small coastal town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the Bristol Channel coast. It is one of four towns in Vale of Glamorgan and the third largest by population (13,366 in 2001) after Barry and Penarth, and ahead of Cowbridge, which lies about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) to the northeast. The town centre of Llantwit Major lies about 9 miles (14 km) southeast of the centre of Bridgend, 10 miles (16 km) west of the centre of Barry, and about 15 miles (24 km) miles northwest of the centre of the Welsh capital of Cardiff which lies further to the east beyond Barry.

In Welsh, the town is named Llanilltud Fawr, after Saint Illtud, who came to the area from Brittany. He founded a monastery and the college attached to it, Cor Tewdws, which would grow into one of the most esteemed Christian colleges of the times. The monastery was destroyed by the Vikings in 987, but rebuilt in 1111, and continued to be a centre of learning until it closed in 1539 in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The 13th century St Illtyd's Church, built near the ancient monastery, is a Grade I listed building and is one of the oldest parish churches in Wales. The modern town of Llantwit Major developed rapidly in the 20th century to accommodate for the Royal Air Force serviceman in the base built at nearby St Athan, but it retains its mediaeval feel with narrow cobbled streets and high walls and many old buildings, including a 15th-century town hall.

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Credit: AFBorchert

Saint David as teacher of St. Finnian in a stained glass window at Clonard

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Did you know...?

... that occupants of Wenvoe Castle in south Wales have included a member of Cromwell's Upper House and a vice chamberlain to the Prince of Wales (later King George IV)?
... that the discovery of microliths at St James Square during gas main excavation in 2010 revealed that Monmouth was inhabited during the Mesolithic period?
... that new Monmouth Alms Houses are to be provided by the charity established nearly four hundred years ago to build the original dwellings?
... that the Church of the Holy Cross at Kilgwrrwg, Monmouthshire, is one of the most remote parish churches in the UK still in regular use?

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There is no greater mistake than to try to leap an abyss in two jumps.

— David Lloyd George, in Lloyd George, David (1933). "XXIV: Disintegration of the Liberal Party". War Memoirs. Vol. 2 (1st ed.). London: Ivor Nicholson & Watson. p. 740.

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Rowan Douglas Williams, DD, DCL, PC, FBA (born 14 June 1950 in Swansea, Wales) is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England. Williams was born in Swansea, Wales, into a Welsh-speaking family. He was educated at Dynevor School, Swansea; Christ's College, Cambridge, where he studied theology; and Wadham College, Oxford, where he took his DPhil in 1975. He lectured at the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield, West Yorkshire for two years. In 1977 he returned to Cambridge to teach theology, first at Westcott House, having been ordained deacon in Ely cathedral that year and was ordained priest in 1978. Unusually, he undertook no formal curacy until 1980 when he served at St George's Chesterton until 1983, having been appointed as a lecturer in Divinity at the University of Cambridge. In 1984 he became dean and chaplain of Clare College, Cambridge, and, in 1986, at the very young age of 36, he was appointed to the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at the University of Oxford and thus also a residentiary canon of Christ Church. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1989. In 1991 Dr Williams was appointed and consecrated Bishop of Monmouth in the Anglican Church in Wales. In 1997 he was proposed as a potential Bishop of Southwark. George Carey, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, asked Dr Williams to distance himself from his writings sympathetic to the cause of gay rights, but he declined and was not nominated to the post.

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Welsh news

29 June 2026 –: Rough sleeping is formally decriminalized in England and Wales following the repeal of the Vagrancy Act 1824 by the government of the United Kingdom. (Housing Today)
28 June 2026 –: The British government announces that it will scrap the 202-year-old Vagrancy Act that criminalizes rough sleeping in England and Wales, saying that a new law will aim at "preventing homelessness" rather than "punishing" it. (The Independent)
1 June 2026 – Murder of Henry Nowak: Vickrum Digwa, a 23-year-old Sikh man, is sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 21 years, for murdering 18-year-old University of Southampton student Henry Nowak in Southampton, England, on 3 December 2025. Digwa's mother is also found guilty of assisting an offender by hiding the murder weapon, a knife. (The Guardian)
8 May 2026 – 2026 United Kingdom local elections: The Labour Party concedes defeat in Wales with Plaid Cymru and Reform UK making significant gains, while the nationalist Scottish National Party claims victory in Scotland. (BBC News) (Reuters); Welsh Labour leader and First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan resigns after losing her seat in the Senedd as Plaid Cymru claims victory in Wales. (The National)

General images

The following are images from various Wales-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Crempog - Anglesey style (from Culture of Wales)
Image 2Bryn Celli Ddu, a late Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey
Image 3Owain Glyndŵr (from History of Wales)
Image 4A Plaid Cymru rally in Machynlleth in 1949, where the Parliament for Wales Campaign began (from History of Wales)
Image 5Dowlais Ironworks (1840) by George Childs (1798–1875) (from History of Wales)
Image 6Standard of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, King of Powys 1063-1075. (from History of Wales)
Image 7King Hywel Dda depicted enthroned in a 13th-century manuscript (from History of Wales)
Image 8The Senedd (Welsh Parliament), Cardiff Bay. (from History of Wales)
Image 9Offa's Dyke (Clawdd Offa) Map. (from History of Wales)
Image 10Caradog by Thomas Prydderch. Caradog was leader of the north Walian Celtic tribe, the Ordovices, and led multiple Celtic tribes against the Romans. (from History of Wales)
Image 11Big Pit, National Coal Museum. (from History of Wales)
Image 12Medieval kingdoms of Wales shown within the boundaries of the present day country of Wales and not inclusive of all (from History of Wales)
Image 13Battle at Mametz Wood by Christopher Williams (1918), commissioned by Secretary of State for War at the time, David Lloyd George. (from History of Wales)
Image 14Map of the Roman invasion of Wales (from History of Wales)
Image 15Gravestone of King Cadfan ap Iago of Gwynedd (died c. 625) in Llangadwaladr church (from History of Wales)
Image 16Medieval map of Welsh realms (from History of Wales)
Image 17Portrait of William Morgan. (from History of Wales)
Image 18Facsimile of Part of Column 579 from the Red Book of Hergest (from Culture of Wales)
Image 19Statue of Owain Glyndŵr (c. 1354 or 1359 – c. 1416) at Cardiff City Hall
Image 20Tom Jones performing with Janis Joplin in 1969 (from Culture of Wales)
Image 21The Flag of Saint David (from Culture of Wales)
Image 22Market Day in Old Wales by Sydney Curnow Vosper (1910) (from Culture of Wales)
Image 23Cawl, a Welsh dish of meat and vegetables (from Culture of Wales)
Image 24Owain Glyndŵr painting by AC Michael (from Culture of Wales)
Image 25"Cymdeithas yr Iaith" (Society for the Language) bilingual road sign protest, 1972. (from History of Wales)
Image 26Medieval crwth instrument (from Culture of Wales)
Image 27Harlech Castle was one of a series built by Edward I to consolidate his conquest. (from History of Wales)
Image 28Red Dragon of Wales (from Culture of Wales)
Image 29The Bard, 1774, by Thomas Jones (1742–1803) (from Culture of Wales)
Image 30Two of the furnaces of the Blaenavon Ironworks (from History of Wales)
Image 31Opening of the Sixth Senedd in Cardiff in 2021 (from History of Wales)
Image 32Britain in AD 500: The areas shaded pink on the map were inhabited by the Britons, here labelled Welsh. The pale blue areas in the east were controlled by Germanic tribes, while the pale green areas to the north were inhabited by the Gaels and Picts. (from History of Wales)

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