Placename and toponymy
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The original name of the medieval township, within whose boundaries the present-day village lies, was Pwllgwyngyll, meaning "the pool of the white hazels". Pwllgwyngyll was one of two townships making up the parish, the other being Treforion; its name was first recorded as 'Piwllgunyl' in an ecclesiastical valuation conducted in the 1250s for the Bishop of Norwich. The parish name was recorded as Llanfair y Pwllgwyngyll ('Llanfair' meaning "[St.] Mary's church"; y meaning "(of) the") as far back as the mid 16th century, in Leland's Itinerary. The suffixing of the township name to that of the church would have served to distinguish the parish from the many other sites dedicated to Mary in Wales.
Longer versions of the name are thought to have first been used in the 19th century in an attempt to develop the village as a commercial and tourist centre. The long form of the name is the longest place name in the United Kingdom and one of the longest in the world at 58 characters (51 "letters" since "ch" and "ll" are digraphs, and are treated as single letters in the Welsh language). The village is still signposted Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, marked on Ordnance Survey maps as Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll and the railway station is officially named Llanfairpwll, a form used by local residents. The name is also shortened to Llanfair PG, sufficient to distinguish it from other places in Wales called Llanfair (meaning "[St.] Mary's church").
19th-century renaming[edit]
Illustration of a sign showing the name and English translation
James Pringle Weavers shop with English translation of the name
The sign at the railway station gives an approximation of the correct pronunciation for English speakers.
Postmark from the village
St Mary's Church
The long name was supposedly contrived in 1869 as an early publicity stunt to give the station the longest name of any railway station in Britain. According to Sir John Morris-Jones the name was created by a local tailor, whose name he did not confide, letting the secret die with him. This form of the name adds a reference to the whirlpool in the Menai Strait known as the Swellies and to the small chapel of St. Tysilio, located on a nearby island. The final -gogogoch ("red cave") is supposed to have been an addition inspired by the Cardiganshire parish of Llandysiliogogo, rather than by any local features.
Literally translated, the long form of the name means: "[The] church of [St.] Mary (Llanfair) [of the] pool (pwll) of the white hazels (gwyn gyll) near to [lit. "over against"] (go ger) the fierce whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) [and] the church of [St.] Tysilio (Llantysilio) of the red cave (gogo[f] goch)". Various elements have occasionally been translated differently, for example "the white pool among the hazel trees" or "the cave of St Tysilio the Red".
The true originator and date of the longer version of the name is less certain, however: an ecclesiastical directory published a few years before the claimed renaming gives what it calls the "full" parish name in the slightly differing form of Llanfair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­goger­bwll­tysilio­gogo ("St Mary's church of the pool of the white hazels over against the pool of St Tysilio Gogo [Tysilio of the cave]"), while Llan-vair-pwll-gwyn-gyll-goger-bwll-dysilio-gogo appears in a paper on placenames published in 1849, its author noting that "the name was generally abridged" by locals. While the addition regarding the Swellies is supposed only to have been made in the 1860s, early 19th century guidebooks had already suggested a derivation of the element pwllgwyngyll from pwll, gwyn and gwyll ("gloomy raging pool"), in reference to the Swellies.
Tourism and attractions[edit]
A few thousand local residents welcome about 200,000 visitors per year. The most popular attraction is the Llanfairpwll railway station that features the plate with the full name of the village. Other places of interest in the area include Anglesey Sea Zoo, Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber, St. Tysilio's Church, and Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens.
In science[edit]
In 2020, a new species of bacteria isolated from soil collected in the parish of the village was placed in the Myxococcus genus and was named Myxococcus llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch­ensis.
In popular culture[edit]
In his 1957 appearance on You Bet Your Life, the Welsh academic John Hughes answered host Groucho Marx's question about the location of his birthplace by mentioning the town.
In the 1966 Stephen Sondheim-penned song "The Boy From...", the singer details her unrequited love for a boy from the (fictional) island of Tacarembo la Tumbe del Fuego Santa Malipas Zatatecas la Junta del Sol y Cruz. The final verse includes the lyric: "Tomorrow he sails/He's moving to Wales/To live in Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch" (with the very last line of the song simply being the exhortation, "och!"). Part of the song's humour stems from the singer's attempts to catch her breath after repeatedly singing the unwieldy place names.
In the 1968 movie Barbarella, Dildano proposes that the password for a meeting is "Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch".
The name was submitted to Guinness World Records as the longest word to appear in a published cryptic crossword, having been used by compiler Roger Squires in 1979. The clue was "Giggling troll follows Clancy, Larry, Billy and Peggy who howl, wrongly disturbing a place in Wales (58)", where all but the last five words formed an anagram.
In the 1980s, the village's name was the subject of a question on the American quiz show $ale of the Century. Host Jim Perry later showed a giant cue card bearing the name of the village, he explained what each part of the name meant before joking "and it's pronounced...exactly the way you think it is!"[citation needed]
In 1995, Welsh band Super Furry Animals released its debut EP, Llanfair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­goger­y­chwyrn­drobwl­lan­tysilio­gogo­goch­yny­gofod (In Space).
In 2002, the village's website was listed as the longest URL on the Internet.
The English translation of the village’s name is included as a lyric in the song Red Cave by the American experimental rock band Yeasayer, the final track on their 2007 debut album All Hour Cymbals.
In 2025 the video game Helldivers 2 added a city for players to defend called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch II.
