The sign indicates ‘no motor vehicles’ but the plate below it allows ‘except for access’. So if you have a legitimate need for access (you live there, delivery etc.) then you can drive past the sign.
@@Jimmy_Jones *"Bleedin' 'Ell! I Could Fit A Bus Through That!"* That's something my Dad used to say a lot, especially watching someone faff about trying to park! Back when he was still driving, as he's almost 91 now! I can imagine him going up there with our touring caravan dragged behind us, back in the 70's - 80's. 😂
The general rule for road signs would be: 1 circle means instruction, 2 colour scheme of white background, red border, black silhouette means "no" (an equivalent "yes" would be blue background, while border and silhouette), 3 there might be a red diagonal stripe unless it would hide the image too much. Triangular signs give warnings, rectangles give information.
@@leohickey4953 And circular signs give commands. It's a brilliant system, and if you ever go to Singapore (welcome to the 22nd century), you'll see exactly the same signage.
Omg this is my home town! Didn’t expect to see this on here! My granddaughter is fluent in Welsh and all children have a choice of being taught in English or Welsh. The language is very much in use. My husband works and drives steam engines on the railway. There are also horse drawn barges to travel on too. Lots to see and do. The only drawback is parking is very difficult, especially in the holiday season.
May I say, as an Englishman, Wales is EPIC. I love it so much. I would suggest you have a look at the Snowdonia National Park, an area that includes Yr Wyddfa, (aka Mount Snowdon) the tallest peak in Wales (and England) You might also like to have a look at some of the narrow gauge steam railways to found around Wales. Originally built to transport slate from quarries to ports where it could be loaded onto ships or standard gauge trains, they are now a big part of Wales' historic legacy and are popular with tourists. The 'footpath' alongside the canal is the Tow Path which is where the horses towing the narrow boat would walk.
Same here, fellow Englishman, loves wales, the landscape, the people, the architecture, the castles ... just magical. Lots of happy holidays spent there.
Great to hear 😊...a little nitpicky, but you was going so well.... Snowdonia national park is now Eryri(Air-ruh-ree) and as you said Snowdon is Yr Wyddfa(Er Ooy-th-fa) Just as the Brecon Beacons is now Bannau Brycheiniog(spelling😬)
The three things you will find in every UK town. A Church, a town hall and a Pub. All in close proximity of each other and were considered the three pillars of a community, as ideas were formed in in the Pub, bought forward to the council, and then blessed by the church.
I've driven a boat across that bridge. I can tell you, standing at the back as you steer the boat, holding on to the rudder next to a 125 foot drop, with no fence, is definitely a squeaky bum moment
It's like walking along a row of bricks, a single row at ground level is no problem, a 100 foot high (30m) wall is a different matter (if you can find one). With regard to the aqueduct crossing, when the boat is floating on the water it is displacing its own weight in water which is pushed off the bridge at the ends. So passing over the aqueduct in a heavy boat actually makes no difference to the weight the aqueduct is carrying. Someone (or a horse) on the towpath however does add weight to the load the bridge is carrying. So as long as you avoid falling you should not worry about the weight of the boat causing mechanical failure.
My wife and I hired a narrow boat and went over the aqueduct. She hid below as she had no head for heights. Of course, being 'the man', I continued. Talk about squeaky bum - it was both awesome, seeing that view, and terrifying, seeing that drop just inches away, at the same time. But a fantastic experience. Not sure I'd do it again though, colour me coward if you like but do it first before you do.
Before engines were fitted to canal boats. They were pulled along by horses. That would walk along the side of the canal. This is why you will always see a footpath next to a canal. 😉
The canals came before the railways - and they were the nation's transport system. So a narrow boat might have part of the boat for cargo - and tow other barges laden with goods/materials. So they were more like your current long-distance truck drivers (but with the whole family living in the cab) than RVs? Obviously nowadays most are houseboats/dayboats so only carry people.
Fab. (For those who really want to know it means no motorised traffic - plate may specify further - which, in this case said motorised traffic which needs access to a specific place may use it anyway).
I love you two. 😊 You take so much joy from things. I’m based in Cardiff, Wales and have been on a narrow boat across that wonderful viaduct. You’re such a great example of the best of American folk. Kind, positive, open, curious.
You should check out the Llangollen International Eisteddfod which is world famous. It is held every summer and it is where Pavarotti sang as a young boy. He visited it again later in life. The competitors are housed in the town free of charge and even perform in the streets when not in the competition tent. I have travelled to many places abroad and found locals who had competed there. and often won and had fond memories of Wales. ❤❤❤
@@missharry5727 As in the capital, CardiFF (this is the English translation to enable English speakers to say it somewhat correctly). NB Welsh is: CaerdyDD
my birthday week, growing up in llangollen the town comes alive with music from streets to pubs to beer gardens, really fun busy period full of lot live music everywhere
Regarding the white parts of the timber frame houses - the black straight lines are a painted timber frame, and the white sections are white-washed "wattle and daub" (traditionally, at least). Essentially they weave branches (the "wattle") in to a stiff frame, and then pack it with a clay/straw/sometimes traditionally animal dung (the "daub") which is then left to dry before being white-washed! Regarding the "town centre" concept - because our towns grew much more "naturally" over long periods of time, as opposed to being planned and erected all at once, there is no guaranteed standard. However, especially with smaller towns as you were talking about, overwhelmingly the centre will have started around an inn/pub or a church. Then a small area nearby would end up becoming a site for an impromptu market so travelling merchants could take advantage of the traffic of people staying at the inn, which would then form the beginnings of a "centre" of a town. A market hall or market cross might then be erected which would define the centre and the location of market for people to get their food and sell their goods. Then people might build a few houses, perhaps another inn would be built, or a shrine to cater to the spiritual needs of medieval travellers, and things would just kind of sprawl out from there!
Hello from England. The Pontcysyllte Aquaduct is an amazing feat of engineering. Together with its 11-mile stretch of canal, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site (up there with the Pyramids, Stone Henge, The Grand Canyon, Stone Henge, The Great Wall of China, etc.). As well as being the longest aquaduct in the UK, it also the highest 'canal' aquaduct in the world (126 feet above the valley floor). Which is all the more remarkable when you consider that its construction started around 1795 and was completed in 1805, nearly 220 years ago . The trough through which the narrowboats navigate is the original structure, made up of cast iron plates that are only one inch thick.
. . . and the canal was not built because it needed to get to Llangollen but 2 or 3 miles further back up the river (River Dee), and significantly higher than Llangollen, at what is now called the Horseshoe Falls which provides water for the Llangollen branch and the whole of the rest of the Shropshire Union canals. By the way, after the second half of the 18th century most of the inland canal system developed using "narrow" - 7ft - boats.
What a coincidence. We are going there tomorrow for two weeks. For a time my mother's family lived in one of the red houses above the station. Slate is quarried locally and used to be transported via the canal. We are staying by the river and that is at the end of garden. My grandfather was responsible for the riverside walk in the early 1900s. Offa's Dyke is right where Dinas Bran is pointed out. We took my father in law here and he fell in love with the place.
Hello from Wales UK. I live, not to far from Llangollen. It's a beautiful, picturesque town....and really worth a visit. Thank you for posting.... Regards from Wexham, Wales UK
To pronounce the LL; you put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, directly behind your two front teeth, and then expel air around either side of your tongue
Sorry that’s not how you pronounce Ll, your pronouncing it much like a ‘th’ in English which is wrong, it’s difficult to describe how to pronounce the Ll, the sound is made on both sides of the mouth not the front of the mouth, which is how you described it 🤷♀️… also there’s no ‘h’ sound in Llangollen 😁
@@0x2A_ oh right, I didn’t read it like that, they said to place your tongue directly behind your two front teeth, that to me is the front of the mouth 🤷♀️
My mum is buried on a hillside up there at a tiny church village nearby. its gorgeous just sitting up there. not same one at start of video but close. half my family used to live around that area. its so peaceful
Im from the village of Trevor where the aqueduct actually is but went to school and worked in Llangollen The town is full of the friendliest people and each year hosts the world famous international musical Eisteddfod (music, song and dance festival) bringing people from all over the world
Am from England and I must say wales is the most beautiful place in the UK , if you like mountains, valleys , and the countrysides and mountain drives there unbelievable..
Let's not be rose-tinted spectacle-wearers. Wales, as a whole, is fabulous with many fab areas. But, of course, there are somewhat run-down towns and villages, old slate quarries, open pits and so on (NB: which used to be sources of employment). Thus, a major problem is the lack of jobs per se and a lack of well-paid employment in particular - both these starve some areas of the country of funds. There have been very many attempts to rectify all this but jobs keep disappearing, alas. Nonetheless, in recent years the technology and tourism sectors have been able to improve some places but much more enterprise and high-level economic activity is needed.
I live in Acrefair part of the county of Wrexham (yes that Wrexham), I am 5 mins away from the aqueduct and 10 mins from Llangollen, we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of North Wales, there is soooooo much more not included in this video of the surrounding areas as it it is obviously concentrating on Llangollen, if you ever need a guide you know who to holler 😂.
Plas Newydd is the name of the mansion house. It translates as New Hall. And the Ladies of Llangollen were lovers, which is why they eloped from Ireland.
@MiscellanyTop Thanks for saying that.. I was thinking I was sure we visited a National Trust Plas Newyd on Anglesey a couple of years back, you've saved me looking it up. To be fair, it looks like Langollen might have to go on the list for next year (we go for a long weekend every August bank holiday, officially to visit some friends who have moved to Prestatyn)
19:34 they do precisely that, if you want to know where the stone went, it's probably in a wall in Llangollen somewhere. Basically if you don't need it for military reasons and it's costing a fortune to maintain, it just gets abandoned. Once abandoned, repairs don't get done, it starts falling apart, and them when someone needs some building work done it's a lot easier to start taking already quarried stone from the ruined castle than dig it out of the ground.
Pronunciation guide: Ll: an angry cat's hiss 😃 with the tongue on the roof of the mouth C: is always a hard K sound Dd: like the English Th in then U: sounds more like an I W: like the English OO Y: sounds like UH That'll keep you going for now. I love your videos, and I love Llangollen. I live nearby.
Having taken a narrowboat across the view from the steering position is awesome.... a little daunting at first, especially when you lean out a little but a memorable journey!!!
Hey, I wanted to let you know 2 things. As an old Welsh lady, to pronounce Llangollen, place the tip of your tongue tight behind your top teeth and breathe out. The noise is the way to pronounce double L,s in Welsh language. The other thing not mentioned which Llangollen is famous for around the world is the international Eisteddfod. You can find videos easily of that. Take care all. Linda from Swansea x
The locks on Britain's narrow canals were built to a standard width of 7 feet. Modern narrow boats are between 6 ft 8 in and 6 ft 10 in. wide. The old working boats were a maximum of 72 feet in length but to access all of the canal system now you need a boat of about maximum 60 feet in length.
I love watching your reactions - so great to see how much you appreciate our beautiful Kingdom. Wales is such a beautiful place, and of course Tom Jones is from there so what is not to love!
The Ladies loved those dark, seventeenth-century carvings so much that their friends gave them old bedsteads, cabinets etc, which they had cut up and arranged on the walls of the house. That's why it looks so unique. 🖤
Wales is a lovely place with such friendly people. You would also like Hay on Wye, which is known as the town of books. It has a book festival at the end of May. It is on the border of England and Wales.
She’s saying Llangollen wrong too. I used to love sitting down by the river, watching the ducks. There are a few places where you can ride on a steam train. My home is a stone cottage that used to be a chapel from the 14th century with dry stone walls around it. I walked about halfway across Llangollen viaduct then got scared as it’s so high. You should check out on Hay on Wye too
many canal-bridges were built in europe in the 19th century : 9 foot wide in UK, 17 foot wide on the continent. that's why you can only see these slim barges called "narrow boats" (7 foot wide x 60 foot long max.) on UK standard width canals. They have engines now, but still have a tiller-rudder. Wider boats can't use UK narrow standard canal-bridges and locks.... There are some wider waterways in UK, where you can pass with bigger boats, like the Caledonian canal in Scotland, made to go from Irish sea to North sea, through Loch Ness, and avoiding to pass by the northernmost way, between Highlands and Shetland islands.
No it doesn't bridge England and Wales at all. There's Trevor on one side and Froncysyllte on the other.....both are firmly in wales! It's a short cut over the dee valley as there aren't any other crossings before llangollen.
@@NickNick-tp5cr I dont mean literally. Its purpose is to connect the English and Welsh canal systems for easier trading of goods. Specifically connecting the Severn to the Mersey so it's all in the same canal system
Our old stone walls and hedge rows are some of the oldest landmarks in the counrty. Because of over three thousand years of farming the land markings very rarely change. Where as the buildings come and go over generations. The river in the town you see is beautiful, when the water level is low you can go down and picnic on the flat stones of the river bed. When the castles were abandoned the local people would Rob the stone to build their own houses.
I was in Llangollen last Saturday with my mother and sister, it's beautiful. My sister lives 15 minutes up the road . After breakfast in one of the lovely cafes we walked through the church yard into the church which is stunning inside . Then wandered up to Plas Newydd to learn about the two ladies who lived there . The house inside is amazing and I highly recommend reading about Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby , The Ladies of Llangollen , incredible story . The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a ten minute walk from my sisters , it is as impressive and scary as it looks . North Wales is a truly beautiful part of the world .
Croeso (welcome) to Wales, I live roughly 40 minutes from Llangollen. I have walked a lot of North Wales, including the aqueduct, Snowdonia and many more. There are seven wonders of Wales, one is the bridge in Llangollen. There is an anonymous poem, called The Wonders Of Wales and dating from the end of the 18th century "Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham steeple, Snowdon's mountain without its people, Overton yew trees, St Winifred's Well, Llangollen's Bridge and Gresford's bells.". Plus there are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales, one of which is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
Hi. I remember visiting Plas Newydd many years ago as a teenager. It's certainly a very unique house - but you're right, it isn't originally tudor. There's been some sort of cottage there for centuries, long before Ponsonby and Butler bought it, however, the black timbers and carvings on the exterior were part of the ladies' addition to the house in the late 18th / early 19th century. Most of the wood was reused from churches or other buildings being torn down. The detail they went into is very impressive!
I am from Wales, but now live in Western Canada , on Vancouver Island. I am not Welsh speaking, but do know mostly how to pronounce it. Even though I have been here a long time, I just recently found out that the local indigenous language, SENĆOŦEN, (senchothen) has exactly the same letter sound as our Welsh 'LL' , except it is shown as an 'L' with a line through it. Funnily enough though is that when I listen to RUclips videos done by local elders, they pronounce this letter just like we do. In videos done by younger people though, just sound like English people trying to say 'Llangollen' !
Only live 15 minutes from here. All this beautiful scenery and yet you can be in Wrexham or Chester in 10 minutes, or Liverpool or Manchester within an hour. Llangollen host a brilliant annual international music Eisteddfod. Choirs, singers, musicians from all corners of the globe.
I've been along the Llangollen canal in a narrowboat, including along the aqueduct. It's fantastic. I was supposed to go back earlier this year, but plans changed. Watching this makes me want to go again. If you look into narrowboats, I'm right there for it.
Wales is very famous for slate-mining. Majority of village roofs are the lovely grey slate. Very tough to mine and then you split the slate into the thin tiles.
Had many picnics by the river in Llangollen over the years. My niece got married there and booked the old train for a ride whilst having cream tea. Was great fun. The old train we went on was the old brown/ maroon ones with tables between seats. The one in the video makes the one we went on look ancient😂
Llangollen is a delightful place - a lovely town in a beautiful setting, the waterfalls, steam railway, Dinas castle and the nearby aqueduct - definitely worth a visit. Steve, you would definitely get _some_ marks for your pronunciation - most English people struggle with Welsh pronunciation too, it includes some sounds that just don't feature in English at all - for an American who hasn't been to the UK, that was a decent first attempt! Lindsay is right, the road sign has a red circle so it's a prohibition - no motor vehicles - _except for access_ so you can drive down there to access a property that is along that lane but not otherwise. Llangollen had some slate quarries but nothing like the scale of the slate quarries in Snowdonia or the coal mines in South Wales. The main industry around here was agriculture and wool/textiles. The "old train" is a diesel railcar and dates from the 1950s, so will have been taken out of regular service about 30 years ago - it's cute, but not as much fun as a proper steam train! The UK has some amazing heritage railways but also some fantastic mainline railways that are well worth exploring. A lot of stone walls date from before the days when bricks were readily available, so stone was used because it was just there and it lasts a _really_ long time compared with wood! Courthouses are much less prominent in most UK towns and cities than in the US. Historic towns will often have a town hall or market place at their centre (the town hall being where the council would have resided, although in most cases any serious administration will have moved to a more modern office and the town hall will be more for ceremonial or community functions). Yes, parks in towns like that are invariably free in the UK. On single-track roads like the one up to Dinas Bran, there will usually be wider "passing places" fairly regularly, so if you meet a car coming the other way and you've just passed one then you back up and pull in to let them past, or if you _haven't_ just passed one then you hope that they have and back up. Sometimes there can be a brief battle of wills before someone gives in! There are proper paths up Dinas Bran from the town and from the opposite side, but they are steep. The hill is just off the long-distance hiking trail of Offa's Dyke (which broadly speaking runs from north to south along the borderlands between Wales and England). My best attempt at transliterating the name of the aqueduct is "Pont-ker-sulth-ter". Welsh always has a hard 'c', a 'y' is somewhere between a 'u' and a schwa, and the 'e' at the end is a schwa. It's cool to walk across the aqueduct (and there's a wonderful tea room on the south side), the thought of going across in a boat looks pretty terrifying though as there's no railing at all on that side! It has two-way traffic - it's straight, so as you approach you can see if there's anything already on it coming towards you before you enter the single file section. Snowdonia will blow your mind 🤯. The national park covers a large area, and there's so much more to it than just Mount Snowdon itself.
The important thing to remember when learning a language is that a familiar letter in one's native tongue may well have a different sound. The letter W in Welsh is one example.
@@geoffpoole483 That is not the problem with Llangollen, the problem is the unfamiliar letters, you need to realise that there is no letter 'l', instead there are two letter 'ỻ', and 'ỻ' sounds nothing like 'l'. The other big mistake in the video was with "Plas Newydd", which doesn't contain any 'd', but does contain a 'ð' - both unfamiliar letters to the English, unpronounceable and unhearable.
Thank you, you always give me the urge to get out and enjoy our little island, and remind me that the things we already have are a blessing and should not be simply overlooked.
If you manage to get to Wales and go to Snowdon, there is a mountain railway that goes to the top of Mount Snowdon, you think the roads are narrow you haven't seen anything yet :) It does rain a lot, but all I remember is for about 10 mins at a time... several times a day.
Llangollen canal is very famous. I have an episode of a show which spotlights the canal and tells about its history and how it connected businesses and helped the area prosper "Barging Round Britain with John Sergeant - Series 1 Episode 2 - Llangollen Canal - 2015"
I've been a couple of times across the aqueduct (at the helm of a narrowboat). It is quite an experience when you look over the side down to the valley below. It's a long way down. 🤪
@@hopechurch3907it's not in Welsh. You are thinking of the NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD which is in a different location every year around Wales. The INTERNATIONAL EISTEDDFOD is held in Llangollen every year and is host to people from around the world, taking part in singing, dancing, playing musical instruments etc.
If it is something that interests you, there is an island off the coast of Wales called Skomer. It is an island that has been allowed to flourish with wildlife, in particularly birds. The only people living there is the island's warden and a few volunteers. I have an episode of a show about it "Wild Britain with Ray Mears - Series 2 Episode 2 - Skomer- 2011 HD"
I've been across Llangollen and it's astonishing. I'd ❤to take our family narrowboat across but the journey from near Chorley (Lancashire) where she's moored to Llangollen would take AGES (at 4mph)! Narrowboating is fun. I think Sophia would would absolutely ❤a weekend (or day trip) on one when when you get to visit Britain soon (hint, hint)! 🥰
Different towns have different origins. A church is certainly one central focus but there are others. River crossings are an ancient reason why a town may have grown up. An ancient castle, monastery or manor house maybe another. A harbour or port is another focus from which a town can develop. Often a pub is a central feature even though it may not have been the origin of the town developing. You could make quite a study of the origins of towns.
I live just a few miles from here and visit Llangollen regularly. It is a beautiful town with so much to see and do. The surrounding areas are equally breathtaking and magical. The Horseshoe pass is amazing, especially on a sunny or even a snowy day. I never get tired of this place it is wonderful 😊
Narrowboats are 6ft 10 inches wide, and up to 72ft long, the waterway can be as narrow as 7ft wide, and all locks, bridges, tunnels, and aqueducts are 7ft wide. I've driven a hired narrowboat we used for a week's holiday over that structure, with my children and dogs on board, and literally on one side you could step out into an 128ft drop into the valley below.
Narrowboats nowadays come in all different sizes. I once went with some friends on a 4-day hire. We were a group of 7 (three couples and a single person). We hired one of the biggest (longest) boats available. Whilst being the standard legal limit of only 6'10" wide, the boat was around 60 feet long I think. It had three separate bedrooms, each with 2 bunks (for the three couples), a shower and toilet, a combined galley kitchen, lounge, dining area, that could accommodate all of us around a large table (there was also a seating area outside at the front of the vessel). And the kitchen living area converted into a double bedroom (for the single traveller). If you ever get the chance to go on a canalboat holiday, it's well worth it. You get lots of guidance before embarkation on the rules of the waterways, how and where to tie up, how to use a lock (quite scary the first time), etc. And most hire companies will have someone accompany you at the start of your journey in order to take you through your first lock.
On the walls. We have cut down an immense amount of trees. Britain was something like 90% woodland when the Romans arrived. However, brick & stone lasts so much longer than wood on a soggy, little, island. That is unless it's still growing, so we love a hedge too. Agriculturally, stones will have been cleared from fields through ploughing, piling them in to walls kills 2 birds with rather more than just one stone. ....I checked my facts, actually it's "only" up to 60%
Hi Steve and Lindsay, glad you liked our local town I moved here 20 years ago and still have to pinch myself some days. I live a 5 minute walk from the aqueduct and it is beautiful well worth a visit. If you do decide to come this way Snowdonia national park is about an hour drive away we are a small country after all. Don’t worry about the pronunciation everyone gets it wrong even people who live here! Glad you like our area and we hope you get chance to come and visit 🏴
Hi Steve and Lyndsey from Northumberland. I love Wales, my Grandparents used to live in a small village near Bridgend called St Brides Major. I've lots of fond memories of holidaying there. You should also check out videos of Northumberland. Being stuck up in the North, it tends to get forgotten about but has a rich and turbulent history. Check out a channel by the memory seekers. They do great content of visits they've made to places all over the UK. Keep up the good work!
When Steve says WALES it sounds like WELLS. The road sign means NO MOTOR VEHICLES. EXCEPT FOR ACCESS.( for residents) . We wouldn't have a courthouse in a small town in the UK. If you like small railways then look at the RAVENGLASS AND ESKDALE RAILWAY in the Lake District. Or look into AMBLESIDE in the Lake District where they have the BRIDGE HOUSE.
Very many market towns did have gaols, courthouses and so on. As Nick-Nick says, "lock-ups" - often very small outdoor stone chambers were in many places - even medium-sized villages for the temporary chastisement of miscreants - perhaps whilst they sobered-up after a binge, or served a day in it as a punishment or whilst awaiting transport to a town's prison for a more serious offence. And, of course, somewhere was needed to try the accused. Often courts would be combined with the local council meeting place - so not a court-house per se but a multi-use facility. But in the towns they found sufficient people to try (from there and those surrounding villages) that court-houses were deemed necessary. There were often called "The Assizes."
When you grow up in a beautiful area like this you tend to take it for granted. I was born in Wrexham but live in Essex now, and every time I went to see my mum I drove past the aqueduct and never even really looked at it. It wasn’t till I took my teenagers, who were fed up of just getting a quick glimpse from the bypass and wanted to see it up close, that I remembered how amazing this area really is. I have been over it in a boat but I preferred the walk, you can stop and admire the view at your own pace. We used to go to Llangollen quite often in the holidays when we were little and play on the big flat rocks in the river - even if you fell in it was very shallow so it was quite safe! If you do visit the area, you should go just across the border into England and visit Chester. It’s a very beautiful city, and has so much history it will blow your minds 😁
*Good Morning my Loves!* 😘 Short one today...PROMISE! 😂 Tudor houses are my favourite architecture too Steve. Yes the house she visited in the beginning, *Plas Newydd* is indeed a Tudor building dating back to the 1400's. I have been there although it was years ago now. The reason the house looks more ornate and Gothic inspired, with additional panels, would be a later addition, probably added 300-400 years later. (Georgian Era) "Mock" Tudor houses were very fashionable during the Victorian period, when they built new homes that were actually "copies" of the Tudor style. Strange to think that some of the Tudor houses you see, are not Tudor at all, but "modern" clones. 😂 In fact the original Tudor houses were not black and white actually, this was a later Victorian Era trend too, to paint them black and white, and the tradition is still maintained. (1837-1901) Many people even today have "Mock" Tudor panelling stuck onto the outside of their ordinary home, which still looks pretty because I just like that style, but it's very obvious it's not original as the lines are too straight and the roof level too low. You wondered what they were made of...? Well, a traditional Tudor house was made with thick oak framing. The "skeleton" of the house relies on this frame for it's strength. At either end of the home would be "Cruck Beams" (meaning crooked) which are the trunks of trees that have grown with a natural bend in them. They are shaped kind of like this = /\. They would be set either end, and additional framing would be added to join them together to form the "A" frame. Cross beams, are horizontal beams that go across the Cruck Beam "/\" turning it into an "A" shape for strength. With an A either end facing each other, each point of the A is joined to the other end with oak beams to form a solid frame. If you remember original camping tents, before the arrival of pop-up, dome and tunnel type tents these days, they are also A frame tents, triangular, so you get an idea of what the underlying frame shape is. So that's the skeleton of the house built. Thick oak beams around 6" thick if not more. There were also smaller beams added vertically to join the others together and give them support. Sometimes placed diagonally too shaped like the PEACE sign. ☮️
I live just a few miles away from the engineering masterpiece, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct by Thomas Telford, and sometimes walk the dog along the towpath. I’ve seen Hollywood A list celebrities, even other actors in famous films and singers too. Harrison Ford who frequents the place said “Hi” to me a couple of times whist out on the boat. It’s a place where ppl will let you continue on your day without pestering for autographs etc.
I’ve been camping there - at The Abby , it’s a beautiful place to camp. Waking up to hear the sheep storming by our tent was awesome. Watched the sheep give birth . There’s a brilliant pub overlooking the the river/ lake . 10/10
I live about 15 minutes from there-and used to walk across the aquaduct to a little pub-and walk back across it a bit worse for the wear later that evening!! I have also been walking under it and saw a border collie dog fall off it -land on its 4 paws and run off!!! Boy did I scream!! Shame she didnt show you the inside of Plas Newydd-its absolutely beautiful and when you enter the atmosphere is so warm and comforting and peaceful. The tearooms at P N sell amazing pork and apple pastry rolls-VERY MOORISH!!!!! Oh and my dog Bran is named after the castle. Bran is welsh for crow and it is said that should the birds leave" Crow Castle" Llangollen will fall into ruins!
@susanroberts2347 How amazing, its 126feet high, no one has ever survived a fall. We have on average 6 jumpers a year. Perhaps the dog was a hallucination from all the beer at the aqueduct pub, or was it the Telford?
I loved riding a canal boat across this aqueduct. Looking out of the windows on the non-path side was amazing. Canals and single track roads both have passing areas. You soon learn to reverse if you meet something between them.
Steve, I know you checked out Whitby, but I don’t think Lindsay has see it? Maybe she has? If not tho, I think she’ll love it there. And every year, Whitby holds “Whitby goth week”. Which id love to attend. Everyone dressed in their traditional goth clothes, or steampunk etc just look amazing
I've been to Whitby but never to the goth festival, but would absolutely love to go! I've seen videos on youtube and it looks amazing. The closest we get to a festival is the Elvis weekend, where people come from all over the world to dress as Elvis and spend the weekend doing karaoke and attempting to impersonate his singing and style 😂
@ yeah Elvis has never been my cuppa tea to be fair. I think that would be excruciating for me! I’m definitely more of an alt woman. So the goth weekend would be perfect. Just never had the chance to go. Whitby is such a beautiful place tho. I remember stepping off a coach and instantly falling in love with it and I had basically only seen a road ! It’s just so peaceful and scenic
@ I’m the same, I’ve never been and stay well out of the way, the goth festival is much more my thing! I’m not sure I’d want to walk about Whitby in the middle of the night or if it was foggy🤣🤣. It’s so stunning there though. 😍
I used to visit this town a couple of times a year. If I remember rightly there is an almost forgotten legend that the Holy Grail was once in the ruined castle and some people still go looking for it. Overlooking the town is a big escarpment where I used to like to walk and from there you look down over the hill where the castle lies. I remember flocks of birds like tiny pinpricks circling the castle hundreds of feet below which is a weird and wonderful sight. They could well have been crows.
I don't speak Welsh but I believe that Plas Newydd (the name of the tearooms) translates as 'new house'. Plas is the word for a large house or mansion. A normal sized house is 'ty'. Welsh speakers, please correct me if I'm wrong.
There’s at least a couple of Plas Newydd’s in Wales including a National Trust place in Anglesey, I’m not a Welsh speaker but plas translates as hall or mansion with ty meaning house
That is correct, although the ‘dd’ in Newydd is pronounced the same as ‘th’ in ‘There’. It has a sort of buzzy resonance to it. Newydd is pronounced Now - idd.
To answer your question about town centres. Here in the uk, most old towns have grown around the commodities or services from which the towns have originated. Market Towns generally have a market and market house at their centre. This is where surrounding farms would have brought their livestock and produce to sell and distribute. Commuter towns generally have grown around a train station or coach house and we also call these either railway towns or coach towns. Coach towns are usually between two or more larger settlements and are also usually at a crossroads. Port towns have grown around the ports, docks and yards involved in shipping and ship building. Bath towns (like Bath😂) and Spa towns usually have some sort of natural spring or spa for bathing or drinking at their centre. This may have been for religious or medicinal reasons, or because there is an intact roman bathhouse left over from the roman empire. Pottery towns are pretty self explanatory as are college towns, castle towns, coal towns, steel towns and seaside towns. We also have book towns which are centres of literary culture and have a town centre stacked with book shops selling secon hand or rare to find and out of print books. The best example of this would be Hay on Wye in Herefordshire. This is not at all an exhaustive list and I’m sure there are other types of towns, but I hope this gives you an idea.
I once worked with a guy from Llanelli and he taught me how to pronounce it so pronouncing LLangollen is child's play. We used to have weekend cycle club run there each spring and stay in the Youth Hostel - we were fit in those days and riding 180 miles over the weekend on out tandem was a breeze :) AT 84 we don't ride so far. That road sign means no motorcycles or cars (because it's circular) but with an exception for access to premises.
Oggies are just cornish pasties really that were alledgedly eaten by miners, You could hold the crust with dirty hands and eat and then discard it. My BF is from the Mining areas of wales and he had never heard of them until i showed him this shop. They tend to be giant versions of Cornish Pasties. Anyway we have started a tradition now of making giant oggies twice a year for St David's Day in March and Glyndwr Day in Sept. I have perfected them (lol) They are filled with Welsh lamb, lamb gravy and mint. Delicious,
The canal goes both ways so you have to check there's nobody on the bridge before you set off. Kayaking over it os amazing! Definitely need to add it to your trip.
The North Wales coast is amazing and can be visited in a short timescale really. I’d recommend a base in Chester, which is an amazing super historic City on the border between England and Wales. From there you can just go up the coast road all along the North Wales coast. Wrexham is also on the doorstep if you wanted to check out the town that Ryan Reynolds and Rob Maclehenny have bought the football team.
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is amazing, and the whole area around Llangollen is beautiful. My claim to fame is falling into the river near the chainbridge at Llangollen as an 8 year old & having to be fished out by my Dad! I just love that area ❤️
I hate heights and I have done this !!! We took a day rental twice and loved it, takes a bit to get used to manoover it without smashing into the side, a great day out.
The sign indicates ‘no motor vehicles’ but the plate below it allows ‘except for access’. So if you have a legitimate need for access (you live there, delivery etc.) then you can drive past the sign.
Assuming you can fit
@@Jimmy_Jones *"Bleedin' 'Ell! I Could Fit A Bus Through That!"*
That's something my Dad used to say a lot, especially watching someone faff about trying to park! Back when he was still driving, as he's almost 91 now! I can imagine him going up there with our touring caravan dragged behind us, back in the 70's - 80's. 😂
The general rule for road signs would be: 1 circle means instruction, 2 colour scheme of white background, red border, black silhouette means "no" (an equivalent "yes" would be blue background, while border and silhouette), 3 there might be a red diagonal stripe unless it would hide the image too much. Triangular signs give warnings, rectangles give information.
yes thats correct but still id not want to drive up it as it is vey small
@@leohickey4953 And circular signs give commands. It's a brilliant system, and if you ever go to Singapore (welcome to the 22nd century), you'll see exactly the same signage.
Omg this is my home town! Didn’t expect to see this on here! My granddaughter is fluent in Welsh and all children have a choice of being taught in English or Welsh. The language is very much in use. My husband works and drives steam engines on the railway. There are also horse drawn barges to travel on too. Lots to see and do. The only drawback is parking is very difficult, especially in the holiday season.
Oh wow, I just live I cerrigydrudion, funny seeing another person from near where I live. ❤
Travelled on Llangollen Railway many times, last time 6 weeks ago
Also very close 😊
@rozbarber3195 Have you ever heard of Rev John Pengwern Jones?
May I say, as an Englishman, Wales is EPIC. I love it so much. I would suggest you have a look at the Snowdonia National Park, an area that includes Yr Wyddfa, (aka Mount Snowdon) the tallest peak in Wales (and England) You might also like to have a look at some of the narrow gauge steam railways to found around Wales. Originally built to transport slate from quarries to ports where it could be loaded onto ships or standard gauge trains, they are now a big part of Wales' historic legacy and are popular with tourists.
The 'footpath' alongside the canal is the Tow Path which is where the horses towing the narrow boat would walk.
Fellow englishman here aswell I love wales and the welsh people been visiting since a kid we used to go to Tenby and the gower in Swansea
Same here, fellow Englishman, loves wales, the landscape, the people, the architecture, the castles ... just magical.
Lots of happy holidays spent there.
Yes love Wales I just walked up the Watkins path on Snowdon , there’s so much to see.
Great to hear 😊...a little nitpicky, but you was going so well.... Snowdonia national park is now Eryri(Air-ruh-ree) and as you said Snowdon is Yr Wyddfa(Er Ooy-th-fa)
Just as the Brecon Beacons is now Bannau Brycheiniog(spelling😬)
And then over to Ynys Môn from Bangor. I lived on Anglesey for 6 years, excellent place.
The three things you will find in every UK town. A Church, a town hall and a Pub. All in close proximity of each other and were considered the three pillars of a community, as ideas were formed in in the Pub, bought forward to the council, and then blessed by the church.
Absolutely super comment. Never thought about it like that before, but it's bang on.
I've driven a boat across that bridge. I can tell you, standing at the back as you steer the boat, holding on to the rudder next to a 125 foot drop, with no fence, is definitely a squeaky bum moment
It's like walking along a row of bricks, a single row at ground level is no problem, a 100 foot high (30m) wall is a different matter (if you can find one). With regard to the aqueduct crossing, when the boat is floating on the water it is displacing its own weight in water which is pushed off the bridge at the ends. So passing over the aqueduct in a heavy boat actually makes no difference to the weight the aqueduct is carrying. Someone (or a horse) on the towpath however does add weight to the load the bridge is carrying. So as long as you avoid falling you should not worry about the weight of the boat causing mechanical failure.
Some kind narrowboaters gave me a lift across, and, yes, the side without the railings is literally breath-taking! Wow!
My wife and I hired a narrow boat and went over the aqueduct. She hid below as she had no head for heights. Of course, being 'the man', I continued. Talk about squeaky bum - it was both awesome, seeing that view, and terrifying, seeing that drop just inches away, at the same time. But a fantastic experience. Not sure I'd do it again though, colour me coward if you like but do it first before you do.
Before engines were fitted to canal boats.
They were pulled along by horses. That would walk along the side of the canal.
This is why you will always see a footpath next to a canal. 😉
And why these footpaths are called 'towpaths'.
@@carolineskipper6976exactly!
The canals came before the railways - and they were the nation's transport system. So a narrow boat might have part of the boat for cargo - and tow other barges laden with goods/materials. So they were more like your current long-distance truck drivers (but with the whole family living in the cab) than RVs? Obviously nowadays most are houseboats/dayboats so only carry people.
a lot of country lanes are that narrow and will have the occasional passing place for traffic coming the otherwise.
Everyone in the UK knows that the sign with the motorcycle over the car means "Evel Knieval Not Permitted Past This Point"
Or no flying motorbikes.
Beat me to it!
Fab. (For those who really want to know it means no motorised traffic - plate may specify further - which, in this case said motorised traffic which needs access to a specific place may use it anyway).
Or look out for low flying motor cycles as I was informed by father 50 odd years ago… lol
Extreme stunts prohibited beyond this point
I love you two. 😊 You take so much joy from things. I’m based in Cardiff, Wales and have been on a narrow boat across that wonderful viaduct. You’re such a great example of the best of American folk. Kind, positive, open, curious.
* waves from north Cardiff *
😂 *waves back. It’s a small world.
@ it sure is!
Im in llanrumney 😅
@ off whitchurch road
You should check out the Llangollen International Eisteddfod which is world famous. It is held every summer and it is where Pavarotti sang as a young boy. He visited it again later in life. The competitors are housed in the town free of charge and even perform in the streets when not in the competition tent. I have travelled to many places abroad and found locals who had competed there. and often won and had fond memories of Wales. ❤❤❤
The Welsh DD is another specialist noise: it is most similar to the voiced version of TH in English, like THIS but not THIN, which is unvoiced.
@@missharry5727 As in the capital, CardiFF (this is the English translation to enable English speakers to say it somewhat correctly). NB Welsh is: CaerdyDD
my birthday week, growing up in llangollen the town comes alive with music from streets to pubs to beer gardens, really fun busy period full of lot live music everywhere
Pavarotti sang at the Eisteddfod before he became famous...
Regarding the white parts of the timber frame houses - the black straight lines are a painted timber frame, and the white sections are white-washed "wattle and daub" (traditionally, at least). Essentially they weave branches (the "wattle") in to a stiff frame, and then pack it with a clay/straw/sometimes traditionally animal dung (the "daub") which is then left to dry before being white-washed!
Regarding the "town centre" concept - because our towns grew much more "naturally" over long periods of time, as opposed to being planned and erected all at once, there is no guaranteed standard. However, especially with smaller towns as you were talking about, overwhelmingly the centre will have started around an inn/pub or a church. Then a small area nearby would end up becoming a site for an impromptu market so travelling merchants could take advantage of the traffic of people staying at the inn, which would then form the beginnings of a "centre" of a town. A market hall or market cross might then be erected which would define the centre and the location of market for people to get their food and sell their goods. Then people might build a few houses, perhaps another inn would be built, or a shrine to cater to the spiritual needs of medieval travellers, and things would just kind of sprawl out from there!
Hello from England. The Pontcysyllte Aquaduct is an amazing feat of engineering. Together with its 11-mile stretch of canal, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site (up there with the Pyramids, Stone Henge, The Grand Canyon, Stone Henge, The Great Wall of China, etc.). As well as being the longest aquaduct in the UK, it also the highest 'canal' aquaduct in the world (126 feet above the valley floor). Which is all the more remarkable when you consider that its construction started around 1795 and was completed in 1805, nearly 220 years ago . The trough through which the narrowboats navigate is the original structure, made up of cast iron plates that are only one inch thick.
. . . and the canal was not built because it needed to get to Llangollen but 2 or 3 miles further back up the river (River Dee), and significantly higher than Llangollen, at what is now called the Horseshoe Falls which provides water for the Llangollen branch and the whole of the rest of the Shropshire Union canals. By the way, after the second half of the 18th century most of the inland canal system developed using "narrow" - 7ft - boats.
@@rogerhird2248 Yes, I was looking forward to seeing the Horseshoe.
What a coincidence. We are going there tomorrow for two weeks. For a time my mother's family lived in one of the red houses above the station. Slate is quarried locally and used to be transported via the canal. We are staying by the river and that is at the end of garden. My grandfather was responsible for the riverside walk in the early 1900s. Offa's Dyke is right where Dinas Bran is pointed out. We took my father in law here and he fell in love with the place.
Hello from Wales UK. I live, not to far from Llangollen. It's a beautiful, picturesque town....and really worth a visit.
Thank you for posting....
Regards from Wexham, Wales UK
*waves from Ruabon xx
Waves from Pen-y-Cae@@homoerectus6953
Hello from a fellow Wrexham gal 👋
Chirk girl here too ❤
5 miles from Llan, in Ruabon.
To pronounce the LL; you put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, directly behind your two front teeth, and then expel air around either side of your tongue
Sorry that’s not how you pronounce Ll, your pronouncing it much like a ‘th’ in English which is wrong, it’s difficult to describe how to pronounce the Ll, the sound is made on both sides of the mouth not the front of the mouth, which is how you described it 🤷♀️… also there’s no ‘h’ sound in Llangollen 😁
@@katwest6778 When I read their comment I interpreted "either side of your tongue" as the sound being made on both sides and not the front.
@@0x2A_ oh right, I didn’t read it like that, they said to place your tongue directly behind your two front teeth, that to me is the front of the mouth 🤷♀️
@@bujin1977 I think its nearer the Clan-goth-lan
@@user-TonyUKNo, definitely not.
My mum is buried on a hillside up there at a tiny church village nearby. its gorgeous just sitting up there. not same one at start of video but close. half my family used to live around that area. its so peaceful
What a lovely place to rest
Yes , I’m a Welsh speaker . Learnt English in school
I live in Chirk, a couple miles from Llangollen. This area has some beautiful landscapes and history, well worth a visit 💜
And another aqueduct!
Im from the village of Trevor where the aqueduct actually is but went to school and worked in Llangollen
The town is full of the friendliest people and each year hosts the world famous international musical Eisteddfod (music, song and dance festival) bringing people from all over the world
Am from England and I must say wales is the most beautiful place in the UK , if you like mountains, valleys , and the countrysides and mountain drives there unbelievable..
I live here and this is where i make my outdoor and fishing videos👍
Nearly all of Wales is gorgeous. Great post.
Except Port Talbot.
Port talbot is okay
The countryside is nice and old villages are, but the cities and a lot of towns are disgusting due to neglect from the local council
Except Rhyl to Abrgelle
Let's not be rose-tinted spectacle-wearers. Wales, as a whole, is fabulous with many fab areas. But, of course, there are somewhat run-down towns and villages, old slate quarries, open pits and so on (NB: which used to be sources of employment). Thus, a major problem is the lack of jobs per se and a lack of well-paid employment in particular - both these starve some areas of the country of funds. There have been very many attempts to rectify all this but jobs keep disappearing, alas. Nonetheless, in recent years the technology and tourism sectors have been able to improve some places but much more enterprise and high-level economic activity is needed.
So glad you're seeing Wales - this is 17 miles from where I live in North Wales, great vid. Regards from the UK🏴
It’s only about 40 minutes from my old home town. Still not far away from it. We are so lucky here in North Wales😊
I live in Acrefair part of the county of Wrexham (yes that Wrexham), I am 5 mins away from the aqueduct and 10 mins from Llangollen, we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of North Wales, there is soooooo much more not included in this video of the surrounding areas as it it is obviously concentrating on Llangollen, if you ever need a guide you know who to holler 😂.
Plas Newydd is the name of the mansion house. It translates as New Hall. And the Ladies of Llangollen were lovers, which is why they eloped from Ireland.
Yes and Wales has quite a few (ie many) "Plas Newydd"s here and there.
@@MiscellanyTop i used to live in one - near Taliaris
@MiscellanyTop Thanks for saying that.. I was thinking I was sure we visited a National Trust Plas Newyd on Anglesey a couple of years back, you've saved me looking it up. To be fair, it looks like Langollen might have to go on the list for next year (we go for a long weekend every August bank holiday, officially to visit some friends who have moved to Prestatyn)
19:34 they do precisely that, if you want to know where the stone went, it's probably in a wall in Llangollen somewhere. Basically if you don't need it for military reasons and it's costing a fortune to maintain, it just gets abandoned. Once abandoned, repairs don't get done, it starts falling apart, and them when someone needs some building work done it's a lot easier to start taking already quarried stone from the ruined castle than dig it out of the ground.
Yeah that happened to the castle in my city, shame but it makes sense.
Pronunciation guide:
Ll: an angry cat's hiss 😃 with the tongue on the roof of the mouth
C: is always a hard K sound
Dd: like the English Th in then
U: sounds more like an I
W: like the English OO
Y: sounds like UH
That'll keep you going for now.
I love your videos, and I love Llangollen. I live nearby.
Having taken a narrowboat across the view from the steering position is awesome.... a little daunting at first, especially when you lean out a little but a memorable journey!!!
Hey, I wanted to let you know 2 things. As an old Welsh lady, to pronounce Llangollen, place the tip of your tongue tight behind your top teeth and breathe out. The noise is the way to pronounce double L,s in Welsh language. The other thing not mentioned which Llangollen is famous for around the world is the international Eisteddfod. You can find videos easily of that. Take care all. Linda from Swansea x
Thank you, Linda ❤️ We appreciate your support. We'll try our best to remember that. 😅
The locks on Britain's narrow canals were built to a standard width of 7 feet. Modern narrow boats are between 6 ft 8 in and 6 ft 10 in. wide. The old working boats were a maximum of 72 feet in length but to access all of the canal system now you need a boat of about maximum 60 feet in length.
I love watching your reactions - so great to see how much you appreciate our beautiful Kingdom.
Wales is such a beautiful place, and of course Tom Jones is from there so what is not to love!
The Ladies loved those dark, seventeenth-century carvings so much that their friends gave them old bedsteads, cabinets etc, which they had cut up and arranged on the walls of the house. That's why it looks so unique. 🖤
2:40 that pub on the left has a garden overlooking the river. The river in real life looks so much bigger than it looks there. It’s really lovely
Wales is a lovely place with such friendly people. You would also like Hay on Wye, which is known as the town of books. It has a book festival at the end of May. It is on the border of England and Wales.
Yes, Hay on Wye is where Lindsay has been wanting to check out :)
She’s saying Llangollen wrong too. I used to love sitting down by the river, watching the ducks. There are a few places where you can ride on a steam train. My home is a stone cottage that used to be a chapel from the 14th century with dry stone walls around it. I walked about halfway across Llangollen viaduct then got scared as it’s so high. You should check out on Hay on Wye too
It's the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, not far from Wrexham. Essentially connecting England to Wales for a more direct trade system through the canal network
many canal-bridges were built in europe in the 19th century : 9 foot wide in UK, 17 foot wide on the continent.
that's why you can only see these slim barges called "narrow boats" (7 foot wide x 60 foot long max.)
on UK standard width canals. They have engines now, but still have a tiller-rudder.
Wider boats can't use UK narrow standard canal-bridges and locks....
There are some wider waterways in UK, where you can pass with bigger boats,
like the Caledonian canal in Scotland, made to go from Irish sea to North sea, through Loch Ness,
and avoiding to pass by the northernmost way, between Highlands and Shetland islands.
I find it strange If I go to north Wales they are welsh but have Merseyside accents
No it doesn't bridge England and Wales at all. There's Trevor on one side and Froncysyllte on the other.....both are firmly in wales! It's a short cut over the dee valley as there aren't any other crossings before llangollen.
It's built where the medieval bont Bridge stands.
@@NickNick-tp5cr I dont mean literally. Its purpose is to connect the English and Welsh canal systems for easier trading of goods. Specifically connecting the Severn to the Mersey so it's all in the same canal system
Our old stone walls and hedge rows are some of the oldest landmarks in the counrty.
Because of over three thousand years of farming the land markings very rarely change. Where as the buildings come and go over generations.
The river in the town you see is beautiful, when the water level is low you can go down and picnic on the flat stones of the river bed.
When the castles were abandoned the local people would Rob the stone to build their own houses.
Hi Guys , love Wales been a couple of times it's very hilly lots of beautiful valleys and old stone buildings , plus some gorgeous beaches too . 😊
I was in Llangollen last Saturday with my mother and sister, it's beautiful. My sister lives 15 minutes up the road . After breakfast in one of the lovely cafes we walked through the church yard into the church which is stunning inside . Then wandered up to Plas Newydd to learn about the two ladies who lived there . The house inside is amazing and I highly recommend reading about Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby , The Ladies of Llangollen , incredible story . The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is a ten minute walk from my sisters , it is as impressive and scary as it looks . North Wales is a truly beautiful part of the world .
Croeso (welcome) to Wales, I live roughly 40 minutes from Llangollen. I have walked a lot of North Wales, including the aqueduct, Snowdonia and many more. There are seven wonders of Wales, one is the bridge in Llangollen. There is an anonymous poem, called The Wonders Of Wales and dating from the end of the 18th century "Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham steeple, Snowdon's mountain without its people, Overton yew trees, St Winifred's Well, Llangollen's Bridge and Gresford's bells.". Plus there are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales, one of which is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
My old home town was about 40 minutes from there too. I live more like 1 1/2 hours now
Hi. I remember visiting Plas Newydd many years ago as a teenager. It's certainly a very unique house - but you're right, it isn't originally tudor. There's been some sort of cottage there for centuries, long before Ponsonby and Butler bought it, however, the black timbers and carvings on the exterior were part of the ladies' addition to the house in the late 18th / early 19th century. Most of the wood was reused from churches or other buildings being torn down. The detail they went into is very impressive!
I was just there on holiday last month! Gorgeous place, absolutely love it
I am from Wales, but now live in Western Canada , on Vancouver Island. I am not Welsh speaking, but do know mostly how to pronounce it. Even though I have been here a long time, I just recently found out that the local indigenous language, SENĆOŦEN, (senchothen) has exactly the same letter sound as our Welsh 'LL' , except it is shown as an 'L' with a line through it. Funnily enough though is that when I listen to RUclips videos done by local elders, they pronounce this letter just like we do. In videos done by younger people though, just sound like English people trying to say 'Llangollen' !
This area has some of my favourite places in the world.
My friend is a dry stone waller and it's a really fascinating trade
There's loads of things to see and do in Wales. A place that deserves your attention is Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil.
Only live 15 minutes from here. All this beautiful scenery and yet you can be in Wrexham or Chester in 10 minutes, or Liverpool or Manchester within an hour.
Llangollen host a brilliant annual international music Eisteddfod. Choirs, singers, musicians from all corners of the globe.
Llangollen is lovely.... the whole of North Wales is fabulous.
Suggested this previously, so glad you got to check this out
Been camping in Llangollen many times. Beautiful place.
I've been along the Llangollen canal in a narrowboat, including along the aqueduct. It's fantastic. I was supposed to go back earlier this year, but plans changed. Watching this makes me want to go again.
If you look into narrowboats, I'm right there for it.
Wales is very famous for slate-mining. Majority of village roofs are the lovely grey slate. Very tough to mine and then you split the slate into the thin tiles.
Had many picnics by the river in Llangollen over the years. My niece got married there and booked the old train for a ride whilst having cream tea. Was great fun. The old train we went on was the old brown/ maroon ones with tables between seats. The one in the video makes the one we went on look ancient😂
Llangollen is a delightful place - a lovely town in a beautiful setting, the waterfalls, steam railway, Dinas castle and the nearby aqueduct - definitely worth a visit.
Steve, you would definitely get _some_ marks for your pronunciation - most English people struggle with Welsh pronunciation too, it includes some sounds that just don't feature in English at all - for an American who hasn't been to the UK, that was a decent first attempt!
Lindsay is right, the road sign has a red circle so it's a prohibition - no motor vehicles - _except for access_ so you can drive down there to access a property that is along that lane but not otherwise.
Llangollen had some slate quarries but nothing like the scale of the slate quarries in Snowdonia or the coal mines in South Wales. The main industry around here was agriculture and wool/textiles.
The "old train" is a diesel railcar and dates from the 1950s, so will have been taken out of regular service about 30 years ago - it's cute, but not as much fun as a proper steam train! The UK has some amazing heritage railways but also some fantastic mainline railways that are well worth exploring.
A lot of stone walls date from before the days when bricks were readily available, so stone was used because it was just there and it lasts a _really_ long time compared with wood!
Courthouses are much less prominent in most UK towns and cities than in the US. Historic towns will often have a town hall or market place at their centre (the town hall being where the council would have resided, although in most cases any serious administration will have moved to a more modern office and the town hall will be more for ceremonial or community functions).
Yes, parks in towns like that are invariably free in the UK.
On single-track roads like the one up to Dinas Bran, there will usually be wider "passing places" fairly regularly, so if you meet a car coming the other way and you've just passed one then you back up and pull in to let them past, or if you _haven't_ just passed one then you hope that they have and back up. Sometimes there can be a brief battle of wills before someone gives in! There are proper paths up Dinas Bran from the town and from the opposite side, but they are steep. The hill is just off the long-distance hiking trail of Offa's Dyke (which broadly speaking runs from north to south along the borderlands between Wales and England).
My best attempt at transliterating the name of the aqueduct is "Pont-ker-sulth-ter". Welsh always has a hard 'c', a 'y' is somewhere between a 'u' and a schwa, and the 'e' at the end is a schwa. It's cool to walk across the aqueduct (and there's a wonderful tea room on the south side), the thought of going across in a boat looks pretty terrifying though as there's no railing at all on that side! It has two-way traffic - it's straight, so as you approach you can see if there's anything already on it coming towards you before you enter the single file section.
Snowdonia will blow your mind 🤯. The national park covers a large area, and there's so much more to it than just Mount Snowdon itself.
Stone walls are often a way of clearing rocks from the land so it can be cultivated, rather than just piling it in a heap stone wall were constructed.
The important thing to remember when learning a language is that a familiar letter in one's native tongue may well have a different sound. The letter W in Welsh is one example.
@@geoffpoole483 That is not the problem with Llangollen, the problem is the unfamiliar letters, you need to realise that there is no letter 'l', instead there are two letter 'ỻ', and 'ỻ' sounds nothing like 'l'. The other big mistake in the video was with "Plas Newydd", which doesn't contain any 'd', but does contain a 'ð' - both unfamiliar letters to the English, unpronounceable and unhearable.
Thank you, you always give me the urge to get out and enjoy our little island, and remind me that the things we already have are a blessing and should not be simply overlooked.
An Oggi is a Welsh version of a Cornish pasty but with many different fillings
If you manage to get to Wales and go to Snowdon, there is a mountain railway that goes to the top of Mount Snowdon, you think the roads are narrow you haven't seen anything yet :)
It does rain a lot, but all I remember is for about 10 mins at a time... several times a day.
I took a photo at the summit of Snowden. It's basically white with the vaguest shadow of a group of people stood on the peak 😂
Llangollen canal is very famous. I have an episode of a show which spotlights the canal and tells about its history and how it connected businesses and helped the area prosper
"Barging Round Britain with John Sergeant - Series 1 Episode 2 - Llangollen Canal - 2015"
I've been a couple of times across the aqueduct (at the helm of a narrowboat). It is quite an experience when you look over the side down to the valley below. It's a long way down. 🤪
at 13:17 the sigh on the shop says CWTCH. that means hug in English, a common saying is that everyone can hug but only the Welsh can "Cwtch" 😆😆😆😆😆😆
My gran has that on a mug lol 😂
A cwtch is also a small cupboard - often the one under the stairs. If you're lucky, you get a ' cussan' [ a cuddle!] with your cwtch .
@@debrarobinson57 indeed it is, a cwtch dan star with a roof over the A, I speak some Welsh but not fluent.
I'm forgetting mine now I once again live among the Sais.
@@debrarobinson57 I did for 14 years in Wiltshire but 12 years ago we came back to gods country to retire.
If you guys go to Llangollen, a big event happens there second week in july called the international musical eisteddfod. Just another one to consider.
Take note, it’s completely in the Welsh language with no English translation.
A unique experience none the less.
@@hopechurch3907it's not in Welsh. You are thinking of the NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD which is in a different location every year around Wales. The INTERNATIONAL EISTEDDFOD is held in Llangollen every year and is host to people from around the world, taking part in singing, dancing, playing musical instruments etc.
@traceyscourfield3053 my mistake, you are right. I was thinking of the national and not the international.
If it is something that interests you, there is an island off the coast of Wales called Skomer. It is an island that has been allowed to flourish with wildlife, in particularly birds. The only people living there is the island's warden and a few volunteers. I have an episode of a show about it
"Wild Britain with Ray Mears - Series 2 Episode 2 - Skomer- 2011 HD"
I've been across Llangollen and it's astonishing. I'd ❤to take our family narrowboat across but the journey from near Chorley (Lancashire) where she's moored to Llangollen would take AGES (at 4mph)! Narrowboating is fun. I think Sophia would would absolutely ❤a weekend (or day trip) on one when when you get to visit Britain soon (hint, hint)! 🥰
Different towns have different origins. A church is certainly one central focus but there are others. River crossings are an ancient reason why a town may have grown up. An ancient castle, monastery or manor house maybe another. A harbour or port is another focus from which a town can develop. Often a pub is a central feature even though it may not have been the origin of the town developing. You could make quite a study of the origins of towns.
I live just a few miles from here and visit Llangollen regularly. It is a beautiful town with so much to see and do. The surrounding areas are equally breathtaking and magical. The Horseshoe pass is amazing, especially on a sunny or even a snowy day. I never get tired of this place it is wonderful 😊
Narrowboats are 6ft 10 inches wide, and up to 72ft long, the waterway can be as narrow as 7ft wide, and all locks, bridges, tunnels, and aqueducts are 7ft wide.
I've driven a hired narrowboat we used for a week's holiday over that structure, with my children and dogs on board, and literally on one side you could step out into an 128ft drop into the valley below.
Narrowboats nowadays come in all different sizes. I once went with some friends on a 4-day hire. We were a group of 7 (three couples and a single person). We hired one of the biggest (longest) boats available. Whilst being the standard legal limit of only 6'10" wide, the boat was around 60 feet long I think. It had three separate bedrooms, each with 2 bunks (for the three couples), a shower and toilet, a combined galley kitchen, lounge, dining area, that could accommodate all of us around a large table (there was also a seating area outside at the front of the vessel). And the kitchen living area converted into a double bedroom (for the single traveller). If you ever get the chance to go on a canalboat holiday, it's well worth it. You get lots of guidance before embarkation on the rules of the waterways, how and where to tie up, how to use a lock (quite scary the first time), etc. And most hire companies will have someone accompany you at the start of your journey in order to take you through your first lock.
On the walls. We have cut down an immense amount of trees. Britain was something like 90% woodland when the Romans arrived. However, brick & stone lasts so much longer than wood on a soggy, little, island. That is unless it's still growing, so we love a hedge too.
Agriculturally, stones will have been cleared from fields through ploughing, piling them in to walls kills 2 birds with rather more than just one stone.
....I checked my facts, actually it's "only" up to 60%
Hi Steve and Lindsay, glad you liked our local town I moved here 20 years ago and still have to pinch myself some days. I live a 5 minute walk from the aqueduct and it is beautiful well worth a visit. If you do decide to come this way Snowdonia national park is about an hour drive away we are a small country after all. Don’t worry about the pronunciation everyone gets it wrong even people who live here! Glad you like our area and we hope you get chance to come and visit 🏴
Hi Steve and Lyndsey from Northumberland. I love Wales, my Grandparents used to live in a small village near Bridgend called St Brides Major. I've lots of fond memories of holidaying there. You should also check out videos of Northumberland. Being stuck up in the North, it tends to get forgotten about but has a rich and turbulent history. Check out a channel by the memory seekers. They do great content of visits they've made to places all over the UK. Keep up the good work!
Fabulous beaches too!
I have been there a few times and you can buy duck feed, Llangollen is also has the International Musical Eisteddfod.
It gets very bizy in the summer.
When Steve says WALES it sounds like WELLS.
The road sign means NO MOTOR VEHICLES. EXCEPT FOR ACCESS.( for residents) .
We wouldn't have a courthouse in a small town in the UK.
If you like small railways then look at the RAVENGLASS AND ESKDALE RAILWAY in the Lake District. Or look into AMBLESIDE in the Lake District where they have the BRIDGE HOUSE.
@enemde3025
Llangollen had a courthouse, it was closed in 1867. Llangollen still has its old stone lock up too.
Very many market towns did have gaols, courthouses and so on. As Nick-Nick says, "lock-ups" - often very small outdoor stone chambers were in many places - even medium-sized villages for the temporary chastisement of miscreants - perhaps whilst they sobered-up after a binge, or served a day in it as a punishment or whilst awaiting transport to a town's prison for a more serious offence. And, of course, somewhere was needed to try the accused. Often courts would be combined with the local council meeting place - so not a court-house per se but a multi-use facility. But in the towns they found sufficient people to try (from there and those surrounding villages) that court-houses were deemed necessary. There were often called "The Assizes."
*Except, not accept 🙂
I live only 14 miles away from Llangollen, about 25 minutes away. It is lovely. 🏴
Tudor is derived from Wales, so it is hardly a shock that the houses here are Tudor in character
When you grow up in a beautiful area like this you tend to take it for granted. I was born in Wrexham but live in Essex now, and every time I went to see my mum I drove past the aqueduct and never even really looked at it. It wasn’t till I took my teenagers, who were fed up of just getting a quick glimpse from the bypass and wanted to see it up close, that I remembered how amazing this area really is. I have been over it in a boat but I preferred the walk, you can stop and admire the view at your own pace. We used to go to Llangollen quite often in the holidays when we were little and play on the big flat rocks in the river - even if you fell in it was very shallow so it was quite safe!
If you do visit the area, you should go just across the border into England and visit Chester. It’s a very beautiful city, and has so much history it will blow your minds 😁
*Good Morning my Loves!* 😘
Short one today...PROMISE! 😂
Tudor houses are my favourite architecture too Steve. Yes the house she visited in the beginning, *Plas Newydd* is indeed a Tudor building dating back to the 1400's. I have been there although it was years ago now.
The reason the house looks more ornate and Gothic inspired, with additional panels, would be a later addition, probably added 300-400 years later. (Georgian Era)
"Mock" Tudor houses were very fashionable during the Victorian period, when they built new homes that were actually "copies" of the Tudor style. Strange to think that some of the Tudor houses you see, are not Tudor at all, but "modern" clones. 😂
In fact the original Tudor houses were not black and white actually, this was a later Victorian Era trend too, to paint them black and white, and the tradition is still maintained. (1837-1901) Many people even today have "Mock" Tudor panelling stuck onto the outside of their ordinary home, which still looks pretty because I just like that style, but it's very obvious it's not original as the lines are too straight and the roof level too low.
You wondered what they were made of...? Well, a traditional Tudor house was made with thick oak framing. The "skeleton" of the house relies on this frame for it's strength. At either end of the home would be "Cruck Beams" (meaning crooked) which are the trunks of trees that have grown with a natural bend in them. They are shaped kind of like this = /\. They would be set either end, and additional framing would be added to join them together to form the "A" frame.
Cross beams, are horizontal beams that go across the Cruck Beam "/\" turning it into an "A" shape for strength. With an A either end facing each other, each point of the A is joined to the other end with oak beams to form a solid frame. If you remember original camping tents, before the arrival of pop-up, dome and tunnel type tents these days, they are also A frame tents, triangular, so you get an idea of what the underlying frame shape is.
So that's the skeleton of the house built. Thick oak beams around 6" thick if not more. There were also smaller beams added vertically to join the others together and give them support. Sometimes placed diagonally too shaped like the PEACE sign. ☮️
I live just a few miles away from the engineering masterpiece, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct by Thomas Telford, and sometimes walk the dog along the towpath. I’ve seen Hollywood A list celebrities, even other actors in famous films and singers too. Harrison Ford who frequents the place said “Hi” to me a couple of times whist out on the boat. It’s a place where ppl will let you continue on your day without pestering for autographs etc.
Plus they is a stream train you can ride it’s so pretty in the summer
I’ve been camping there - at The Abby , it’s a beautiful place to camp. Waking up to hear the sheep storming by our tent was awesome. Watched the sheep give birth .
There’s a brilliant pub overlooking the the river/ lake . 10/10
I live a ten minute drive from here - this is where I go to visit my dentist, turning a chore into a pleasant day out.
What you're dentist is in the viaduct 😂
Well this is definitely what I wasn’t expecting on your channel,. Welcome to my neighbourhood 😉 .. very proud to live here
I live about 15 minutes from there-and used to walk across the aquaduct to a little pub-and walk back across it a bit worse for the wear later that evening!! I have also been walking under it and saw a border collie dog fall off it -land on its 4 paws and run off!!! Boy did I scream!! Shame she didnt show you the inside of Plas Newydd-its absolutely beautiful and when you enter the atmosphere is so warm and comforting and peaceful. The tearooms at P N sell amazing pork and apple pastry rolls-VERY MOORISH!!!!! Oh and my dog Bran is named after the castle. Bran is welsh for crow and it is said that should the birds leave" Crow Castle" Llangollen will fall into ruins!
@susanroberts2347
How amazing, its 126feet high, no one has ever survived a fall. We have on average 6 jumpers a year. Perhaps the dog was a hallucination from all the beer at the aqueduct pub, or was it the Telford?
I loved riding a canal boat across this aqueduct. Looking out of the windows on the non-path side was amazing. Canals and single track roads both have passing areas. You soon learn to reverse if you meet something between them.
Steve, I know you checked out Whitby, but I don’t think Lindsay has see it? Maybe she has? If not tho, I think she’ll love it there. And every year, Whitby holds “Whitby goth week”. Which id love to attend. Everyone dressed in their traditional goth clothes, or steampunk etc just look amazing
I've been to Whitby but never to the goth festival, but would absolutely love to go! I've seen videos on youtube and it looks amazing. The closest we get to a festival is the Elvis weekend, where people come from all over the world to dress as Elvis and spend the weekend doing karaoke and attempting to impersonate his singing and style 😂
@ yeah Elvis has never been my cuppa tea to be fair. I think that would be excruciating for me! I’m definitely more of an alt woman. So the goth weekend would be perfect. Just never had the chance to go. Whitby is such a beautiful place tho. I remember stepping off a coach and instantly falling in love with it and I had basically only seen a road ! It’s just so peaceful and scenic
@ I’m the same, I’ve never been and stay well out of the way, the goth festival is much more my thing! I’m not sure I’d want to walk about Whitby in the middle of the night or if it was foggy🤣🤣. It’s so stunning there though. 😍
@ oooh I think Whitby in the fog would be stunning. I’m a sucker for fog. The heavier the better!
I used to visit this town a couple of times a year. If I remember rightly there is an almost forgotten legend that the Holy Grail was once in the ruined castle and some people still go looking for it. Overlooking the town is a big escarpment where I used to like to walk and from there you look down over the hill where the castle lies. I remember flocks of birds like tiny pinpricks circling the castle hundreds of feet below which is a weird and wonderful sight. They could well have been crows.
I don't speak Welsh but I believe that Plas Newydd (the name of the tearooms) translates as 'new house'. Plas is the word for a large house or mansion. A normal sized house is 'ty'. Welsh speakers, please correct me if I'm wrong.
There’s at least a couple of Plas Newydd’s in Wales including a National Trust place in Anglesey, I’m not a Welsh speaker but plas translates as hall or mansion with ty meaning house
That is correct, although the ‘dd’ in Newydd is pronounced the same as ‘th’ in ‘There’. It has a sort of buzzy resonance to it. Newydd is pronounced Now - idd.
To answer your question about town centres. Here in the uk, most old towns have grown around the commodities or services from which the towns have originated.
Market Towns generally have a market and market house at their centre. This is where surrounding farms would have brought their livestock and produce to sell and distribute.
Commuter towns generally have grown around a train station or coach house and we also call these either railway towns or coach towns. Coach towns are usually between two or more larger settlements and are also usually at a crossroads.
Port towns have grown around the ports, docks and yards involved in shipping and ship building.
Bath towns (like Bath😂) and Spa towns usually have some sort of natural spring or spa for bathing or drinking at their centre. This may have been for religious or medicinal reasons, or because there is an intact roman bathhouse left over from the roman empire.
Pottery towns are pretty self explanatory as are college towns, castle towns, coal towns, steel towns and seaside towns.
We also have book towns which are centres of literary culture and have a town centre stacked with book shops selling secon hand or rare to find and out of print books. The best example of this would be Hay on Wye in Herefordshire.
This is not at all an exhaustive list and I’m sure there are other types of towns, but I hope this gives you an idea.
A lot of non welsh speakers here telling you how to speak a language that they cant😂
Which is incredibly infuriating to those of us who do speak it.
Mor wir
How should she have said Pontcysyllte? I won't insult you with my guess.
@@leohickey4953 pont sis-tie-sis 😂
@@leohickey4953 pont-kiss-ull-teh (ll pronounced as discussed!).
I once worked with a guy from Llanelli and he taught me how to pronounce it so pronouncing LLangollen is child's play. We used to have weekend cycle club run there each spring and stay in the Youth Hostel - we were fit in those days and riding 180 miles over the weekend on out tandem was a breeze :) AT 84 we don't ride so far.
That road sign means no motorcycles or cars (because it's circular) but with an exception for access to premises.
Oggies are just cornish pasties really that were alledgedly eaten by miners, You could hold the crust with dirty hands and eat and then discard it. My BF is from the Mining areas of wales and he had never heard of them until i showed him this shop. They tend to be giant versions of Cornish Pasties. Anyway we have started a tradition now of making giant oggies twice a year for St David's Day in March and Glyndwr Day in Sept. I have perfected them (lol) They are filled with Welsh lamb, lamb gravy and mint. Delicious,
Great vid as always.. i used to go bridge jumping off that aqueduct.. We used to rope up. Jump and swing underneath the arches ..Brill !!
the sign is no motor vehicles unless you need access to a property on that road
The canal goes both ways so you have to check there's nobody on the bridge before you set off. Kayaking over it os amazing! Definitely need to add it to your trip.
My Mother was Welsh.. NEVER heard any of my family say HUN in front of Llangollen.. just saying.
do NOT take advice on how to pronounce Welsh place names or words from someone who is English. I am English but no HUN.. lol.
Great tour guide...couldn't be arsed visiting the house...couldn't be arsed to visit the museum...didn't even go in the tea shop
The North Wales coast is amazing and can be visited in a short timescale really. I’d recommend a base in Chester, which is an amazing super historic City on the border between England and Wales. From there you can just go up the coast road all along the North Wales coast. Wrexham is also on the doorstep if you wanted to check out the town that Ryan Reynolds and Rob Maclehenny have bought the football team.
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is amazing, and the whole area around Llangollen is beautiful. My claim to fame is falling into the river near the chainbridge at Llangollen as an 8 year old & having to be fished out by my Dad! I just love that area ❤️
Chlangochlan is the closest to the phonetic spelling I can come up with
And no where near correct.
Great reaction video as always ... You two are FABULOUS .......Would LOVE to see your River Walk one day
A lot of English people still can't say Welsh names, there is a very long name.
Be fair now. They've only had about 1500 years to learn... 😜
Quite a lot of Welsh people can’t either.
I hate heights and I have done this !!! We took a day rental twice and loved it, takes a bit to get used to manoover it without smashing into the side, a great day out.