llan

LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANDYSILIOGOGOOGOCH

This is probably the place with the longest name on earth, and it has something to do with a cave! It is situated in the Northwest of Wales on the island of Anglesey.

Translated into English it reads as follows:

St. Mary's Church in the hollow

by the white hazel close to

the rapid whirlpool by the red

cave of St. Tysilio

Probably the name comes from a joke from the 19^th century.

Everywhere in the town, which is really nothing exceptional at all, except for the famous name, you find it at the railway station, at a pub, at a laundry, at a supermarket. Highlighted is this phenomenon at the shopping center, built at this hot spot by Pringle, near the railway station - Llan.. on T-shirts, postcards, sweeties, tickets....

Even the children of the town profit from the famous name sometimes. They offer to passing tourists an oral service - they pronounce for you the otherwise to foreigners most unpronouncible word, for a small tip.

By the way where is the cave of St. Tysilio? No hint at all can be found at the place! Only in the literature you can find something about it. There is a Church of St. Mary in the township and the St. Tysilio’s Church "can be found in a steep hollow at the foot of an alarmingly steep lane, by the shores of the Menai Strait where whirlpools created by the tide rise and fall over 20 feet, but the red cave can no longer be found and the white hazels have been replaced by oaks and elms". (from: Tony Oldham, The Caves of North Wales, 1981)