North Wales
North Wales is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia National Park, known for its mountains, waterfalls and trails, wholly within the region. Its population is concentrated in the north-east and northern coastal areas, with significant Welsh-speaking populations in its western and rural areas. North Wales is imprecisely defined, lacking any exact definition or administrative structure. It is commonly defined administratively as its six most northern principal areas, but other definitions exist, with Montgomeryshire historically considered to be part of the region.
Those from North Wales are sometimes referred to as "Gogs" ; in turn, those from South Wales are sometimes called "Hwntws" by those from North Wales.
The region includes the localities of Wrexham, Deeside, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Flint, Bangor, Llandudno, and Holyhead. The largest localities in North Wales are the city of Wrexham and the conurbations of Deeside and Rhyl/Prestatyn, where the main retail, cultural, educational, tourism, and transport infrastructure and services of North Wales are located. Bangor and St Asaph are the region's cities, Bangor is Wales's oldest city, whereas St Asaph is one of Wales's smallest and was awarded status in 2012. Wrexham, the region's largest settlement, became a city in 2022.
History
Historically, for most of North Wales, the region can be referred to as simply "Gwynedd", named after one of the last independent Welsh kingdoms, the Kingdom of Gwynedd. This has led to a stronger sense of Welsh identity and home to more Welsh-language speakers, especially in North West Wales, than the rest of Wales. The term "North Wales" is rarely applied to all of Wales during the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain and the period of the Heptarchy, to distinguish it from "West Wales", known today as Cornwall, although the term "Wales" or the names of the various petty kingdoms of Wales are more commonly used to depict the region during this time.The region is steeped in history, being a crucial component in Welsh medieval history, and was from the 5th to the 12th/13th centuries under the control of the influential Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd, and Powys following the end of Roman rule in Britain. The Kingdom of Gwynedd controlled the majority of what is now the commonly defined 6 counties of North Wales, including all of the North Wales coast, with Powys retaining control over what is modern Powys, and parts of Wrexham and Flintshire, in addition to part of Shropshire. Through their over 800 year existences', their rulers acclaimed themselves to be the "King of the Britons", and Gwynedd would lead the charge in the subsequent formation of the Principality of Wales. The mountainous stronghold of Snowdonia formed the nucleus of that realm and would become the last redoubt of independent Medieval Wales — only overcome in 1283 by English forces under Edward I. To this day it remains a stronghold of the Welsh language and a centre for Welsh national and cultural identity.
World Heritage & Biosphere Sites
The area is home to three of the four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales. These are Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal, the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales and, collectively, the Edwardian castles and town walls of the region which comprise those at Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Conwy and Harlech. It also shares with Powys and Ceredigion the distinction of hosting the only UNESCO Biosphere reserve in Wales, namely, Biosffer Dyfi Biosphere. London has only one more site than North Wales.Definition
There is no generally agreed definition of the boundaries and status of North Wales are undefined, and the boundary of North Wales with South or Mid Wales differs between organisations. It is strongly used culturally for comparison to the more urban South Wales. The most common definition for statistical and administrative purposes of North Wales consists of the six principal areas of: Isle of Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, and Wrexham. These have a combined estimated population in 2018 of 698,400 people. Under this definition, the area borders the principal areas of Ceredigion, Powys, and the rest of Wales to the south, England and its counties of Shropshire, and Cheshire to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. Other definitions, especially historical, commonly include Montgomeryshire, one of the historic counties of Wales, to be part of North Wales, although as part of Powys it is more commonly considered Mid Wales today. The definitions of North and Mid Wales constantly overlap, with Meirionnydd sometimes considered Mid Wales.Capitalisation
North Wales may also be spelled as 'north Wales' with a lower case 'n' for north, coined as the "to cap or not to cap" debate. It is argued that using a lower case 'n' is to be only used to signify "north" as merely a geographic identifier, and a capital 'N' to distinctly separate the region for cultural, organisational, or statistical purposes from the rest of Wales. Such usage may follow ideological lines, with North Wales used to promote the region as a distinct entity separate from the rest of Wales, whilst north Wales is merely the northern bit of Wales. Organisations which administer the region together with the rest of Wales, may prefer to use a lower case for "north"; whilst organisations only operating in the region either alone or separately from the rest of Wales may use a capitalised N. Local newspapers, such as the Daily Post describe themselves as a "capper", capitalising the 'N', whereas other organisations such as BBC News may use a lower case. The Welsh Government's style guide uses lowercase, whereas Visit Wales uses capitalised. David Williams, chairman of the North Wales Business Club, announced his support for capping the term "North", saying that North Wales should be a "very recognisable region in our own right".Principal areas
For local administration purposes, the region is most commonly made up of the following six principal areas: the Isle of Anglesey, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, and Wrexham County Borough.These principal areas are commonly divided into two groups, used for local news, regional tourism boards, town and country planning, and were the proposed replacements to the existing 6 principal areas before proposals were scrapped in 2019. They are:
- North East Wales, and
- North West Wales.
The population, density and areas are estimates for from the Office for National Statistics.
| Principal area | Created | Population | Density | Area | Style |
| Flintshire | 1996 | County | |||
| Wrexham | 1996 | County borough | |||
| Gwynedd | 1974 | County | |||
| Conwy | 1996 | County borough | |||
| Denbighshire | 1996 | County | |||
| Isle of Anglesey | 1996 | County | |||
| 2021 | Region |
Historical divisions
In addition to the six principal areas, North Wales is also divided into the following preserved counties for various ceremonial purposes: Clwyd, and Gwynedd The preserved counties are based on the counties created by the Local Government Act 1972 and were used for local government purposes between 1974 and 1996. During this period up to the present, Montgomeryshire remained a part of Powys.Prior to the preserved counties, there were counties, now referred to as historic counties. These are the oldest of the counties of North Wales, used for centuries. North Wales contained six historic counties: Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merionethshire, and Montgomeryshire. The most notable difference between these six counties and the present six is that Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire were combined into one principal area, initially called 'Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire' until a day after its formation where it took the name Gwynedd instead, and the formation of two county boroughs, Conwy carved out of Caernarfonshire and Denbighshire, and Wrexham carved out of Denbighshire and Flintshire.
Although the boundaries of local kingdoms or principalities fluctuated, the north of Wales was divided into three regions during the Middle Ages:
- Upper Gwynedd, defined as the area north of the River Dyfi and west of the River Conwy
- Lower Gwynedd, also known as the Perfeddwlad and defined as the region east of the River Conwy and west of the River Dee; and
- Ynys Môn, a large island off the north-west coast.
Electoral divisions
North Wales is electorally divided into constituencies and electoral wards to elect local representatives to multiple layers of government.Parliamentary constituencies
There are eleven constituencies used for the Senedd : Aberconwy, Alyn and Deeside, Arfon, Clwyd South, Clwyd West, Delyn, Dwyfor Meironnydd, Montgomeryshire, Vale of Clwyd, Wrexham and Ynys Môn.Since 2024, there are eight UK Parliament constituencies: Alyn and Deeside, Bangor Aberconwy, Clwyd East, Clwyd North, Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, Wrexham and Ynys Môn.
An electoral region for the Senedd, shares the name "North Wales", yet does not cover all of North Wales, only the northern coast, Anglesey, and northeast of Wales ; the rest of North Wales is covered by the Mid and West Wales Senedd electoral region. All constituencies aside Dwyfor Meironnydd, and Montgomeryshire are in the North Wales Senedd electoral region.
Between 1979 and 1994, all of North Wales was a single European Parliament constituency, the North Wales European Parliament Constituency. In 1994, minor border changes put parts of Montgomeryshire in the neighbouring Mid and West Wales constituency. In 1999, both of the constituencies ceased, when it was absorbed into the larger Wales constituency until 2020 when it was subsequently abolished following the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020.