St Asaph

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St Asaph
Welsh Llanelwy
Cathedral of St Asaph
Cathedral of St Asaph
Coordinates 53 ° 15 ′  N , 3 ° 27 ′  W Coordinates: 53 ° 15 ′  N , 3 ° 27 ′  W
OS National Grid J035743
St Asaph (Wales)
St Asaph
St Asaph
Residents 3355
administration
Post town ST. ASAPH
ZIP code section LL17
prefix 01745
Part of the country Wales
Preserved County Clwyd
Unitary authority Denbighshire

St Asaph ( ˈæsəf ; Wal. Llanelwy ɬanˈɛlʊɨ̯ ) is a small town and community (Wal. Cymuned) in Denbighshire in North Wales on the River Elwy. Located in the traditional county of Flintshire , it is the second smallest town in Britain in terms of population and urban area, with a population of 3,355 , according to the 2011 census .

Nearby are the coastal towns of Rhyl, Prestatyn , Abergele , Colwyn Bay and Llandudno, as well as the historic castles of Denbigh and Rhuddlan . St Asaph sister city is Bégard in Brittany , France .

The city ​​council comprises two districts (wards), each of which elects seven city councilors. The chairman of the council is Mayor Colin Hardie.

history

The first inhabitants of the "Valley of Elwy" lived in Pontnewydd (whale. Bontnewydd), a nearby archaeological site of the Paleolithic , which in 1978 by a team from the University of Wales was exposed under the direction of Stephen Aldhouse Green. Teeth and parts of a jawbone excavated in 1981 have been dated to 225,000 years ago. This location is the northwesternmost location in Eurasia where the remains of early hominids were discovered and is considered of international importance. Based on the morphology and age of the teeth, especially the signs of taurodontia , it is believed that they belonged to a group of Neanderthals who hunted game in the Elwy Valley during a warm period .

HM Stanley Memorial

More recently, historians postulate that the Roman fortress of Varae stood on the site of today's cathedral ; however, the city is believed to have developed around a 6th century Celtic monastery founded by Saint Mungo (St. Kentigern). Today there is the small cathedral of St. Asaph from the 14th century, which is dedicated to St. Asaph († 596; Wal. Asaff), the second bishop .

The cathedral has a checkered history: in the 13th century, the troops of Edward I of England burned the cathedral almost to the ground and in 1402 it was stormed by the troops of Owain Glyndŵr , who left severe damage to the furnishings. 250 years later, during the Commonwealth of Nations , the building was used to house farm animals such as pigs, cattle and horses.

The Incorporation of Wales Acts 1535–1542 assigned St Asaph Denbighshire to. From 1542, however, it was temporarily part of Flintshire for elective reasons and between April 1, 1974 and April 1, 1996 part of the non-metropolitan Clwyd .

The city's hospital, which closed in 2012, St Asaph Union Workhouse, was later renamed HM Stanley Hospital in honor of Sir Henry Morton Stanley ; the local hospice is named after Saint Kentigern.

The original Welsh Bible, translated by William Morgan, is on public display in the city's cathedral.

City rights

As the seat of a medieval cathedral and a diocese , St Asaph was historically a city and the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911 also referred to it as a city on this basis. However, the British government made it clear that St Asaph is the only one of the 22 ancient cathedral dioceses in England and Wales that has not been granted city status.

  • Urban area of ​​St Asaph

    • St Asaph repeatedly applied for city rights in competitions by the British government on the occasion of the millennium celebrations at the turn of the millennium in 1999/2000 and on the occasion of the golden jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002, but was only successful in 2012 on the diamond jubilee of Elizabeth II . On March 14, 2012 it was announced that St Asaph will receive city status alongside Chelmsford and Perth , which was officially granted on June 1, 2012 by means of a Letters patent .

    City status is usually assigned to a regional administration, whose administrative area is then the formal border of the city. According to this definition, the entire parish of St Asaph is considered to be an extension of the city, including its metropolitan area, as well as rural areas and forests.

    St Asaph has the second lowest population of any city in Great Britain and the second lowest urban area at 1.3 km²; only St Davids is smaller with 1,841 inhabitants and an area of ​​0.60 km².

    In terms of formal size, defined by their 6.4 km² parish council area, two other cities in the UK are smaller than St Asaph: the City of London at 2.9 km² and Wells at 5.5 km². In Wales itself, St Asaph has the smallest parish, with Bangor just in second place with 7.2 km².

    Even before St Asaph was officially granted city rights in 2012, the parish council referred to itself as the “City Council of the City of St. Asaph”.

    economy

    Economic success came with the opening of the A55, the North Wales Expressway, in 1970, which carries east-west traffic along the city, and more recently with the establishment of a business park, both nationally and internationally Attracted investors.

    The parish prides itself on its historically derived city status after its Welsh sister parish, St. Davids. As a result, some local companies have “City” as part of their company name and the city is referred to as the “City of Music”.

    Every year the city hosts the North Wales International Music Festival, a classical music festival that takes place at St Asaph Cathedral and other locations in the city. Founded in 1972 by William Mathias, the festival annually attracts musicians and music lovers from all over Wales and beyond. In recent years, the main event of the festival, which takes place in the cathedral in September, has been televised by the BBC .

    Other annual events in the city include the Woodfest Wales Crafts Festival in June, the Beat the Bounds charity run in July and Gala Day in August.

    Education and transport

    Construction of the St Asaph flood protection (video)

    In St. Asaph is the Ysgol Glan Clwyd, a Welsh middle school, which opened in Rhyl in 1956 and moved to St Asaph in 1969; it was the first middle school in Wales.

    The crowded streets in St Asaph have been a hotly debated political issue for many years. In recent years, increased traffic on the A525, St Asaph High Street, which connects the A55 to the Clwyd Valley, Denbigh and Ruthin, has resulted in heavy traffic congestion in the city.

    This congestion has a detrimental effect on the city and the residents have repeatedly requested a bypass in the north-south direction. However, the National Assembly for Wales rejected this request in 2004.

    Churches

    In addition to the cathedral, St Asaph has five other churches that cover all major Christian faiths.

    The parish church of St Asaph and St Kentigern at the bottom of High Street is part of the Church in Wales and represents Anglicism . Across the river on Lower Denbigh Road is Penniel Chapel of the Welsh Methodists and halfway up High Street is Llanelwy Baptist Parish Church. At the top of town, on Chester Street, are the Roman Catholic St Winifrides Church and the Welsh Presbyterian Bethlehem Chapel in Bronwylfa Square.

    • Church of St Kentigern and St Asa

    • Church of St Kentigern and St Asa

    • cathedral

    • Aerial view of the cathedral

    sons and daughters of the town

    A number of famous people are closely associated with St Asaph as they were born, lived, worked, grew up or died in the city. These include:

    War memorial

    literature

    Source references

    1. ^ St Asaph — John Wells's phonetic blog , March 15, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012
    2. ↑ BBC News — St Asaph in north Wales named Diamond Jubilee city. Retrieved March 14, 2012
    3. ↑ Office for National Statistics 2011 census - St. Asaph C
    4. ^ Cathedral to New Inn . St Asaph City Council. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
    5. ↑ a b Councilors . Archived from the original on May 25, 2013.
    6. ^ TW Pritchard St Asaph Cathedral Guidebooks
    7. ^ St Asaph: A new Diamond city for North Wales ( en ) March 14, 2012 .: "www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government License v3.0. "
    8. ↑ WELCOME TO ST ASAPH .
    9. ^ Three towns win city status for Diamond Jubilee . In: BBC News , March 14, 2012. 
    10. ↑ London Gazette . No. 60167, HMSO, London, June 11, 2012, p. 11125 ( PDF , English).
    11. ^ Corby City Bid . Corby Borough Council .: "Applications may only be made by an elected local authority - normally, in respect of the entire local authority area."
    12. ↑ George Willoughby Hemans . Retrieved July 6, 2017.

    Web links

    Commons : St Asaph  - collection of images, videos and audio files