Forum Activity for @neil-hughes

North South Divide?

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Couldn't agree more.The rail links across the 'great divide' are abysmal and the newer roads,M4,A55 etc.were built for the convenience of people coming into Wales from Lloegr and not for the Welsh to move freely around their own country.Ask the Senedd when they are going to build a motorway between Bangor and Cardiff-deafening silence.When business wanted a direct link between Ireland and England hey presto the A55.Cymru Rhydd

North South Divide?

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I think the division of our country was an act of political expediency.The old divide and conquer trick.I believe it was a deliberate policy not to have decent road and rail links between north and south.It's incredible in this day and age a journey from say Wrexham to Cardiff which should take 2 to 2.5 hours will take double that if you wish to stay inside Wales.At school when we were taught to write letters we were always shown to put our address as Holywell,N,Wales and no doubt it would be Swansea S,Wales.Have you ever heard of anyone putting their address as say Newcastle N.England?As far as most Welsh people are concerned Wales is Wales be it south mid or north so perhaps it didn't work after all.If there is a divide it's political rather than social or cultural or am I being paranoid and seeing conspiricies where they don't exist?

British through and through

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Last year some friends and I were most fortunate to be given a guided tour of Garth Celyn,Aber.You may be aware that this was the Llys of the Royal House Of Gwynedd and the place from where Gwenllian was kidnapped soon after Llywelyn's death.Inspired by her tragic tale my youngest son,Tomos and I went on a pilgrimage to Sempringham Abbey to see the final resting place of the last,true Princess of Wales.It's a sombre place befitting the sad story of a woman who lived the life of a nun for over fifty years without knowing that she was the heir of the true Prince of Wales.

British through and through

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I think most people who love Welsh history are self taught because what we were taught in school was frankly a disgrace.We must be the only country in the world that allows 1500 years of our history to be passed over so we can be taught someone else's.Sorry end of rant.I find the internet a great tool for seeking out little known facts.By the way love your name Seirian especially Gwenllian who I think is one of the most tragic and little known figures in our history

British through and through

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I think 383 was the year Macsen Wledig left Wales in his vain attempt to become Roman emperor.

British through and through

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Gaz You're right to use the term Brythonic rather than the more general celt.Obviously there were people here before our wandering forebears arrived, the Beaker People, I believe ,for one.Therefore those of us who consider ourselves pure celt probably are'nt.I know for instance that my great grandmother was from Dublin so as well as pre celt I've probably got some Viking ancestry as well.As far as I am concerned it's not so much your genetic makeup that makes you Welsh it's whether you' feel' Welsh.Cymru am byth

British through and through

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I agree with your view that there was no vast movement of people westwards.The celts living in what is now England would have stayed and lived under the rule of whoever arrived, be they Roman,Saxon or Norman.I suppose to the ordinary peasant one ruler was as good(or bad) as another.As for Gododdin a few years ago I became interested in Yr Hen Gogledd, the kingdoms of the old north.I discovered names of long lost kingdoms such as Elmet,Rheged and Ystrad Clud(Strathclyde).One theory is the men of Gododdin went south to help their cousins in Elmet but their warband of a few hundred men met an army of several thousand Angles and they were massacred with only Aneurin and one other returning home.More interesting to me in the context of Welsh history is that the warlord Cunedda left Gododdin to rid north Wales of the Irish and carve out a kingdom of his own.He was according to many the founder of the Royal House of Gwynedd

British through and through

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I agree with a lot of your views Gareth we Welsh are the original British.We were here when the Romans came and we are still here.One small point Gododdin was not a person it was a place a 'Welsh ' kingdom in Scotland with it's capital at Edinburgh.

Siarad Cymraeg yn y Fyddin. Speaking Welsh in the UK Military

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Did my time in the R.A.F.in the 70's.Remember talking to an officer who informed me that the Welsh were just English with funny accents.I can probably trace my nationalistic views from that conversation.

TOP 10 HARDEST WELSHMEN

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Thought Idi was the last king of the Scots!