Britain’s longest place name

The longest place name in Britain, and possibly in Europe, is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwiiiiantysiligogogoch, a village above the Menai Strait, next to the Britannia Bridge, on Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in North Wales. To save you counting, it has 58 letters. The name means “Saint Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio of the red cave” and is often shortened to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll or Llanfair PG. St Mary’s church in the village, St Tysilio’s chapel on a nearby island and the rapid whirlpool in the Menai strait can all be identified; the red cave is less certain. Llanfair means ‘church of St Mary’s’ and it is helpful to distinguish it from other, similarly named, ecclesiastical establishments. In fact, the long name is said to have been contrived in the 1860s as a dastardly means of attracting visitors with the coming of the railway. These days, the longest railway place sign in Britain usefully contains a pronunciation for the benefit of those that do not speak Welsh. The name and its translation also appears over a large souvenir and gift shop in the village.