Forget climbing Snowdon, pay a visit to the beautiful Yr Wyddfa instead
Fancy climbing Wales highest peak next year? Chances are you will have to look out for signs to Yr Wyddfa.
Snowdon will be known by its Welsh name after a vote that followed a petition for change.
And Snowdonia as a whole will also be known by its native name in the Welsh tongue – Eryri.
The change is likely to cause confusion for the tens of thousands of people from the West Midlands and Staffordshire who flock to the mountains in Wales each year.
Snowdonia National Park Authority voted for the change, saying it was spurred to “decisive action” after 5,000 people signed a petition calling for the change.
It is part of a drive to reassert the area’s ‘Welshness’ and also comes amid plans to tax visitors extra during their visit.
Yr Wyddfa stands at 3,560ft and attracts about 400,000 walkers a year. It is traditionally filled with people from the West Midlands, and many local authorities in our region have bases in the national park to host school trips.
Naomi Jones, the park’s head of cultural heritage, said Welsh place names were part of Eryri’s “special qualities”. She added: “By referring to our most renowned landmarks by their Welsh names, we give people from all over the world the opportunity to engage with the Welsh language and culture.”
The petition was instigated in response to a proposal by Councillor John Pughe Roberts to drop ‘Snowdon’ and ‘Snowdonia’ and use only the Welsh words instead.
A paper on ‘Place Names Principles’ has also been adopted by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, leading to more name changes.
This will be used as a guide on the use of other place names in the national park, with further changes likely in future months.
It was put together by Dr Dylan Foster Evans of Cardiff University at the request of the authority’s ‘task-and-finish group’.
A review of the authority’s branding had already been scheduled for later in 2023.
Its new approach on the use of Welsh names will be considered as part of this process.
