As we’d been to Wales two weeks ago, on the 10th September 2017 we went to the World’s longest train station name which is located in the large village/community Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.
We entered the surprisingly desolate site on a fine autumn prime with excitement. The location simply has the sign of the long name, a guest shop and the station itself. There are no museum’s or attractions to explore there excepting the name itself.
History
Opened in 1848, it suffered a catastrophic fire on 13 November 1865 and had to be totally re-constructed. It was closed in 1966 but reopened, with a single wooden platform, in 1970 due to the fire on the Britannia Bridge as the terminus for trains from Holyhead. It was again closed in January 1973 for four months due to an upgrade to two non-wooden platforms. The station master’s house was sold in 1994 to a private company and is now a warehouse shop.
The footbridge which had been upgraded as part of a huge project, replaced the 100 year old previous footbridge which was temporarily removed. However, a turntable, sidings and goods yard have disappeared, being replaced by a car park for tourism purposes. Only the signal box remains from the original configuration.
Name
The station is known for its longer name, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-gogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysilio-gogogoch, but this is a Victorian contrivance for the benefit of tourists with no basis in historical usage. The stretched version of the name is the longest place name in the UK and Europe, slipping down to 2nd position in the world with a baffling yet significant 58 characters.
This name was given to the village in the 19th Century as an attempt to develop it as a commercial and a tourist centre. The station and the locals officially go with the name, “Llanfairpwll” despite the village’s signpost and map names which are rather similar – “Llanfairpwllgwyngyll”.
Significance
Now, a name this elongated, is a definate mark of significance towards something representative. This name means – Parish of Mary (Llanfair) in the Hollow (pwll) of the White Hazel (gwyn gyll) near (go ger) the rapid whirlpool (y chwyrn drobwll) and the Parish of Tysilio(Llantysilio) with a red cave (gogo goch).
I would defiantly recommend the site as a short visit for some snaps and uniqueness; a visit to Wales would be uncompleted without a stopover at this station!
Here’s Tom Scott (if you don’t know him, you should check out his youtube channel), who did a video at the location that may interest you:
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