Berwyn range
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Coordinates: 52°55′16″N 3°25′26″W / 52.921°N 3.424°W
The Berwyn range (Welsh: Y Berwyn or Mynydd y Berwyn) is an isolated and sparsely-populated area of moorland located in the north-east of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the north-east, Corwen in the north-west, Bala in the south-west, and Oswestry in the south-east.
The Berwyn range also played its part in causing King Henry II of England to turn back during his invasion of Gwynedd in 1165. Rather than taking the usual route along the northern coastal plain, his army invaded from Oswestry and took a route over the Berwyns. The English invasion faced an alliance of Welsh princes led by King Owain Gwynedd, but there was little fighting - endless days of heavy rain forced the army to retreat.
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[edit] Description
The area is wild, remote (by British standards) and covered in a layer of heather about one metre thick, with some acidic grassland and bracken, which makes the area difficult for hill-walking. Navigation can be difficult as the hills in the area are not very high, and are often obscured by mist or low cloud. The area supports substantial populations of upland birds including raptors, such as the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus), Merlin (Falco columbarius), and Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) (about 14-18 breeding pairs of each species, 1-2% of the total British population[citation needed]), and for this reason it is a Special Protection Area classified in accordance with the European Union's Birds Directive. Other wildlife include Short-eared Owl, Raven, Buzzard, Polecat and Golden Plover.
The main summits are Cadair Berwyn at 827 metres above sea level and Cadair Bronwen at 780 metres above sea level.
The Berwyn range is crossed to the south-west by the B4391 Milltir Cerrig mountain pass at an altitude of 486 metres (1594 feet).
[edit] Etymology
The scholar T. Gwynn Jones suggested that a possible origin of the term "Berwyn" was "Bryn(iau) Gwyn (ap Nudd)", where the Middle Welsh word "bre" (hill) had mutated to Ber + Gwyn, Gwyn ap Nudd being the mythological King of the Tylwyth teg (Fair Folk, or fairies). [1]
[edit] UFO crash
At 8.38 p.m. on 23 January 1974, an earthquake of magnitude 3.5 was felt over a wide area of north Wales and as far as Liverpool. Since earthquakes are uncommon in the UK, it was not generally recognized for what it was, and since a number of unusual lights in the sky had been observed the same evening, it was considered possible that an aircraft had crashed, or a meteorite had impacted. Further confusion was caused by lights seen on the Berwyn Mountains, which subsequently turned out to have belonged to poachers. UFOlogists refer to the alleged incident as the Berwyn Mountain UFO incident.
[edit] References
- ^ T. Gwynn Jones, Welsh Folklore and Folk-Custom (1930; new edition 1979). Several other place names in the area also include the element 'Gwyn'.
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