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The Great Britain Guide

National parks · North Wales

Snowdonia National Park

Also known as: Eryri, Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri, Park Kenedhlek Eryri

Wales' largest national park — Snowdon, slate heritage, Welsh-language heartland.

Rock outcrop - geograph.org.uk - 7554679

Jonathan Wilkins — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
4 h–8 h
Best time of year
Spring – autumn (Apr–Oct)

About

Snowdonia National Park (Welsh: Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri) covers 2,130 sq km of north-west Wales — Wales' largest national park and home to Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa, 1,085 m), the highest peak in Wales and England. The park contains nine mountain ranges, more than 200 lakes, the Welsh-language heartland (Welsh is the everyday tongue for half its residents), and over 1,500 km of public footpaths. Slate-quarrying heritage at Penrhyn, Llanberis and Blaenau Ffestiniog is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2021). The park was the first designated in Wales (1951).

Photo gallery

From the Wikipedia article

Snowdonia, or Eryri (Welsh: [ɛrəˈri] ), is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The lower Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south. The national park has an area of 823 square miles (2,130 km2) (the fourth-largest in the UK), and covers most of central and southern Gwynedd and the western part of Conwy County Borough. This is much larger than the area traditionally considered Snowdonia (Eryri), and in addition to the five ranges above includes the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris, and Aran ranges and the Dyfi Hills. It also includes most of the coast between Porthmadog and Aberdyfi. The park was the first of the three national parks of Wales to be designated, in October 1951, and the third in the UK after the Peak District and Lake District, which were established in April and May 1951 respectively. The park received 3.89 million visitors in 2015.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

The earliest evidence for human occupation of the area dates from around 4000–3000 BC with extensive traces of prehistoric field systems evident in the landscape. Within these are traces of irregular enclosures and hut circles. There are burial chambers of Neolithic and Bronze Age such as Bryn Cader Faner and Iron Age hillforts such as Bryn y Castell near Ffestiniog. The region was finally conquered by the Romans by AD 77–78. Remains of Roman marching camps and practice camps are evident. There was a Roman fort and amphitheatre at Tomen y Mur. Roads are known to have connected with (Caernarfon) and (Chester) and include the northern reaches of Sarn Helen. There are numerous memorial stones…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
53.0500, -3.8500
Address
North Wales
Established
1951
Official site
eryri.gov.wales

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Where is Snowdonia National Park?
Snowdonia National Park is in North Wales, in the United Kingdom — coordinates 53.0500°, -3.8500°.
When was Snowdonia National Park built?
Snowdonia National Park dates to 1951 — the Prehistoric period.