wales holiday accommodation
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You may find this relevant information helpful when researching the area prior to your visit
The traveler to the British Isles soon becomes aware of distinct dialectal differences as he moves around from town to town and county to county. For example, the inhabitants of Liverpool in the Northwest use a dialect completely different from that of Manchester, only a few miles away. The Cockneys of London, in the Southeast, are well known for their equally colorful speech habits, documented early in the 20th century by George Bernard Shaw in such plays as "Major Barbara" and "Pygmalion" and later recorded in such Hollywood movies as "My Fair Lady."
It is something of a surprise to visitors, as they travel into Wales, over the centuries-old and much-worn ditch and earth-mound barrier known as "Offa's Dyke," for almost without warning they find themselves in areas where not only the dialects become incomprehensible, but where even the basic language itself has changed. The roadside signs "Croeso i Gymru" let it be known that one is now entering a new territory, inhabited by a different people, for the translation is "Welcome to Wales," written in one of the oldest surviving vernaculars in Europe. To account for the abrupt linguistic change, one must journey far, far back into history.
From evidence found in such caves as Paviland, in the Gower Peninsula in Southwest Glamorgan, and the Elwy Valley in Flintshire, it is known that the area now known as Wales was probably inhabited as early as 250,000 BC (the Lower Paleolithic Age), and hand-worked tools have been found at various sites that date from around 26,000 BC. It wasn't until the retreat of the glaciers during the Ice Age around 10,000 BC, however, that human settlement in any significant numbers could begin.
It was at that time that mainland Britain became an island, separated from the continent of Europe and the large island to the west that is now known as Ireland. Then, in what we call the Neolithic Age, just around 5,000 years ago, many settlers came over from the European continent and perhaps from Ireland. Their huge stone structures, the Megaliths and their chambered-tomb companions, the Cromlech, dot the landscape of much of southwestern Britain even today. The immensity of these undertakings points to the skills and ingenuity of their builders, even if time and weather have long since eroded evidence of their purpose.
These were the same people who built Stonehenge, perhaps their finest monument, certainly the best known, although even this is dwarfed by the huge circle at Avebury, not too far away. The inner circle of uprights at Stonehenge was formed of the so-called "blue stones" transported somehow from the mysterious heights of Preseli, far away in Southwest Wales, long considered a holy or magic mountain and still an area regarded with awe by the locals.
By 2,000 BC, people entering the island of Britain included those we now call the Beaker Folk, who it is believed came from the area of the Rhine River in Germany. Excavated battle axes, bronze knives and other weapons of war and hunting show us that these people were already quite expert with the use of metal, a skill they passed on to the native tribesmen.