Wales (Welsh: Cymru[ˈkəm.rɨ](listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2021 of 3,107,500 and has a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. The capital and largest city is Cardiff.
The Neath and Tennant Canals are two independent but linked canals in South Wales, usually regarded as a single canal. The Neath Canal was opened from Glynneath to Melincryddan, to the south of Neath, in 1795 and extended to Giants Grave in 1799, in order to provide better shipping facilities. With several small later extensions it reached its final destination at Briton Ferry. The canal was 13.5 miles (21.7 km) long and included 19 locks.
The Tennant Canal was a development of the Glan-y-wern Canal, which was built across Crymlyn Bog to transport coal from a colliery on its northern edge to a creek on the River Neath. It closed after 20 years, but was enlarged and extended by George Tennant in 1818, to link the River Neath to the River Tawe at Swansea docks. To increase trade, he built an extension to Aberdulais basin, where it linked to the Neath Canal.
Use of the canals for navigation ceased in the 1930s, but because they supplied water to local industries and to Swansea docks, they were retained as water channels. The first attempts at restoration began in 1974; the section north of Resolven was restored in the late 1980s, and the canal from Neath to Abergarwed has been restored more recently. This project involved the replacement of Ynysbwllog aqueduct, which carries the canal over the river Neath, with a new 32-metre (35 yd) plate girder structure, believed to be the longest single-span aqueduct in Britain.
... that the Living Willow Theatre, an open air theatre constructed of living willow trees, is located near the village of Llanwrthwl and occasionally holds outdoor performances of Shakespeare?
Wales was in ancient times divided into three parts nearly equal, consideration having been paid, in this division, more to the value than to the just quantity or proportion of territory.
— Giraldus Cambrensis
King Arthur was a fabled British leader and a prominent figure in Britain's legendary history. A real individual may have been the inspiration of the legend, but any core of history is deeply submerged in the later fictional narratives of Arthur. In these he appears as the ideal of kingship both in war and peace; even in modern times he has been ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Britons of all time. Over time, the stories of King Arthur have captured such widespread interest that he is no longer identified as the legendary hero of a single nation. Countless new legends, stories, revisions, books, and films have been produced in Europe and the United States that unabashedly enlarge on and expand the fictional accounts of King Arthur.
The scarce historical background to Arthur is found in the works of Nennius and Gildas and in the Annales Cambriae. The legendary Arthur developed initially through the pseudo-history of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Welsh collection of anonymous tales known as the Mabinogion.
Image 10'The Welsh at Mametz Wood' painted by Christopher Williams, commissioned by Secretary of State for War at the time, David Lloyd George. (from History of Wales)
Image 13Medieval kingdoms of Wales are shown within the boundaries of the present-day country of Wales and not inclusive of all. (from History of Wales)
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