Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Carnarvonshire

Carnarvonshire, a maritime co. of North Wales, having the Irish Sea on the N., Denbighshire on the E., Merioneth and Cardigan Bay on the S., and on the W. Carnarvon Bay and the Menai Strait, which separates it from Anglesey; extreme length, NE. and SW., 53 miles; extreme breadth, NW. and SE., 23 miles; average breadth, 9 miles; coast-line, 95 miles; area, 369,477 ac.; pop. 119,349. The surface is grandly mountainous. About the centre of the co. rises Snowdon (3571 ft.), the loftiest mountain in Wales and England. Several other summits are from 1500 to 3000 ft. high. There are fine sea-views along the N. coast, while the interior abounds in grand lake and mountain scenery. A bleak upland peninsula extends from the Snowdon group about 20 miles to the SW., terminating in the prom. of Braich-y-Pwll, off which is Bardsey island. The river Conway flows N. along the E. boundary. The soil in the valleys and along the N. and S. coasts is productive of good crops of oats and barley. (For agricultural statistics, see Appendix.) Slate is extensively quarried at Penrhyn, Llanberis, and Bethesda. The co. comprises 10 hundreds, 74 pars., with part of 1 other, the Carnarvon Boroughs (Bangor, Carnarvon, Conway, Criccieth, Nevin, and Pwllheli -- 1 member), and the mun. bors. of Carnarvon, Conway, and Pwllheli. It is in the dioceses of St Asaph and Bangor. For parliamentary purposes it is divided into 2 divisions, viz., Southern or Eifion, and Northern or Arfon, 1 member for each division.


(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a maritime county"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 2nd order divisions")
Administrative units: Caernarvonshire AncC
Place: Caernarvonshire

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