In 2024, BMC Cymru (the British Mountaineering Council's Wales section) has been actively collaborating with local groups to explore the historical place names of the popular climbing area of Dinorwig Quarries, or Chwarel Dinorwig as they are locally known.
This initiative reflects a growing recognition of the importance of preserving local names as a way of honouring the history and culture of an area. Find out more about the history of the Dinorwig Quarries here.
Access & Conservation Officer for Wales, Tom Carrick, explains:
"In recent years, the move to embrace traditional names has gained significant traction. For example, the Welsh, Eryri (pron. Eh-ruh-ri) is increasingly used in place of "Snowdonia", as well as Yr Wyddfa (pron. Ur With-va) rather than Snowdon. This trend is not limited to Wales; it resonates internationally, with names like Uluru and Denali becoming more widely recognised in Australia and Alaska, replacing the colonial Ayers Rock and Mount McKinley respectively. In New Zealand, a strong petition to officially adopt the country's Māori name, Aotearoa, is gaining momentum.
"Yn ystod y blynyddoedd diwethaf, mae'r symudiad i gofleidio enwau traddodiadol wedi casglu momentwm. Er enghraifft, mae'r enw Cymraeg, Eryri yn cael ei ddefnyddio fwyfwy yn lle'r Saesneg, "Snowdonia", yn ogystal â'r Wyddfa yn hytrach na "Snowdon". Nid yw'r patrwm yma'n gyfyngedig i Gymru; mae'n atseinio'n rhyngwladol, gydag enwau fel Uluru a Denali yn cael eu cydnabod fwyfwy yn Awstralia ac Alaska, gan ddisodli'r trefedigaethol Ayers Rock a Mount McKinley . Yn Seland Newydd, mae deiseb gref i fabwysiadu enw Māori y wlad, Aotearoa, yn swyddogol, yn ennill momentwm.
"As part of this effort in the Dinorwig Quarries, the BMC consulted with Cadw (the authority responsible for protecting Wales's historic environment), the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, and numerous local groups. The BMC supports preserving historical names relevant to climbing areas .
"A balanced approach was reached: a hierarchical list of place names will be created, prioritising the most historically significant names at the top. This approach ensures that historical names are preserved without erasing others. It acknowledges that before climbing became a prominent activity in north Wales, the slate industry profoundly shaped the region's landscape.
"Remembering history is essential - it teaches lessons, celebrates culture, and connects us to our past. For local communities, these names are reminders of the gruelling labour endured in the quarries, where many workers faced perilous conditions and often lost their lives. The BMC also emphasises the importance of preserving the more recent history of climbing in North Wales. Routes established over 50 years ago tell their own stories and deserve recognition alongside the slate industry's legacy.
"We invite you to join us in using and practising the pronunciation of the original names used by the chwarelwyr (quarrymen), researched to the best of the team's abilities (caveat: there were some differences in the names used by different workers). These names are not just words; they are a tribute to those who sacrificed so much, earning meagre wages while sculpting the quarries into what we see and enjoy climbing on today.
"Below are maps developed with the help of local organisations, featuring contributions from Rockfax and Rob Johnson.
"Many of the names, such as Australia and California, reflect global events of their time. For instance, the California ponc (level) was named during the Gold Rush era, when workers would have heard about the event. Australia, one of the ponciau (levels), was so remote that reaching it felt like a journey to the other side of the world. Ponc Toffat was named after the biblical toponym "Tophet", because of its brutal working conditions, likened to hellfire. These names hold rich stories, connecting us to the lives and imaginations of the people who once laboured there.
"Mae llawer o'r enwau, fel Awstralia a California, yn adlewyrchu digwyddiadau byd-eang eu cyfnod. Er enghraifft, enwyd ponc Califfornia yn ystod cyfnod y Rhuthr Aur, pan fyddai gweithwyr wedi clywed am y digwyddiad. Roedd Awstralia, un o'r ponciau, mor anghysbell nes bod ei gyrraedd yn teimlo fel taith i ochr arall y byd. Enwyd Ponc Toffat ar ôl y lleoliad beibliadd, oherwydd ei amodau gwaith creulon, sy'n debyg i'r cysyniad beiblaidd o dân uffern. Mae'r enwau yn ffynhonnell o straeon cyfoethog, gan ein cysylltu â bywydau a dychymyg y bobl a fu unwaith yn llafurio yno.
"I would like to extend a huge thank you to Gareth Roberts from Menter Fachwen who helped provide a lot of the historic information and who, through the Welsh Place-Names Society, gathered a lot of the information with chwarelwyr (quarrymen) who worked in Dinorwig before the quarry closed."
Dinorwig overview
Trosolwg o Dinorwig
The BMC embraces the importance of the historic Welsh names at Dinorwig Quarries. Image: Rob Johnson
Dyffryn Area
Ardal Dyffryn
Tom Carrick for the BMC has put together these images showing both Welsh and English names for popular climbing areas, with help from Rockfax topos.
Lower Walls
Waliau Isod
Ponc Califfornia (California level) was opened in the late 1840s/early 1850s during the 'California Gold Rush' in the USA, and was named thus because it produced the best slates in the quarry - 'like digging for gold'. Image: Alan James, Rockfax
Sinc California
Sinc California
Albion possibly comes from 'albus' (white) in Latin. Alban can also describe a mountainous area (Gwiniondyd, 1868). Image: Alan James, Rockfax
Sinc Pen Garret North West face
Gwyneb Gogledd Orllewin Sinc Pen Garret
'Swallow' was the name of a famous slate ship from the village of Y Felinheli, formerly known as Port Dinorwic in English. Image: Alan James, Rockfax
Sinc Pen Garret Back Wall
Cefn Wal Sinc Pen Garret
Very often clouds or fog can be seen as if rising from Twll Mŵg ("smoke hole") when the wind or breeze is coming from the direction of Mynydd Llandegai to the north. Image: Alan James, Rockfax
Naming overview
Trosolwg Enwau
The total extent of the names that were researched, put together by John Roberts.
Comments
I have no problem at all with encouraging use of traditional names, but if they're going to "invite you to join us in using and practicing the pronunciation of the original names", it seems absurd not to mention how the names in question are actually pronounced. Ideally in the article itself, but as far as I could see there's not even as much as a link to a Welsh language pronunciation guide.
I think a great many non-Welsh speakers are going to be reluctant to use names they're likely to get badly wrong, so spoonfeeding them the way to get them right I'd say would be a very effective way of reducing apprehension and encouraging take-up.
I'll reply with the old saw that welsh is phonetic. I don't speak it but my kids are learning it as they attend a Welsh school and they concur and help me pronounce Welsh names from first principles. Rather than present each name with an attempt at an English spelt pronunciation (a rather inexact pursuit due to our unphonetic spellings), if you're interested just use the phonemes: a guide here: https://clwbmalucachu.co.uk/cmc/cheat/cheat_alphabet.htm
Da iawn! Good work Tom and those involved. Seeing the previous division between different groups over Dinorwig had saddened me - it’s such a special place that we all care about. Hopefully this will settle some of that so folk can work together on the other issues facing the quarries!
I wouldn't know how to begin to pronounce a lot of those either, I have spent time looking up how to pronounce welsh and always struggled to apply it.
Its an nice project though; interesting that some of the climber names are actually based on the miners names, and then presumably some of the further names from climbers have extended this, e.g ayers rock...? Also I'm interested in the history of both the miners and the climbers names but its not totally clear where the names are "welsh name + (climber's name)" versus "welsh name + (translation of welsh name)".
Welsh pronunciation is pretty easy because it is phonetic, unlike English. Once you know how the letters are pronounced (mostly the same as in English, a few exceptions) you'll get it right almost all the time (again unlike English... for which there are also no pronunciation guides for foreign visitors in climbing guides, which of course wouldn't cross anybody's mind...). I'm also not a Welsh speaker but learning the pronunciation is really as easy as ABC... literally.
I googled 'Welsh pronunciation guide' and this useful pdf was in the first few results.
https://users.aber.ac.uk/jcf12/project/welshcheat/welshcheat.pdf
For the time it took you to write that reply casting a negative light ('I'm not X, but...', 'absurd', 'likely to get badly wrong', 'not even as much as') you could have found and probably read through that page. The internet is a wonderful thing, you know, it's quite easy to find things out...
Gaelic on the other hand...