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Hay-on-Wye
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hay-on-Wye | |
| Welsh: Y Gelli Gandryll |
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| Population | 1,846 |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Principal area | Powys |
| Ceremonial county | Powys |
| Constituent country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HEREFORD |
| Postcode district | HR3 |
| Dialling code | 01497 |
| Police | Dyfed-Powys |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | Brecon & Radnorshire |
| European Parliament | Wales |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Powys | |
Hay-on-Wye (Welsh: Y Gelli Gandryll or Y Gelli), often described as "the town of books", is a small market town in Powys, Wales.
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It is on the River Wye, which is the natural and administrative border with England, and lies within the Brecon Beacons National Park just north of the Black Mountains, Wales. Hay has approximately 1,900 inhabitants. The nearest city is Hereford, some 35 km (22 miles) to the east.
Hay-on-Wye is the United Kingdom's mecca for bibliophiles, boasting "thirty major bookshops" (according to its Tourist Information Bureau). Most sell second-hand books.
The town's main landmark is the still impressive ruined castle, originally built in the 13th century, considerably damaged by the Welsh rebellion led by Owain Glyndwr in 1400 but lived in until the early 20th century.
Hay-on-Wye appears to continue over the border into Herefordshire. This part of the town is administratively separate, and is called Cusop.
Hay-on-Wye is twinned with Redu, a village in the Belgian municipality of Libin, and with Timbuktu, the ancient city in Mali.[1]
Since 1988, Hay-on-Wye has been the venue for a literary festival, now sponsored by The Guardian newspaper, which draws a claimed 80,000 visitors over ten days at the beginning of June to see and hear big literary names from all over the world.
On 1 April 1977, bibliophile Richard George William Pitt Booth declared Hay-on-Wye to be an independent kingdom with himself as its monarch. He sought publicity by declaring Hay an "independent kingdom" with himself as its king. The tongue-in-cheek micronation of Hay-on-Wye has subsequently developed a healthy tourism industry based on literary interests for which some credit Booth[2]. He recently announced plans to sell his bookshop and move to Germany; on this occasion local MP Roger Williams was quoted as saying "His legacy will be that Hay changed from a small market town into a Mecca for second-hand book lovers and this transformed the local economy"[3].
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- ^ Hay-on-Wye is twinned with Timbuktu , BBC News, 7 February 2007, 15:53 GMT, accessed 8 February 2007.
- ^ "Richard Booth", bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-11.
- ^ "Self-styled king of Hay sells up", bbc.co.uk, 2005-08-18. Retrieved on 2007-05-11.