The name of the longest train station in Europe is – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllantysiliogogogoch.
It is a place on Anglesey in North Wales. It has 58 letters in it, but in the Welsh language it only has 51, as ‘Ch’ and ‘Ll’ count as one letter.
The tiny Welsh village on the small island of Anglesey has approximately 3,100 inhabitants, and around 70% of the people there speak Welsh, which they would need to if they are to pronounce the name of their home village correctly!
The name of this village derived from the location of the village. The translation of the village and station name is – Saint Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio of the red cave.
Recently a UK weatherman named Liam Dutton pronounced Llanfair PG in full during a weather report and put the tiny village back on the map.
However the town has been a part of pop culture over the years when the Super Furry Animals named their debut album, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgoger-ychwyndrobwllantysil-iogogogochynygofod (in space), whilst Yeasayer referred to the village in their song “Red Cave”.
Another interesting fact is that actress Naomi Watts lived there briefly with her grandfather, and can pronounce the name of the town perfectly as she did live on American TV on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show.
Feature Image of Llanfair PG Railway Station Name Sign by Mike Smith