Уэльстің Clwydian Range төбесі – Moel Famau

Hill in the Clwydian Range

Moel Famau is the highest hill in the Clwydian Range and the highest point (county top) of the county of Flintshire in Wales (both the historic county and the current council area). It lies on the boundary between Denbighshire and Flintshire. The hill, which also gives its name to the Moel Famau country park, has been classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty since 1985. It is also surrounded by several well preserved Iron Age hill forts. It is also the third highest peak in the extended AONB of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley. A northern part of the Offa's Dyke long distance footpath, one of the UK's most popular National Trails, crosses the summit of Moel Famau and the Jubilee Tower. Loggerheads Country Park is nearby.

Although historical sources attest to a variety of spellings (such as Moel Famma, Moel Vamma and Moel Fammau), the only two in common use today are Moel Famau and Moel Fama. The first word moel is a common Welsh place name element meaning "bare". The meaning and preferred spelling of the second element are less certain, but is roughly translated into "mothers". Attestations from as early as the fourteenth century consistently show that the second element ends in –a. This conforms to the local pronunciation and is "the preferred spelling", according to the Dictionary of the Place names of Wales. The meaning of the Fama is somewhat uncertain, but it is probably a lenited form of a personal name, 'Mama'. The alternative form Moel Famau is a result of an "antiquarian perception" first attested in the eighteenth century that the second element was the lenited form of the common noun mamau ("mothers"). It was designed like an Egyptian obelisk with three tiers. Although the foundation stone was laid in 1810 by George Kenyon, 2nd Baron Kenyon, lack of funds meant that the tower was never completed. On three sides it was to have had the following inscription: Georgia III Brittaniarum Regi, Pio Justo Patri Patrio Commitatus, Denbigh et Flint, Jubilantus Posuere, 25 Octobris, Anno Domino 1809. In 1862, a major storm brought down the incomplete tower. The remaining upper part of the structure was demolished for safety reasons leaving just the base. Most of the rubble was removed from the site; smaller stonework was reused by local farmers for dry stone walls. In October 2010, a celebration was observed by local communities, in both Flintshire and Denbighshire, to mark the 200th anniversary of the laying of the Jubilee Tower's foundation stone. An artistic light and laser installation by a local artist was commissioned by the local authorities to illuminate the tower.