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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Harlech
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(88km/55m N of Aberystwyth) Town in Gwynedd which grew up below the most spectacularly sited of *Edward I's concentric Welsh castles, perched on its rock above what was then the shore line (now receded by some 800m/900yd). Built in 1283–9, its outer walls are still largely intact. A Lancastrian garrison was besieged here for seven years by the Yorkists in the *Wars of the Roses – a brave resistance usually said to have inspired the March of the Men of Harlech. However the words to which the song is now sung (by Thomas Oliphant, 1799–1873) describe a victory by the ancient Britons of Wales at a much earlier period, the 7–8C, when they were being threatened by the Anglo-Saxons.
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