Peña de Bernal, Mexico

Peña de Bernal (in English: Bernal's Boulder or Bernal Peak) At 433 m (1,421 ft) it is the tallest monolith in the world, surpassing the Rock of Gibraltar and Sugarloaf Mountain. (Mount Augustus, in Western Australia, is sometimes credited to be the world's largest monolith. However, the claim does not originate from the geological literature, nor is substantiated by any other scholarly research.)

Peña de Bernal is located in San Sebastián Bernal, a small town in the Mexican state of Querétaro.

According to Leonor López Domínguez of México Desconocido, the porphyrytic monolith was formed some 100 million years ago during the Jurassic period, when it must have been at least three times higher than today.

A recent chemical analysis by researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico has determined that it is much younger--likely formed about 8.7 million years ago.

Many people make a pilgrimage to the highest point hikeable, visiting a little chapel about halfway up.

Bernal, Querétaro, Mexico

San Sebastián Bernal, better known as Bernal, is a colonial village in the Mexican state of Querétaro. It was founded in 1642 by Spanish soldier Alonso Cabrera.

Bernal is located 40 minutes by road from state capital Santiago de Querétaro and two and a half hours from Mexico City. It is located in Ezequiel Montes municipality, a few minutes from Colón and Cadereyta.

It has a current population of 2909. 1377 are males and 1532 are females. 1014 persons are counted as Economic Active Population and there are only 630 inhabited homes in town.

It is known for its enormous monolith of massive rock, the Peña de Bernal, the third highest on the planet.
The word Bernal is of Arabic origin[dubious – discuss] and the Spanish used it to name something that is a big and elongated crag that was isolated out in a plain or in the sea.

Likewise, in the Otomi language: Ma'hando, in Chichimeca: De'hendo, has the same meaning: “In the middle of two”.

Recently, the town of Bernal acquired the title of Pueblo Mágico ("Magical Town"). The Magical Towns are admitted for being localities that have magic symbolic attributes, legends, history, transcendental facts, that associate in each of his cultural manifestations, and that today mean a great opportunity for tourism.

Stow Hill, Newport, Wales, UK

Stow Hill is both an electoral district (ward) and coterminous community parish of the City of Newport, South Wales.

It is bounded by the River Usk to the east, George Street and Cardiff Road to the south, the Great Western Main Line to the southwest, Caerau Crescent, Caerau Road, Godfrey Road, Devon Place and Mill Street to the north. The ward contains the districts of St. Woolos and Baneswell.

City Centre

The ward covers most of the city centre including most of the city's major retailers as well as the centre for nightlife in the city, being home to many of Newport's well-known nightclubs and bars.

The ward also contains Newport Castle on the banks of the River Usk and St. Woolos Cathedral atop Stow Hill itself. It is also the location of Havelock Street Presbyterian Church where, in 1887, The Boys Brigade movement in Wales was founded by George Philip Reynolds. Stow Hill's earliest inhabitant was, according to legend, Saint Gwynllyw.

Apart from the Central Business District of Newport, there is also a significant resident population here in a relatively small area. Much of the housing is made up of rows of densely-packed Victorian terraced houses. Stow Hill is also home to a large proportion of asylum seekers.Stow Hill has a Communities First team based at The Share Centre.

Links

Newport, Wales, UK

Newport City Council

Wards of Newport

St Julians, Newport, Wales, UK

St Julians is an electoral district (ward) and coterminous community of the City of Newport, South Wales.

The ward is bounded by the River Usk to the west and north, The Moorings, Badminton Road, Reynolds Close, Rembrandt Way, Constable Drive, Heather Road, Kelly Road, Merlin Crescent, Avalon Drive, across St Julian's Road and Norfolk Road to the east, Christchurch Road, Church Road, Clarence Place and Newport Bridge to the south. The ward includes the districts of Barnardtown, Riverside, and most of St. Julians (the rest being in Beechwood ward).

St Julians has two primary schools, namely Glan Usk Primary School (formerly Durham Road Infant School and Durham Road Junior School) and St Julians Primary School. Glan Usk Primary School moved to new school premises in January 2010. St Julians Comprehensive School is the one comprehensive school in the ward.

The new school has been built on a hazardous waste landfill at the Glebelands in the western part of St Julians. The Glebelands site was operated as a landfill between the 1930s and 1960s such that the waste materials contributed to raising this low lying part of Newport by some three to four metres. The site received domestic, trade, and industrial wastes including unrecorded amounts of hazardous waste such as polychlorinated biphenyls, asbestos, mercury, and arsenic. The history of this site and concerns about public health and the wider environment resulted in much opposition and delay to construction of the new primary school. The new school also provides nursery school places, following the closure of Rockfield Nursery.

All the roads in St Julian's estate are named after famous painters. St Julian's itself is named after Saint Julius of Caerleon, the Roman martyr. The Anglican parish church for St Julian's is dedicated to the martyred Saints of Julius and Aaron and sits mid-way along Heather Road and the Roman Catholic church on Beaufort Road is dedicated to St Julius.

Links

Newport, Wales, UK

Newport City Council

Wards of Newport

Shaftesbury, Newport, Wales, UK

Shaftesbury is an electoral district (ward) and coterminous community parish of the city of Newport, South Wales.

The ward is bounded by the River Usk to the east and southeast, the Great Western Main Line to the south, the A4042 road to the southwest as far as the Harlequin intersection, at which point the border diverts up Barrack Hill behind Harlequin Drive, Power Street and Lambert Close to meet the Monmouthshire Canal which then forms the western boundary as far as Bettws Lane Bridge. The northern boundary is formed by the western and northern edges of Graig Wood, Yewberry Lane and south of Grove Park Drive.

Links

Newport, Wales, UK

Newport City Council

Wards of Newport

Rogerstone, Newport, Wales, UK

Rogerstone is both a ward and community (parish) of the city of Newport, south-east Wales.

The parish lies at the gateway to the Sirhowy valley, to the north of Newport on the eastern side of the Ebbw River. It is bounded by the M4 motorway to the south, the Ebbw River to the west, the Henllys vale to the east and the city boundary with Caerphilly county borough to the north.

Rogerstone railway station is on the Ebbw Valley Railway. It opened on 6 February 2008 and links Ebbw Vale to Cardiff Central via Rogerstone. The link from Rogerstone to Newport railway station is under consideration.

History

The original settlement dates back to Norman times when Rogerstone Castle was built in the early part of the 12th century. The name is said to originate from Roger de Haia, the Norman Lord who was responsible for the building of the castle, the remains of which are reduced to a low bush and tree covered motte opposite Criddle's garage on the lower section of Tregwilym Road. The Welsh name however translates to "black house".

The larger parish of Rogerstone started as two distinct settlements of Tregwilym and Tydu, Tregwilym taking its name from the land owner, William de Berkerolles. These hamlets remained predominantly rural until the advent of the industrial revolution. The population grew in response to the tin, iron and aluminium industries which flourished near the South Wales coalfield. At one point, the village boasted the longest aluminium rolling mill in Western Europe and one of the largest marshalling yards on the Great Western Railway network.

The village played host to John Frost and his fellow Chartists on their historical march from the valleys to Newport, the Welsh Oak public house just north of the parish being one of the key meeting points for the protestors before they set off through the parish towards the Westgate Hotel and turmoil.

The parish sits astride the Crumlin branch of the Monmouthshire Canal and plays host to the Fourteen Lock. The canal opened in 1798 but was dogged by water supply problems and competition from the railways and by 1930; it had finally succumbed and has since fallen into disrepair.

Modern day Rogerstone

The designation of the Rogerstone section of the canal as part of the National Cycle Network (route 47) and more recent efforts to restore parts of the canal have made the site a popular tourist attraction.

Rogerstone was traditionally an industrial, working class village, but recent expensive housing developments such as that on the site of the former power station has added more than 1,000 dwellings and an ever increasing middle class population. This has been influenced by the improved transport links to Cardiff. There are three primary schools within Rogerstone; Rogerstone Primary, Mount Pleasant Primary and High Cross Primary.

Newport golf club, Tracy Park golf club and Tredegar Park golf club are located at Rogerstone.

Links

Newport, Wales, UK

Newport City Council

Wards of Newport