Elon Musk has fired Twitter's entire accessibility division. Those people whose job it is to think about how blind, deaf and visually impaired people use and experience the product across platforms have been fired.

The man is an embarrassment. For those who can’t comprehend why Twitter accessibility is important:

https://twitter.com/OwsWills/status/1588643636669222912

Of all the lost lands of ancient Britain, perhaps the most intriguing is that of Cumbria – a Wales beyond Wales.

And while the Latin for Wales is "Cambria", that shared heritage runs far deeper.

Cumbria also shared a language, and a people.

Thread 👇





Cumbria and Cumberland mean "land of the Cumbrians".

From c.400 to c.1100, people inhabiting the island of Britain (i.e. identifying as Britons) called themselves "Kum-Ree" i.e. 'fellow countrymen'.

This name survives in the Welsh name for Wales: Cymru.

https://twitter.com/OwsWills/status/1288848557609558018?s=20

I'm Huw Edwards. I’m Huw Edwards in the ring

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Welsh letter pronunciation: a thread 👉

C
• always the K sound as in cat or Kill
• never S as in city

💬 Conwy
—
Ch
• always as the Ch in the Scottish loch
• never as in lock or church

💬 Rhos-goch
—
Dd
• always sounds like the Th in breathe or Then

💬 Rhuddlan F
• always the V sound as in Venice

💬 Felindref
—
Ff
• has the same sound as Ph, and the English off
• never the V sound

💬 Ffestiniog
—
G
• always hard as in Get
• never soft as in Gentle

💬 Garn

The word "Wales" reveals the origins of Britain, and a gnawing history of Anglo-Saxon oppression…

It was used by invading tribes to mean 'foreigners' or 'outsiders,' despite Brythonic peoples (latterly Welsh, Cornish, Cumbrian, Breton) being native to these isles.

THREAD 👇 In 500 BC, Germanic tribes moved into northern Germany, attacking a powerful Celtic ethnic group they called 'Volcae.'

The Germanic tribes began using 'Volca' to describe foreigners.

As a Latin 'v' can be pronounced 'w' at the beginning of words, Volcae became "Walhaz."

On Wales' south coast lies a legend.

It was called Côr Tewdws, the grandest centre of Christian study on the planet.

At its peak it attracted over 2,000 students—princes, saints and scholars.

It should be celebrated worldwide, but is lost to the mists of time…

THREAD 👇 Saint David, Saint Patrick, seven sons of British princes, Samson of Dôl, the bard Taliesin, Gildas the historian and Paulinus, Bishop of Léon…

They came to study at the oldest education institution in the world, in a town now known as Llanilltud Fawr (Llantwit Major).

In the 12th century, the Prince of Gwynedd finds his son's cradle upended, his faithful hound drenched in blood.

Slaying the dog, a cry rings out – his baby is alive, hidden by the body of a fallen wolf.

Llywelyn Fawr is overcome with remorse.
He never smiles again.

THREAD 👇 The Gwynedd village of Beddgelert ("Gelert's Grave") is, according to folklore, named after the tragic canine hero in a chapter from the tales of Wales' great lost monarchies.

An evocative memorial to the legendary dog adorns the valley floor, visited by thousands every year.

In May 1839, a group of men in women's clothes attacked and demolished a turnpike at Efail-wen, Carmarthenshire.

Their riots would empower the poor.
They became a totem.
A symbol of rebellion, against English wealth.

They were Merched Beca: The Daughters of Rebecca.

THREAD 👇 The owner of the Efail-wen tollgate was Thomas Bullin, an Englishman who owned Turnpike Trusts from London to the west of Wales.
Turnpike Trusts, or groups of businessmen, owned most of the main roads.

They fixed toll charges, and decided how many Turnpikes could be built.

At the heart of Carmarthenshire's Cothi Valley lies the engine of Roman Britain's power.

Deep within this wild, green, rocky landscape sits the most advanced ancient mining operation ever discovered in Britain.

Its quest – a precious, lustrous treasure:

Gold.

THREAD 👇 Mwyngloddiau Aur Dolaucothi (Dolaucothi Gold Mines), are a range of surface and underground mines on the banks of the Afon Cothi.

As the only known Roman gold mine in Britain, it was tasked with producing gold bullion for the imperial mints.

In 1909, work commenced on a scheme to increase the capacity of Llyn Fawr, a large lake in the wild majesty of the Cynon Valley.

Two years into the project, they made a stunning discovery.

A Bronze and Iron Age treasure hoard of staggering proportions.

THREAD 👇 The development of the Rhondda coalfield, its early prosperity largely driven by the needs of the American Civil War, led to a population boom between 1851 (951) and 1901 (113,735).

The increased water needs merited a tunnel through the mountain, pumping water from Llyn Fawr.

At the gateway to Dinas Mawddwy, as the A470 snakes from the capital to Conwy, it sweeps past a protected ancient monument – hidden from the road beyond.

A tiny, secret, moss-green, picture perfect fairytale of all a river crossing should be.

THREAD 👇 Pont Minllyn, also known as Pont y Ffinnant or Pontrusk Bridge, dates to the early 1600s – the post-medieval period.

It spans the river Dyfi at a long-established crossing point, and was built to act as a 'packhorse bridge'.

In the 5th century, a great British warrior chief battled Saxon invaders.
His heroism was legend.

His deeds spun by storytellers, his gallantry became richer in each telling.

He would become king of the ancient Britons.
When Welsh was the language of these islands…

THREAD 👇





The first mention of Arthur is thought to be a reference in a line from the 6th century poem Y Gododdin, the earliest-known work of literature in Welsh.

It told of a time when much of western Britain (Wales, northern England and southern Scotland) spoke a common tongue.

In 1823, scientists excavating mammoth remains in Paviland Cave, Gower made an intriguing find: a partial human skeleton covered in red ochre, accompanied by periwinkle shells and carved ivory.

What they'd discovered changed everything.

The cradle of modern humanity.

THREAD 👇 When William Buckland of Oxford University found the skeleton, he made some assumptions:

📿 Beads & Ornaments = Female ("Red Lady of Paviland")
🔴 Red Ochre = Prostitute/Witch

And, since Buckland was a creationist…

💀 Remains can't be older than Biblical Great Flood = Roman

For a millennium it lay unseen and undisturbed, a stone's throw from one of Wales' most beautiful beaches.

But in 2007, an aerial survey revealed something astonishing just beneath the waves.

A brutally effective, colossal coastal hunting ground…

THREAD 👇 Stretching more than 276m (905ft) along the Pembrokeshire seabed, the gigantic V-shaped stone structure at Poppit Sands was used to catch fish without the need for a boat or rod.

Built during the Norman Conquest, it may have fed the Tironensian Monks at nearby St Dogmaels.

Said to be an ancient gateway to the land of the Tylwyth Teg (the fairy race), Pentre Ifan's magnificent standing stones make it one of the grandest, and most mysterious, neolithic dolmens on the planet.

THREAD 👇 A collection of 7 principal stones, the "Stonehenge of Wales" is a haunting, magical monument, and one of the most complete and dramatic stone dolmens in existence (a 'dolmen' is a megalithic tomb with a large flat stone laid on upright ones).

In 2016, @jeremyburge and I sent a proposal to @unicode to include the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 flags on emoji keyboards 👉
blog.emojipedia.org/emoji-flags-fo…

It was a success 👉
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-…

But before it landed, Apple, Google etc had to consider the design.

Especially the dragon…

THREAD 👇 Y Ddraig Goch (The Red Dragon of Wales) is the heraldic symbol of Wales, and its national flag.

The oldest recorded use of the dragon symbolising Wales dates to AD 829, while legend tells that it was the battle standard of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders.

In 1833, a group of workmen quarrying for stone at Bryn yr Ellyllon (Hill of the Elven Faeries) in north Wales, discovered something incredible.

There, caked with mud, was a staggeringly intricate gold cape, one of the finest prehistoric examples in the world.

THREAD 👇 For millennia, Mold's Bryn yr Ellyllon remained largely untouched - the Bronze Age site was prominent in local folklore, awash with terrible tales of supernatural beings.

The precious cape, and the individual who wore it were found in a stone chamber, beneath a burial mound.

Between the cities of Cardiff and Newport lies a vast network of ancient, secretive waterways, known as "The Gwent Levels"

For millennia, this landscape has been farmed, flooded and reclaimed from the sea.

It's a staggering 8,000 year-long engineering project.

THREAD 👇 Centuries of activity saw the construction of a massive sea wall, and a complex, gravity-fed system of waterways - sending water into an extensive series of drainage channels (or 'reens').

The water is then released into the Severn at intervals via tidal creeks (or 'pills').

these four tweets have made my day and it’s only 8.06am Also, this:

https://twitter.com/owswills/status/1191124813651357697?s=21

https://twitter.com/owswills/status/1191124813651357697

Twitter. He’s smarter than your average bear.

Our elderly neighbour passed away recently. His daughter popped round a few moments ago clutching a large plastic sack. In the sack were all the Christmas presents he’d bought for *our* daughter for the next thirteen years. 😢 I miscounted. It’s fourteen gifts.

He always told us he’d live till he was 100-years-old, so these gifts would have taken him up to our little girl’s 16th Christmas.