Anglesey
Anglesey (Welsh: Ynys Môn pronounced [ˌunissˈmoːn]) is an island and principal area off the northwest coast of Wales, with a predominantly Welsh speaking population. It is connected to the mainland by two bridges spanning the Menai Strait: the original Menai Suspension Bridge (carrying the A5), designed by Thomas Telford in 1826; and the newer reconstructed Britannia Bridge (originally designed by Robert Stephenson); which carries the A55 and the North Wales Coast Railway line.
Historian and author Dr. John Davies argues that it is during the tumultuous 10th century that the Norse name for Môn, Anglesey, came into existence and was later adopted into English after Anglo-Norman occupiers arrived to conquer the island during the Norman invasions of Gwynedd.
The name Anglesey was later used in the English language as a county name which included Holy Island and other nearby small islands. Once the Welsh language was granted equal status in government with the Welsh Language Act, the representitive constituency names for the island were changed to the Welsh name of the island, Ynys Môn (UK Parliament constituency) in the UK parliament, and Ynys Môn (Assembly constituency) in the National Assembly for Wales.
With an area of 275 square miles (712 km2), Anglesey is the largest Welsh island, and the fifth largest surrounding the island of Great Britain.
There are numerous megalithic monuments and menhirs present on Anglesey, testifying to the presence of mankind in prehistory.
Historically, Anglesey has long been associated with the Druids. In AD 60 the Roman general Suetonius Paulinus, determined to break the power of the Druids, attacked the island, destroying the shrine and the sacred groves. News of Boudicca’s Revolt reached him just after his victory, causing him to withdraw his army before consolidating his conquest. The island was finally brought into the Roman empire by the governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola in AD 78. The Romans called the island Mona.
The present road from Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll may originally have been a Roman road, and a network of such roads on the island may await formal discovery. British and Roman sites, coins and ornaments have been dug up and discussed, especially by the 19th century romantic antiquarian, the Hon. Lord Stanley of Penrhos. The foundations of the fort in Holyhead are Roman.
At the end of the Roman period in the late 4th century and early 5th century, pirates from Ireland colonised Anglesey and the nearby Llŷn Peninsula. In response to this a Brythonic warlord from the north of Britain called Cunedda came to the area and began the process of driving the Irish out. This process was continued by his son Einion ap Cunedda and grandson Cadwallon Lawhir until the last Irish were defeated in battle in 470. As an island Môn would usually be a good defensive position and because of this it was the site of the court or Llys of the kings and princes of Gwynedd at Aberffraw. Apart from a devastating Danish raid in 853 this was to remain the case until the 13th century when improvements to the English navy made it indefensible.
After the Irish, the island was invaded by Vikings, Saxons, and Normans before falling to King Edward I of England, in the 13th century.
Anglesey is a relatively low-lying island with low hills such as Parys Mountain, Cadair Mynachdy (“chair of the monastery”; or Monachdy); there is a Nanner, “convent”, not far away), Mynydd Bodafon and Holyhead Mountain. The island is separated from the Welsh mainland by Menai Strait, which at its narrowest point is about 250 metres wide.
Anglesey has several small towns scattered around the island, making it quite evenly populated. Beaumaris (Welsh: Biwmares), in the east of the island, features Beaumaris Castle, built by Edward I as part of his campaign in North Wales. Beaumaris acts as a yachting centre for the region with many boats moored in the bay or off Gallows Point. The town of Newborough (Welsh: Niwbwrch), in the south, created when the townfolk of Llanfaes were relocated to make way for the building of Beaumaris Castle, includes the site of Llys Rhosyr, another of the courts of the mediaeval Welsh princes, which features one of the oldest courtrooms in the United Kingdom. Llangefni is located in the centre of the island and is also the island’s administrative centre. The town of Menai Bridge (Welsh: Porthaethwy) (in the south-east) expanded when the first bridge to the mainland was being built, in order to accommodate workers and construction. Up until that time Porthaethwy had been one of the principal ferry crossing points from the mainland. A short distance from this town lies Bryn Celli Ddu, a Stone Age burial mound. Also nearby is the village with the longest official place name in the United Kingdom, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Near it is Plas Newydd, ancestral home of the Marquesses of Anglesey. The town of Amlwch is situated in the northeast of the island and was once largely industrialised, having grown during the 18th century supporting the copper mining industry at Parys Mountain.
Other towns and settlements include Cemaes, Benllech, Pentraeth, Gaerwen, Dwyran, Bodedern and Rhosneigr. The Anglesey Sea Zoo is a local tourist attraction, providing a look at and descriptions of local marine wildlife from lobsters to conger eels. All the fish and crustaceans on display are caught around the island and are placed in reconstructions of their natural habitat. They also make salt (evaporated from the local sea water) and commercially breed lobsters, for food, and oysters, for pearls, both from local stocks.
The island’s entire rural coastline had been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and features many sandy beaches, especially along its eastern coast between the towns of Beaumaris and Amlwch and along the western coast from Ynys Llanddwyn through Rhosneigr to the little bays around Carmel Head. The northern coastline is characterised by dramatic cliffs interspersed with small bays. The Anglesey Coastal Path is a 125 miles (201 km) path which follows nearly the entire coastline. Tourism is now the most significant economic activity on the island. Agriculture provides the secondary source of income for the island’s economy, with the local dairies being amongst the most productive in the region. There is also a nuclear power station, at Wylfa Head on the north coast.
Major industries are restricted to Holyhead (Caergybi) which supports an aluminium smelter and the Amlwch area where the Wylfa nuclear power station is located close to a former bromine extraction plant. The nuclear power station is scheduled to close in or around 2010, and the aluminium smelting operation is likely to close as a consequence of losing its affordable local electricity supply. However, the local county council support extending the closure deadline and building a new nuclear power station at Wylfa. The Royal Air Force base RAF Valley (Fali) is home to the RAF Fast Jet Training School and also 22 SQN Search and Rescue Helicopters which provide employment for approx 500 civilians.
There is a wide range of smaller industries, mostly located in industrial and business parks especially at Llangefni and Gaerwen. These industries include an abattoir and fine chemicals manufacture as well as factories for timber production, aluminium smelting, fish farming and food processing.
Wind power is developing on Anglesey with more than 20 commercial wind turbines established near the north coast. The strong sea currents around the island are also attracting the interest of electricity generation companies interested in exploiting tidal power.
The island is also on one of the major routes from Britain to Ireland, via ferries from Holyhead, off the west of Anglesey on Holy Island, to Dún Laoghaire and Dublin Port.
There are a few natural lakes mostly in the west, such as Llyn Llywenan, the largest natural lake on the island, and Cors Cerrig y Daran, but rivers are few and small. There are two large water supply reservoirs operated by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. These are Llyn Cefni in the centre of the island, which is fed by the headwaters of the Afon Cefni, and Llyn Alaw to the north of the island.
The climate is humid (much less so than neighbouring mountainous Gwynedd) but generally equable under the effects of the Gulf Stream bathing the island. The land is of variable quality and it may have been more fertile in the past.
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