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Anglesey: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Anglesey
The island of Anglesey stretches across the Irish Sea, forming a low-lying landmass with hills spaced evenly over its northern half. Holyhead Mountain rises to 165 meters above sea level, while Mynydd Bodafon reaches 203 meters. The highest peaks include Mynydd Eilian at 184 meters and Bwrdd Arthur standing at 179 meters. These geological formations rest upon ancient Precambrian rocks that appear at the surface in four distinct areas. A western region includes Holyhead and Llanfaethlu, while a central area lies about Aberffraw and Trefdraeth. An eastern region encompasses Newborough, Gaerwen, and Pentraeth. A coastal region exists at Glyn Garth between Menai Bridge and Beaumaris. These rocks are schists and phyllites, often contorted and disturbed by tectonic forces. A belt of granitic rocks lies just north-west of the central Precambrian mass, reaching from Llanfaelog near the coast to the vicinity of Llanerchymedd. Between this granite and the Precambrian of Holyhead is a narrow tract of Ordovician slates and grits with Llandovery beds in places. Carboniferous rocks are found between the eastern and central Precambrian masses. Carboniferous Limestone occupies a broad area south of Lligwy Bay and Pentraeth. Puffin Island is made of Carboniferous Limestone. Malltraeth Marsh is occupied by Coal Measures. A small patch of rhyolitic/felsitic rocks forms Parys Mountain, where copper and iron ochre have been worked since the early Bronze Age. Serpentine, known as Mona Marble, is found near Llanfair-yn-Neubwll and upon the opposite shore in Holyhead. Anglesey holds the distinction of being the only onshore part of the UK to have sediments dated to the Early Middle Miocene.
Burial Mounds And Hunter Gatherers
The oldest excavated sites on Anglesey include Trwyn Du at Aberffraw, dating back 7000 BC. The Mesolithic site located at Aberffraw Bay was buried underneath a Bronze Age kerb cairn which was constructed around 3000 BC. The bowl barner covered material deposited from the early Mesolithic period. After millennia of hunter-gatherer civilization, the first villages were constructed from 4000 BC. Neolithic settlements were built in the form of long houses, with one of the first villages in Wales built at Llanfaethlu. An example of a permanent settlement from the Bronze Age is Bryn Celli Ddu, a burial mound that started as a henge enclosure around 3000 BC. This mound was adapted several times over a millennium. There are numerous megalithic monuments and menhirs in the county, testifying to human presence in prehistory. Plas Newydd sits near one of 28 cromlechs that remain on uplands overlooking the sea. Castell Bryn Gwyn, also called Bryn Beddau or the hill of graves, lies near Llanidan. This Neolithic site became a hillfort used until the Roman period by the Ordovices tribe. During the Iron Age, Celts built dwellings known as roundhouses established near previous settlements. Some huts with walled enclosures were discovered on the banks of the river Gwna. A well-preserved hut circle exists over the Cymyran Strait on Holy Island. The Holyhead Mountain Hut Circles were inhabited by ancient Celts and were first occupied before the Iron Age. Archeological research discovered limpet shells found from 200 BC on a wall at Tyl Mawr. Roman-era pottery dates from the 3rd to 4th centuries AD. Some of these huts were still being used for agricultural purposes as late as the 6th century. The first excavation of Ty Mawr was conducted by William Owen Stanley of Penrhos.
Mynydd Bodafon reaches 203 meters above sea level, making it the highest peak on the island. Other significant peaks include Mynydd Eilian at 184 meters and Bwrdd Arthur standing at 179 meters.
When did the Roman conquest of Anglesey begin?
The Roman conquest of Anglesey began in 60 AD when General Gaius Suetonius Paulinus attacked the island using his amphibious Batavian contingent as a surprise vanguard assault. The island was finally brought into the Roman Empire by Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola in 78 AD.
Who founded the House of Aberffraw on Anglesey?
Anarawd ap Rhodri founded the medieval Welsh dynasty known as the House of Aberffraw on Anglesey after receiving Gwynedd from King Rhodri Mawr. This dynasty established Aberffraw as the royal court of the Kingdom of Gwynedd until the 13th century.
How many percent of people spoke Welsh in Anglesey according to the 2011 census?
According to the 2011 census, Anglesey was the local authority with the second highest proportion of Welsh speakers at 57 percent. Earlier percentages show a steady decline from 91 percent in 1901 down to 55 percent in 2021.
When did construction start on Wylfa Nuclear Power Station?
Wylfa Nuclear Power Station had construction starting in 1963 and the two reactors began producing power in 1971. One reactor was decommissioned in 2012 and the other in 2015.
The Roman conquest of Anglesey began in 60 AD when General Gaius Suetonius Paulinus attacked the island using his amphibious Batavian contingent as a surprise vanguard assault. He destroyed the shrine and the sacred groves known as nemeta. News of Boudica's revolt reached him just after his victory, causing him to withdraw his army before consolidating the conquest. The island was finally brought into the Roman Empire by Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola in 78 AD. During the Roman occupation, the area was notable for mining copper. The foundations of Caer Gybi, a fort in Holyhead, are Roman. The present road from Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll was originally a Roman road. The island was grouped by Ptolemy with Ireland rather than with Britain. After the Roman departure from Britain in the early 5th century, pirates from Ireland colonized Anglesey and the nearby Llyn Peninsula. In response, Cunedda ap Edern, a Gododdin warlord from Scotland, came to the area and began to drive the Irish out. This continued through his son Einion Yrth ap Cunedda and grandson Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion. The last Irish invaders were finally defeated in battle in 470.
Royal Courts And Stone Castles
During the 9th century, King Rhodri Mawr unified Wales and separated the country into at least three provinces between his sons. He gave Gwynedd to his son Anarawd ap Rhodri, who founded the medieval Welsh dynasty known as the House of Aberffraw on Anglesey. The island had a good defensive position, so Aberffraw became the site of the royal court of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Apart from devastating Danish raids in 853 and 968 in Aberffraw, it remained the capital until the 13th century. Rhodri Mawr moved his family seat from Caernarfon and built a royal palace at Aberffraw in 873. After the Norman invasion of Wales was one of the last times this occurred a few years after 1171, after the death of Owain Gwynedd. Between 1246 and about 1255, the island was granted to Owain Goch as his share of the kingdom. During 1294, Prince Madog ap Llywelyn attacked King Edward I's castles in North Wales as part of a rebellion by the former house of Aberffraw. As a direct response, Beaumaris Castle was constructed to control Edward's interests in Anglesey. By the 1320s, the build was abandoned and never completed. The castle was besieged by Owain Glyndwr in the early 15th century. It was ruinous by 1609. However, the 6th Viscount Bulkeley purchased the castle from the Crown in 1807. It has been open to the public under the guardianship of the Crown ever since 1925.
Copper Mines And Aluminum Smelters
The town of Amlwch lies in the north-east of the island and was once largely industrialized, having grown in the 18th century to support a major copper-mining industry at Parys Mountain. In 1971, a 100,000 ton per annum aluminum smelter was opened by Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation and British Insulated Callender's Cables with Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation as a 30 percent partner. When the aluminum smelter closed in September 2009, it cut its workforce from 450 to 80. This proved a major blow to the island's economy, especially to Holyhead. Wylfa Nuclear Power Station had construction starting in 1963. The two reactors began producing power in 1971. One reactor was decommissioned in 2012, the other in 2015. On the 17th of January 2019, Hitachi-Horizon Nuclear Power announced it was abandoning plans to build a nuclear plant on the Wylfa Newydd site in Anglesey. There had been concern that the start might have involved too much public expenditure, but Hitachi-Horizon say the decision to scrap has cost the company over £2 billion. The island is now home to three wind farms on land. Plans were offered in 2013 by Horizon, a subsidiary of Hitachi, to start production in the 2020s. Though enthusiastically endorsed by Anglesey Council and Welsh Assembly members, protesters raised doubts about its economic and safety claims.
Welsh Language And Census Data
According to the 2011 census, Anglesey was the local authority with the second highest proportion of Welsh speakers at 57 percent. The earlier percentages show a steady decline from 91 percent in 1901 down to 55 percent in 2021. Today, Welsh remains the dominant language in some areas, particularly in the center including Llangefni and some parts of the south coast. Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni sees 68 percent of pupils speak Welsh as their first language. At this school, 87 percent of pupils take their exams through the medium of Welsh. Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones in Amlwch reports that 34 percent of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes while 82 percent sit the Welsh First Language General Certificate of Secondary Education. Ysgol Uwchradd Bodedern shows 67 percent of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes with a majority speaking Welsh fluently. Ysgol Uwchradd Caergybi in Holyhead has only 14 percent of pupils speaking Welsh at home and 11 percent are taught the Welsh First Language curriculum. The island's five secondary schools vary widely in the proportions of their pupils from predominantly Welsh-speaking homes. In those who can speak Welsh, the figures range significantly across different institutions.