Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for ANGLESEY

ANGLESEY, an insulated county of North Wales. It is separated on the SE, by the Menai strait, from Carnarvonshire; and is surrounded elsewhere by the Irish sea. It consists chiefly of the island of Anglesey; but includes also the island of Holyhead and the islets of Skerries, Priestholm, and Llanddyn, with some others. Its length, south-eastward, is 20 miles; its breadth, south-westward, 16 miles; its circumference, 76 miles; its area, 193,453 acres. Its outline has long sweeps which might occasion it to be pronounced triangular or pentagonal; but is indented by several considerable bays and a number of small ones. The coast is extensively rocky, and presents some fine scenery; but, in the S, is partly desolated with sand. The general surface is uninteresting; not much diversified with hill and dale; and quite devoid of lofty mountains or deep glens; flat in the S and in the centre, and rising into only moderate hills in the N. The climate is mild, but foggy. The most extensive rocks are Cambrian; the next most extensive, lower Silurian; the next, lower carboniferous limestone and shale; the next, granite and intrusive fel spathic traps; the next, Permian conglomerate sandstone and red marl. Some coal exists, but of most uncertain character,-sometimes in alluvial boulders of a ton or upwards; and is worked at present in only five pits. Peat fuel is obtained in inexhanstible plenty. Gritstone, limestone, coloured marble, lead ore, and copper ore, are worked; and serpentine, soapstone, fuller's earth, potter's clay, magnesia, calamine, sulphur, alum, silver, and zinc, are found. Much of the land is pastoral and unenclosed. The arable soils are chiefly a sandy loam, a stiff reddish earth, and a blackish vegetable mould; all pretty fertile, and receiving improvement by means of shell sand, from various parts of the shore. Wood occurs along the banks of the Menai, but is elsewhere scarce. The enclosures are not quickset hedges, but stone or turf walls; and they combine with the bleakness of the surface to render the general aspect tame and cold. The farm buildings and the cottages are generally poor and mean. Agriculture has undergone great im provement, yet is still in a backward condition. Oats, barley, rye, and potatoes, are the chief crops. The black cattle are of the kind called runts, and are much esteemed for the flavour and tenderness of their flesh; and about 5,000 are annually exported. The native sheep are the largest breed in North Wales; and many are reared for exportation. Not a few sheep also of the mountain districts are sent hither to fatten. The chief streams are the Braint, the Cevin, the Devon, the Allow, and the Dulas; but all are small. Numerous kinds of fish, some of them not common in other parts, are plentiful along the coast. Shellfish also abound; and good oysters, in particular, are taken at Penmon. Coarse woollen fabrics, for home use, are manufactured. The Chester and Holyhead railway goes through the southern part of the county, from the Britannia bridge to Holy head: and the Anglesey Central, opened in 1866, goes from a junction at Gaerwen northward to Amlwch.

The towns and chief villages are Beaumaris, Amlwch, Llangefni, Holyhead, Llanerchymedd, Newborough, and Aberffraw. The ports are Beaumaris, Amlwch, Holy head, Cremlyn, Dulas, Red Wharf, and Maltraeth. The political divisions were, first, three cantrefs; next, six hundreds; and now, one district and parts of two other districts. The ecclesiastical divisions are 74 cures, 42 parishes, and 6 deaneries, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Bangor. The hundreds are Tyndaethwy, in the NE; Menai, in the SE; Twrcelyn in the middle N; Maltraeth, in the middle S; Talybolion, in the NW; and Llyfon, in the SW. The district is Anglesey, constituting the registration county of Anglesey, and will be noticed below; and the parts of districts are four parishes in the district of Carnarvon and eleven in the district of Bangor, both in the registration county of Carnarvon. The county is governed by a lord-lieutenant, high sheriff, deputy lieutenants, and about twenty six magistrates; and it is in the North Wales circuit and the Home military district. The county jail is at Beaumaris. The number of known thieves and depre dators, and of suspected persons at large, in 1864, was 13 at ages under 16 years and 100 at ages above 16 years; and the number of crimes committed in that year was 34, and the number of criminals apprehended, 45. One member is sent to parliament by the county at large; and another by the boroughs of Beaumaris, Holyhead, Amlwch, and Llangefni. Electors of the county, in 1868, 2,352; of the boroughs, 563. Real property im 1815, £92,589; in 1843, £165,523,-of which £5,834 was in mines and £68,495 was on rentals; in 1860, as assessed to the property and income tax, £206,683, -of which £19,626 were in mines and £365 in quarries. Pop. in 1801, 33,806; in 1821, 45,063; in 1841, 50,891; in 1861, 54,509. Inhabited houses, 12,328. Uninhabited, 534. Building, 55.

Anglesey was called by the ancient natives Ynys Fon, or Mon, signifying "remote;" and by the Romans, Mona. Its present name was given by the Saxons; is strictly Angle's I, or Angle's Eye; and signifies "the Englishman's island." Lambard says:- "Some, as Polydore, will have Mona, or Monia, to be the Isle of Man, which others cal Menania, or Eubonia, reputinge Monia to be that which at this day is called Anglisey, amongst whome is Lelande. Of whose opinion I am for two canses, thone for that it continueth the name of Mon to this day in the Brytishe or Welshe speche, as by their common proverbe, expressinge the fruitfulness therof, may appeare, Terr mon mam Kymbry, i.e., Anglisey is the mother or nurse of Wales. Thother, for that Sylvester Gyraldus, in his booke called Itinerarinm Walliæ, sayethe, that Caerarvon is soe called bycause it is a cytie standinge over-agaynst Mon. This Gyraldus was a Welshman, learned in the antiquities of his countrye, and lived in Hen. II. tyme, and before. Of the same mynd also is he that wrote 'Additamenta Prosperi Aquit.' " This is generally believed to have been the chief seat of the Druids: and, so far as we know anything of the Druids, there is some probability in the supposition, especially considering the number of cromlechs, or altars, which have been found in the island. In A. d. 61, Anglesey was invaded by the Romans under Sueto nins Paulinus, who cut down the groves-"sævis super stitionibus sacri," and suppressed the order of Druids. Their complete extirpation, however, was not effected till some years after by Julins Agricola. At this period, says Lambard, it "was to be waded over on foote betwene that and the mayne land, wherby that seamethe the more likely, which Paulus Jovins writethe of it, saying, that it was somtyme part of the continent, and was by rage of sea (like to Scicile) rent therfroe, as by a bridge which dothe yet somtyme appeare, dothe seme manifest." Traces of a natural isthmus are still visible at Portaethwy, where a line of rocks juts out nearly across the channel. It is, perhaps, to this that Lambard al ludes in the preceding extract. From that period, Anglesey remained under the dominion of the Romans till they withdrew from Britain. A sovereignty was established here in 450 by Caswallon Llawhir, a British prince, who was sent hither to expel invaders. Aberffraw was the royal residence; and Cadwallader, the last king of the Britons, is said to have been a descendant of this family. In the reign of William Rufus, Hugh, earl of Chester, and Hugh, earl of Shrewsbury, are said to have assisted the inhabitants to repel an invasion of Griffith-ap-Conen, prince of Wales; and about the same time the island was invaded by Magnus, king of Norway. From this period it became a part of the kingdom of Wales, and was even regarded as the seat of government, till the final extinction of Welsh independence by Edward I. After the subjugation of the island by Edward I., he built a castle at Beaumaris to intimidate the inhabitants, and fortified the town with a wall. "Ever sythens," says Lambard, "they hav lyved in better quiet." Anglesey was afterwards incorporated with England; and in the reign of Henry VIII. was constituted a county. The chief antiquities are eight or nine standing cromlechs, remains or memorials of about twenty other cromlechs, traces of the royal residence at Aberffraw, the castle of Edward I. at Beaumaris, a priory and cross at Penmon, a friary at Llanvaes, and a number of churches of the 14th and 15th centuries. Anglesey gives the title of Marquis to the family of Paget.

The district of Anglesey, or the registration county, consists of the two poor-law unions of Anglesey and Holyhead, and is divided into the subdistrict of Llangefni, containing the parishes of Llangefni, Llangwyllog, Llangristiolus, Heneglwys, Cerrig-Ceinweu, Trefdraeth, Aberffraw, and Llangadwaladr or Eglwysael, and the parochial chapelry of Tregaian; the subdistrict of Bryngwran, containing the parishes of Llanbeulan, Llandrygarn-with-Gwyndu, and Llantrisaint, the parochial chapelries of Llangwyfan, Llanfaelog, Llechylched, Ceirchiog, Trewalchmai, Bodwrog, Llanllibio, Llechgwen farwydd, and Rhodogeidio or Ceidio, the village of Llaner chymedd, and the extra-parochial tract of Gwredog; the subdistrict of Llandyfrydog, containing the parishes of Llandyfrydog, Llanddyfnan, Llaneugrad, and Penrhos lligwy, and the parochial chapelries of Llanfihangel Tre'r-Beirdd, Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf, Coedana, Pen traeth, Llanbedr-Goch, and Llanallgo; the subdistrict of Amlwch, containing the parishes of Amlwch and Llaneilian, and the parochial chapelry of Llanwenllwyfo; the subdistrict of Llanddansaint, containing the parishes of Llanddansaint, Llanbadrig, Llanfechell, Llanrhydd lad, Llanbabo, Llanfaethly, and Llanfachreth, and the parochial chapelries of Rhosbeirio, Bodewryd, Llanrhwydrys, Llanfairynghornwy, Llanfflewyn, Llanfwrog, and Llanfigael; and the subdistrict of Holyhead, containing the parishes of Holyhead, Rhoscolyn, Bodedern, and Llanfihangel-yu-Howyn, and the parochial chapelries of Llanynghenedl and Llanfair-yn-Eubwll. Acres, 138,884. Poor-rates in 1866, £21,843. Pop. in 1841, 38,106; in 1861, 38,157. Houses. 8,364. Marriages in 1866, 216; births, 1,011,-of which 80 were illegitimate; deaths, 786,-of which 185 were at ages under 5 years, and 46 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,537; births, 11,047; deaths, 7,663. The places of worship in 1851 were 53 of the Church of England, with 8,654 sittings; 25 of Independents, with 4,506 s.; 15 of Baptists, with 2,718 s.; 52 of Calvinistic Methodists, with 12,912 s.; 14 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 2,506 s.; and 1 unde fined, with 329 s. The schools were 31 public day schools, with 2,504 scholars; 16 private day schools, with 385 s.; and 115 Sunday schools, with 11,662 s. There is no workhouse, outdoor relief being given in all cases.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Administrative units: Anglesey AncC
Place: Anglesey

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