Island 63 - Holy Island, Wales

Holy Island (Ynys Gybi) is situated to the west of Anglesey and linked to it by 3 causeways/bridges.  I have  visited the island three times -  very briefly when the Rosslare-Fishguard Ferry broke down and we had to come back from Ireland on the HSS from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead in 2004, for a morning in June 2011 and in June 2014 I stayed on the island for three nights.

The island has been occupied since the Mesolithic period.  Standing stones and a chambered long barrow on the island date from the Neolithic period. There is an Iron Age hillfort on Holyhead Mountain.  The island was a stronghold of a Celtic tribe called the Ordovices.  The Romans conquered the Celts on Holy Island in around 78AD and they built a signal tower on the top of Holyhead Mountain and a 3 walled fort around Holyhead Harbour.   When the Romans left Irish pirates, Saxons, Vikings and later Normans moved in.   

The town of Holyhead (Caergybi in Welsh) is the main settlement.   It is one of the main ferry terminals to and from the Irish Republic.  There is a maritime museum down on the waterfront.  I spent half an hour outside it looking in vain for a geocache, so there was no time to visit the museum!

Trearddur Bay



Parish Church in Holyhead

The parish church of St Cybi was built in the 14^th and 15^th centuries and is situated in the partially surviving walls of the small Roman fort Caer Gybi and on the site of a 6^th Century chapel.  St Cybi was the brother of St David and he died in 554 AD.   The 6th century church was sacked by Vikings in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 13th century.

 

Porth-y-Post

Ellin's Tower and the north east coast of Holy Island from South Stack. 

There is a Seabird Centre in the Tower, which is free to visit and part of the RSPB South Stack Reserve.

Former Toll House

 This is located at the western end of the oldest causeway to Holy Island.  It is now on the edge of a Coast and Country Park

 

Four Mile Bridge

 This is so called because it is 4 miles from the port at Holyhead

 

The village of Rhoscolyn at the south end of the island formerly had an oyster, china clay and marble industry.  The marble quarried there was used in the construction of several cathedrals.

Just outside Holyhead is the Breakwater Country Park.  I didn't have time to explore it properly.  The Country Park was opened in 1990 and is situated on the site of an old quarry which supplied stone for the Holyhead Breakwater, the longest in Europe at 1.5 miles.  It was built between 1846 and 1873.

In 1826 what is now the A5 road from London to Holyhead, was completed when the Menai Bridge opened and a causeway from Anglesey to Holy Island was built.  The Chester to Holyhead Railway opened in 1848 and Holyhead became the main port for travel to Ireland.

Penrhosfeilw Standing Stones

Holyhead Breakwater Country Park