Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HOLYHEAD

HOLYHEAD, a sea port town, a parish, and a sub-district, in the district and county of Anglesey. The town stands on Holy island, at the south side of Holyhead bay, and at the terminus of the Chester and Holyhead railway, 3 miles ENE of the western extremity of Holy island, 24½ WNW of Bangor, and 260 by road, but 264¼ by railway, NW of London. The Druids appear, from traces of their remains, including a tolerably wellpreserved cromlech, to have flourished much in the neighbourhood. The Romans seem either to have had a station at the town, or at least to have used the contiguous creek of the bay, as a port for communication with Ireland. Traces of ancient fortifications exist on the neighbouring eminence of Holyhead mountain; a rude circular tower, supposed to have been an ancient pharos, was on the summit of that eminence; spear heads, bronze rings, and ancient coins have been found in various parts of the town's environs; and a gold coin was exhumed in 1860, at a lonely spot, where formerly stood a lonely oratory, called Capel-y-Llochwy, under Holyhead mountain. The walls on three sides of the churchyard, 6 feet thick, having extremely hard cement mixed with coarse pebbles, are believed to be Roman. A copper mine, in the neighbourhood, called the Hamlet mine, was worked by the Romans. An eminent British saint, or Culdee, called Cybi, -after visiting Gaul, and making distinguished opposition to the errors of Arius, -returned, about the year 380, to his native country, and founded then, on the site of Holyhead parish church, a monastic or rather Culdee establishment. This appears to have given celebrity to the place; and it occasioned the town to be called Caer-Cybi, and the island to be called InysCybi. A college grew out of the religions establishment, perhaps so early as about 580; and was eventually transferred to Jesus college, Oxford. Many religions persons seem to have been drawn to Cybi's establishment; many men noted for their piety were interred there or in the vicinity; and a number of ancient chapels or oratories have left traces, or are known to have existed, on the island. Hence the names Holy island and Holyhead. But both the ancient fortifications and Cybi's establishment are assigned, by some antiquaries, to so late a date as the 6th century. These antiquaries suppose the fortifications to have been formed by Caswallon Law-hir, Prince of North Wales, to defend the country against the aggressions of the Irish Picts. These marauders, after the departure of the Romans, made frequent descents upon Anglesey; massacred many of the inhabitants at a place still called Cerrig-y-Gwyddel, or the Irishman's rock; and endeavoured to take firm post, for further hostilities, by fortifying a place called Din-dryfal. Caswallon then assembled an army, marched against the invaders, forced them to a battle on the site of Holyhead town, and there discomfited them and slew their leader. The town thence, for many centuries, makes no figure in history; but, in the time of William III., it comes again into notice, in a widely different aspect, as the chief mail packet station from England to Ireland. It is the nearest practicable point from which vessels can run to Dublin; it acquired great additional fitness, as a packet station, by successively the formation of a regular harbour, the construction of the great road to it through Llangollen, the introduction of steam navigation, and the formation of the Chester and Holyhead railway; it got éclat by the embarkation at it of George IV. for Ireland; it has ever since been the embarking and disembarking place of most great personages passing between England and Ireland; it now commands such facility of communication, on the one hand by railway, on the other by steam vessel, as to place London and Dublin within about ten hours' travelling distance of each other; and it has recently acquired the further importance of possessing a great harbour of refuge. The town adjoins the W side of the old harbour, and has, on the whole, a somewhat triangular form. It comprises an open market place, two good principal streets, a number of subordinate streets, and considerable outskirts. It has undergone much recent improvement, and it contains a large number of good modern houses; yet, in many parts, especially in those near the parish church, it still presents a primitive and irregular appearance. It also has the disadvantage of standing on uneven ground, so that some of its streets are inconveniently steep. Long rows of houses which have been lately built toward the harbour of refuge, are in bad taste. Houses in the outskirts, generally, are much scattered. The railway station is about a mile distant from the pier; but the railway itself, for the convenience of the mails and the through traffic to Ireland, goes onward to the pier's extremity. An arch of Mona marble, in commemoration of the landing of George IV., is at the entrance of the pier. An obelisk, to the memory of Captain Skinner, commander of one of the mail steamers, who perished near the North Stack, during a gale in 1833, is on the opposite rocky side of the harbour. Baths and an assemblyroom were erected in 1770. The parish church is of the time of Edward III., cruciform, and by far the most interesting church in Anglesey; has a square tower, surmounted by a low flattish spire; presents, on its exterior, some curious rude carvings, which are now much weatherworn; contains, in its S porch, a canopied figure of St. Cybi; and shows in its transept the singular property of the piers in the S being higher than those in the N. The yard-yard, or precinct of the church, measures 221 feet by 130, and looks, from the character of its imposing walls, to have been originally a camp or fort. Another church, a very handsome edifice, was erected in 1854, at a cost of nearly £5, 000. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Calvinistic Methodists, and Wesleyans; national schools, rebuilt in 1860, at a cost of £2, 000; British schools, alms houses, and some charities.

The old harbour consists of an estuary striking southward from the bay, about 5 furlongs in length and about 2 in mean width; and is mostly dry at low water. Not only the shallowness of this, but also the difficulty of entering or leaving it in particular winds, and still more the exposure of the bay outside of it, where billows of enormous magnitude were wont to roll in stormy weather, rendered it often unsuitable for the packet traffic, and sometimes occasioned the detension of the packets for several days, or even weeks. A new harbour, or rather in 1809; and this, which includes pier, harbour offices, graving docks, and other appliances, was constructed after plans by Rennie, at a cost of upwards of £150, 000. An islet, called Ynys-Halen or the Salt Island, lies at the mouth of the old harbour. An iron bridge, conveying road and railway, connects this with the mainland; the harbour offices are on the islet; a pier, nearly 1, 000 feet long, goes due eastward from the island, and is faced seaward by massive embankments; an inner jetty, or small pier, of excellent construction, goes northward from the shore, toward the outer part of the pier; and a massive chain lies sunk across the entrance, between the pier heads, as a grappling hold to vessels making for the harbour in a NW gale. The depth, for 300 feet alongside the pier, is 10 feet at low water; and thence it rapid1y decreases. A lighthouse, 50 feet above the level of the sea, is at the extremity of the pier. A great breakwater, to protect the harbour, and to form or enclose a harbour of refuge, was long seen to be needed. A scheme for constructing this, and for at the same time adding near the mouth of the old harbour a new packetpier, was launched in 1846, under the superintendence of Mr. Rendal, at an estimated cost of £628, 063; was extended in 1855, at an additional estimate of £390, 000; was further extended, in 1856, to include an improved landing place for packets and a line of railway to the railway station, at an increased estimate of £105, 000; was again extended in 1858, to include a temporary timber packet pier, for a new class of large packets, at a further estimate of £20, 000; and was not completed in 1865, though then nearly approaching completion, when the total cost incurred had been nearly £2, 000, 000. The breakwater commences about 9 furlongs WNW of YnysHalen; goes, with a curve, north-eastward to the extent of 7, 500 feet; stands, for the greater part, in a depth of from 6 to 8 fathoms of water; incloses an area of 260 acres of complete protection, and 350 acres of partial shelter; and con sists of enormous blocks of stone, which were brought down on railway by locomotive power from quarries in the neighbouring Holyhead mountain, and lifted to their positions by cyclopean cranes. The structure of it looks so vast and strong as to promise perfect resistance to any amount of storm power; and yet, a largo portion of it, when in course of construction, was overwhelmed by the same gale of 1859 which wrecked "the Royal Charter." A castellated edifice was erected close to the commencement of the breakwater, for the residence of the contractor and the sub-contractor. The new packet pier commences at the NE side of Ynys-Halen; goes about 1, 500 feet north-eastward; and deflects northward in two arms, called the inner pier and the outer pier, each about 1, 000 feet long. The temporary pier commences at the E end of the original pier; goes 500 feet east-northeastward; and was completed in 1860; and the new packets, 350 feet in length, of great power and speed, began to ply from it in the latter part of the same year. The Beacon, Skinners, and Platters rocks are within the area of the sheltered harbour. The Soldier's Point is at the place where the breakwater commences. Holyhead bay is a narrowing estuary inward, in a south-easterly direction from the harbour; and an exposed sea expanse outward from the breakwater to an imaginary line of about 6 miles in length, drawn north-eastward from the North Stack at the NW extremity of the Holyhead promontory; and it used to afford good anchorage, in some winds, in from 3 to 4 fathoms water, but has ceased to be used for anchorage since the construction of the breakwater. A lighthouse, with revolving white light 201 feet above high water mark, and of great service to the harbour, is on the South Stack, about 1¼ mile S by W of the North Stack. Another lighthouse, showing a steady bright light 117 feet above high water, is on the Skerries, about 7½ miles N by E of Ynys-Halen; and this was of so great value to its proprietor, M. Jones, Esq., for the dues received at it, that the Trinity Board were obliged to give him £450, 000 as compensation for taking it into their own hands. A ship telegraph, for notifying to Liverpool the arrival of vessels in the offing, was erected on Holyhead mountain, by the Liverpool Dock Trustees; was worked by semaphore through other telegraphs at Gareglwyd, Llanelian, Priestholm, Great Ormes Head, Lysfaen, Varyd Point, Voel Nant, Great Helbre Island, and Bidston Hill; and sent intelligence over the whole distance in about 3 minutes; and this, since the introduction of electric telegraphy, has been modified by the erection of electric wires on posts descending curiously the steep sides of the mountain. The town has a head post office, ‡ a telegraph station, two banking offices, and two hotels; is a sub port to Beaumaris, and a polling place; carries on some ship building and rope making; and has necessarily, of late years, had much increase of population, chiefly engineers, mechanics, and labourers, in connexion with its harbour works. Steam packets sail twice a day, on arrival of the London mails, for Kingstown, at the S side of the mouth of Dublin bay; and steamers sail daily also, but not always at the same hour, for the North Wall at the N side of Dublin bay. The town unites with Beaumaris, Amlwch, and Llangefni, in sending a member to parliament. The borough boundaries include almost all the town and its immediate outskirts, but exclude the rest of the parish. Pop. in 1851, 5, 622; in 1861, 6, 193. Houses, 1, 255. The parish comprises 6, 048 acres of land, and 940 of water. Real property in 1860, £18, 835; of which £219 were in gas works. Pop. in 1831, 4, 282; in 1841, 3, 869; in 1851, 8, 863; in 1861, 8, 773. Houses, 1, 790. The decrease of pop. in 1841 was caused by want of employment; and the increase in 1851 arose from the opening of the railway, and the construction of the new harbour. The limits comprise all the parts of Holy Island NW of an isthmus or contraction near its middle, and therefore include all the promontory of Holyhead proper. This promontory has a somewhat half moon outline, on a diameter of about 3 miles, with the convexity toward the NW; presents a grandly picturesque coast line; and culminates, near the centre, in Holyhead mountain. That mountain has already been mentioned in connection with ancient fortifications, the new harbour works, and the ship telegraph; is known to the Welsh as Caer-Cybi; has an altitude of 709 feet above sea level; consists mainly of serpentine rock; and commands a magnificent panoramic view of Western Wales to Snowdonia, and of the Irish Sea to the Irish coast. The North Stack, in the sea at the NW skirt of the mountain, is a huge mass of rocks of chloritic schist, hollowed into magnificent caverns, with grand receding arches, all a great resort of sea fowl; and one of the caverns, from the remarkable multitude of its feathered visitors, is called the Parliament House. The South Stack, the site of the lighthouse formerly mentioned, is also pierced with vast caverns; has splendid lofty crags, frequented by peregrine falcons, and by large numbers of other birds; and is connected with the mainland, at a giddy height, across a fearful chasm, by a chain suspension bridge. The sea here, in SW gales, often rages so tremendously as to dash over the entire islet and the dwellings of the lighthouse keepers. The path at the mainland end of the suspension bridge, ascends a precipice by 380 steps, known as the Stairs; but a good road leads thence to the town. A perilous trade was formerly carried on in procuring birds' eggs from the cliffs, but has, of late years, been forbidden. Between one-third and one-half of the parochial surface is very rocky; but most of the rest is under cultivation. A chief residence is Penrhos, a handsome mansion, the seat of W. O. Stanley, Esq., about 2 miles ESE of the town. A cliff, called Penrhyn, projects into the sea about a ¼ of a mile E of Penrhos. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bangor. Value, £287. * Patron, Jesus college, Oxford. St. Seiriol's is an unattached church, having no distinct cure or incumbent.-The subdistrict includes also Rhoscolyn parish. Acres, 9, 568. Pop., 9, 235. Houses, 1,892.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a sea port town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Holyhead CP/AP       Holyhead Urban CP       Holyhead SubD       Anglesey AncC
Place names: CAER CYBI     |     HOLYHEAD
Place: Holyhead

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