HLW (Gw) 15

Penmon  

2001  

Outstanding  

Designated  

Penmon, literally the end of Môn, is the promontory and coastal plateau which forms the south east extent of the island of Anglesey. The plateau surface falls gently to the south and east from a scarp edge of steep slopes and limestone cliffs along the north coast. Bwrdd Arthur, a prominent tabular hill, is the highest point on the scarp at 164m above OD.The topography on the south east side overlooking the Menai Strait is gentler, with a shallow, but distinct, natural basin in the centre of the area around Llangoed. Puffin Island (Priestholm or Ynys Seiriol) is a small island lying just off the tip of the promontory in the east, with its highest point at 58m above OD. The area shows continuity of land use and occupation from the late prehistoric period through medieval to modern times, having retained a substantial number of important monuments from each period. Like other remote promontories and islands in Wales, the area has attracted religious communities to settle, and upstanding remains of two of the three original monastic settlements still survive. There were flourishing towns at Llanfaes, and subsequently Beaumaris, during the medieval period, with evidence for successive Norman, Welsh and English attempts to control the area. In more recent times, limestone and marble quarrying has significantly altered parts of the coastline in the north. The Iron Age hillfort known as Bwrdd Arthur, or Din Silwy, is one of the largest and the best preserved examples on Anglesey and its siting reflects the strategic importance of the peninsula in controlling the seaways in and out of the Menai Strait. Although the site has not been excavated, it is important as it has over the years produced a number of significant finds, including ironwork and Roman coins. Several hut settlements and associated field systems presumed to be contemporary with the fort have survived on the surrounding limestone plateau. Penmon is one of the two most important ecclesiastical sites on Anglesey and is first mentioned when it is attacked by the Vikings in AD 971. Interestingly, the discovery of a hoard of five Viking armlets near Din Silwy during quarrying at Tandinas is one of the few examples on Anglesey, along with the placename of Priestholm for Puffin Island, of direct evidence for Viking contact. As a clas site, Penmon was the administrative centre for an unit of medieval monastic settlement, but it was reorganised as an Augustinian house towards the end of the 12th century. It has a very well-preserved 12th century church and earlier sculpture, and there are interesting later Augustinian claustral buildings adjacent. The church now houses the elaborately carved 10th century Celtic cross which originally stood nearby, in Penmon deer park. Within the vicinity is St Seiriol’s well, possibly marking the original settlement, a medieval fishpond, a fine corbel-roofed dovecot (possibly dating from c. 1600), in addition to the remains of a barn and pigsty. Penmon is linked historically to Puffin Island, a likely monastic hermitage site first mentioned by Gerald of Wales. The island contains the impressive remains of a possible 12th century or earlier church tower, which is still roofed, and adjacent fragmentary buildings within an enclosure. There are other Celtic saint dedications in the area at Llanddona, Llangoed and Llaniestyn. A brief interlude in the late 12th century saw the castle at Aberlleiniog built by the Normans, before they were ejected. In the medieval period, the area lay within the commote of Dindaethwy in the cantref of Rhosyr, and documentary research has identified the constituent townships, all of which can be traced as modern placenames in some form or other. Llanfaes was the maerdref-demesne township and administrative centre for the commote, and by the late 13th century it was a flourishing town, with burgages, a port, fairs and a court: indeed, commercial developments had made it by the eve of the English conquest the most important centre of internal and external trade within the domains of Llywelyn. It had almost certainly acquired a compact nucleated plan incorporating 120 burgages extending over 36ha. Llywelyn ap Iorwerth established a Franciscan Friary here in 1237, and St Catherine ’s Church had become the richest in Anglesey by 1254 . However, following the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294, Edward I decided to build a new castle and town at Beaumaris, and to transfer the inhabitants of Llanfaes to Newborough, and by 1318 Llanfaes was uninhabited. Recent work is beginning to throw some light on the location of the former town and friary, and there appears to be much archaeological potential in the fields to the east of the present Henllys Hall. In 1294–5,work on the new fortress at Beaumaris was begun to close the gap between Conwy and Caernarfon Castles, and give Edward I closer control over the Menai Strait and the corn lands of Anglesey. Although never finished, the castle is the pinnacle of medieval military architecture in Wales. There were inducements for prospective burgesses to take up residence, but the town does not appear to have been walled until the 15th century. Laid out on two principal streets, Beaumaris was established as a free borough from which, unlike other boroughs, Welshmen were not excluded. Over the next centuries, Beaumaris appears to have continued to serve as the principal port and distribution centre for North Wales, helped by its key position on the main route to Ireland, and in 1784 it was described as ‘a handsome, well-built town, the county town’. Llangefni gradually supplanted it after the late 18th century, when the communications network on the island was radically changed. In 1403, following the Glyndwˆ r uprising, the friary at Llanfaes was destroyed by Henry IV, and the general effects of the uprising lasted for a long time. The 15th century also saw the beginning of the rise of the Bulkeley family, originally from Cheshire, who had begun to acquire lands in and around Beaumaris before 1450. Between 1516 and 1525 Sir Richard Bulkeley purchased much land in Tindaethwy which ‘rendered the Bulkeleys virtually supreme in the south east corner of the island’. This land was substantially added to in 1635 with the acquisition of considerable Crown property.The Bulkeleys were to dominate Anglesey affairs for several centuries. The Penmon deer park (one of three on the island), built in the early 18th century, reflecting the prosperity of the island in the post-medieval period, retained its deer until the First World War, and its distinctive high wall of coursed limestone rubble is still reasonably intact. The area’s geology, position and coastal setting has also led to a considerable number of monuments and remains of industrial archaeological interest. This is perhaps most evident in the extensive coastal limestone and marble quarries , most notably Flagstaff and Dinmor at Penmon, which have supplied stone for such historically diverse engineering projects as Caernarfon Castle and the Manchester Ship Canal. Smaller quarries along the north coast, some with small harbours or jetties, supplied stone in the 19th century for the construction of the Menai suspension and Britannia bridges across the Menai Strait. The former telegraph station on Puffin Island was built in 1841 and converted in 1887 from the Dock Board Observatory to a Biological Station, and there are other notable 20th century radio transmitting stations still in use within the area, at Llanddona and Penmon. The Saunders Roe works on the Menai Strait, near Llanfaes, is noteworthy for having fitted-out flying boats during the Second World War.