| Llys Rhosyr | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Royal court |
| Location | Newborough, Anglesey |
| Coordinates | 53°09′43″N4°21′58″W / 53.1619°N 4.3661°W |
| Governing body | CADW |
| Official name | Llys Rhosyr |
| Designated | 20 March 1997 |
| Reference no. | AN129 |
  Location of Llys Rhosyr in Anglesey | |
Llys Rhosyr, also known as "Cae Llys", is an archaeological site near Newborough in Anglesey; the ruins of a pre-Edwardian commotal court.
The Welsh word llys originally referred to an enclosed open-air space but gradually took on the meaning of a place where legal proceedings took place and was gradually extended to refer to royal "courts". [1]
Llys Rhosyr was a commotal centre before Edward I of England's conquest of Wales and debate now surrounds the former use of the Rhosyr site. [2] [3] Archaeologists at Gwynedd Archaeological Trust consider it to have been a royal home and have established an exhibition in the Pritchard-Jones Institute in the village on their findings supporting this theory. Excavations reveal that the enclosure had a hall, accommodation and storage barns, originally built in stone and wood. The buildings may have occupied an area as much as 450 by 300 feet (137 m × 91 m). [4]
A fierce sandstorm in the winter of 1332 buried the site and much of the surrounding area, which may have caused the decline in activity during the 14th century revealed by the archaeological investigation. [5] When Henry Rowlands was writing in the early 18th century, the sands had uncovered parts of the walls, but no significant remains were visible, though he comments that local people were aware of the location and nature of the remains, a site sometimes known as 'llys' or 'cae'r llys' ('the field of the court' in English). [6]
From 1992 it was excavated by the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust and was opened to the public for the first time in 1995. What remains is the outlines of the walls, around only a quarter of which are exposed, including the main surrounding wall and foundations and lower walls of three large buildings, possibly the hall, a chamber and storage barns. Many artifacts were recovered from the site, including pottery and silverware indicating use by people of a high social status, as well as lead fishing weights. [5] It is the only royal court of Gwynedd whose site has so far been excavated. [4]
In 2023 the site was bought by Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic environment agency. [7] Llys Rhosyr is a scheduled monument. [8]
A reconstruction of the Great Hall of Llys Rhosyr was built as part of the redevelopment of St Fagan's National History Museum, Cardiff, using a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded in 2012. It was proposed that the building, with its 9-metre-high (30 ft) walls, would be able to accommodate groups overnight on completion. [9] The hall, now referred to as "Llys Llewelyn", and the nearby chamber were modelled on the two most thoroughly excavated buildings on the original site. [2]
The building was opened to the public in October 2018 and the first group of visitors to spend the night were children and teachers from Ysgol Santes Dwynwen School in Newborough, Anglesey, in May 2019. [10]
Caernarfon is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852. It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the island of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is 8.6 miles (13.8 km) to the north-east, while Snowdonia (Eryri) fringes Caernarfon to the east and south-east.
Newborough is a village in the southern corner of the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. It is a part of the Bro Aberffraw electoral ward; to the northwest is Aberffraw, and to the northeast is Llanfairpwll. There is a church in the village, and a public institute. Nearby is the Newborough Warren, a forest, beach, and public nature reserve.
Bodedern is a village and community in the west of Anglesey, Wales. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,074, decreasing slightly to 1,051 at the 2011 census. The community includes the settlements of Llanllibio and Pen-llyn.
Aberffraw is a village and community on the south west coast of the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. The village is 9 miles from the island's capital, Llangefni, and is located is on the west bank of the Afon Ffraw. The community includes Soar and Dothan. Located near the A4080 and the nearest rail station is Bodorgan.
Rhosyr is a community in the far southern corner of Anglesey, Wales. It includes the villages of Dwyran and Newborough, Llangeinwen and Llangaffo.
St Fagans Castle is an Elizabethan mansion in St Fagans, Cardiff, Wales, dating from the late 16th century. The house and remaining medieval fortifications are Grade I listed. The grounds of St Fagans Castle now contain St Fagans National Museum of History. The castle estate is designated Grade I on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Llanidan is a community in the south of Anglesey, Wales which includes the village of Brynsiencyn. The parish is along the Menai Strait, about 4 miles north-east of Caernarfon. The parish church of St Nidan is near the A4080 highway, a little to the east of Brynsiencyn. The ruins of an earlier parish church survive.
Llanfaes is a small village on the island of Anglesey, Wales, located on the shore of the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from the north Wales coast. Its natural harbour made it an important medieval port and it was briefly the capital of the kingdom of Gwynedd. Following Prince Madoc's Rebellion, Edward I removed the Welsh population from the town and rebuilt the port a mile to the south at Beaumaris. It is in the community of Beaumaris.
The Isle of Anglesey is a county off the north-west coast of Wales. It is named after the island of Anglesey, which makes up 94% of its area, but also includes Holy Island and some islets and skerries. The county borders Gwynedd across the Menai Strait to the southeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the Irish Sea. Holyhead is the largest town, and the administrative centre is Llangefni. The county is part of the preserved county of Gwynedd.
St Cristiolus's Church, Llangristiolus is a medieval church near the village of Llangristiolus, in Anglesey, north Wales. The village, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the building, takes its name from the church. Reputedly founded by St Cristiolus in 610, the present building dates from the 12th and 13th centuries. Alterations were made in the 16th century, when the large east window in Perpendicular style was added to the chancel – a window which has been described by one guide to the buildings of north Wales as "almost too big to fit" in the wall. Some restoration work took place in the mid-19th century, when further windows were added and the chancel largely rebuilt.
St Mary's Church, Rhodogeidio is a small medieval church, dating from the 15th century, near Llannerch-y-medd, in Anglesey, north Wales. It served as a chapel of ease to another church in the area, St Ceidio's. Some restoration work was carried out in the 19th century, but St Mary's has since fallen into disuse and is now largely in ruins.
St Fflewin's Church, Llanfflewin is a small rural church, situated by a farm in Anglesey, Wales. The first church on the site is said to have been built by St Fflewin in 630, but the present building has no structural features dating from before the 18th century, although the church has a font from the 14th or 15th century and part of an inscribed medieval gravestone has been reused in a window sill.
St Ceidio's Church, Rhodogeidio is a rural 19th-century church near Llannerch-y-medd, in Anglesey, north Wales. It was built using materials from the 14th-century church that previously stood on the site, which has been used for Christian worship since some time in the 7th century. The present building, which contains an east window dating from the 14th century and a 15th-century font, is no longer used for services, but has been looked after by local people.
St Caffo's Church, Llangaffo is a 19th-century church, in the south of Anglesey, north Wales, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the county town, Llangefni. It was constructed in 1846 to replace the previous medieval church in the village of Llangaffo. The new building includes a number of monuments from the old church, and has a spire which is a prominent local landmark. The churchyard has part of a stone cross dating from the 9th or 10th century, and some gravestones from the 9th to 11th centuries. It is dedicated to St Caffo, a 6th-century martyr who was killed in the vicinity.
St Caian's Church, Tregaian, also known as St Caean's Church, Tregaean, is a small medieval church dating from the 14th century in Anglesey, north Wales. It is dedicated to St Caian, a Christian from the 5th or 6th century about whom little is known. The building contains a late 14th-century east window and a late 15th-century doorway. The churchyard contains the grave of William ap Howel, who died in 1581 at the age of 105, leaving over forty children between the ages of 8 and 89 and over three hundred living descendants.
Llaneilian is a village and community in Anglesey, Wales. It is located in the north east of the island, 2.2 miles (3.5 km) east of Amlwch, 16.5 miles (26.6 km) north west of Menai Bridge and 12.5 miles (20.1 km) north of Llangefni. The community includes the villages and hamlets of Dulas, Llaneilian, Pengorffwysfa, Cerrig Man and Penysarn, Gadfa and Nebo, and at the 2001 census had a population of 1,192, decreasing slightly to 1,186 at the 2011 Census. The parish is crowned by its hill, Mynydd Eilian, a HuMP, popular with walkers and ramblers, and its beach, Traeth Eilian, which is popular with holidaymakers and for watersport activities. At the north easternmost point is Point Lynas,, while Ynys Dulas lies off the North East coast of the island, east of Dulas Bay.
The Old Church of St Nidan, Llanidan is a medieval church in the community of Llanidan, in Anglesey, North Wales, close to the Menai Strait. The first church on the site was established in the 7th century by St Nidan, the confessor of the monastery at Penmon, Anglesey, but the oldest parts of the present structure, now closed and partly ruined, date from the 14th century. In about 1500 the church was enlarged by the addition of a second nave on the north side, separated from the earlier nave by an arcade of six arches. During 1839 till 1843 a new church was built nearby to serve the local community, partly due to the cost of repairing the old church. Much of the building was subsequently demolished, leaving only part of the western end and the central arcade. The decision was condemned at the time by Harry Longueville Jones, a clergyman and antiquarian, who lamented the "melancholy fate" of what he called "one of the largest and most important [churches] in the island of Anglesey". Other appreciative comments have been made about the church both before and after its partial demolition.
St Beuno's Church, Aberffraw is a 12th-century parish church in Anglesey, north Wales. A church was established in Aberffraw in the 7th century by St Beuno, who became the abbot of Clynnog Fawr, Gwynedd. St Beuno's may have been used as a royal chapel during the early Middle Ages, as the princes of Gwynedd had a court in Aberffraw. The oldest parts of the church date from the 12th century, although it was considerably enlarged in the 16th century when a second nave was built alongside the existing structure, with the wall in between replaced by an arcade of four arches. Restoration work in 1840 uncovered a 12th-century arch in the west wall, which may have been the original chancel arch or a doorway to a western tower that has been lost. The church also has a 13th-century font, some memorials from the 18th century, and two 18th-century copper collecting shovels.
St Mary's Church, Llanfair-yn-y-Cwmwd is a small medieval parish church near the village of Dwyran, in Anglesey, north Wales. The building probably dates from the 15th century, with some alterations. It contains a 12th-century carved stone font and a 13th-century decorated coffin lid. The bell is inscribed with the year of its casting, 1582. The historian Henry Rowlands was vicar of St Mary's in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Maurice Wilks, who invented the Land Rover, is buried in the churchyard.
The archaeology of Wales is the study of human occupation within the country of Wales which has been occupied by modern humans since 225,000 BCE, with continuous occupation from 9,000 BCE. Analysis of the sites, artefacts and other archaeological data within Wales details its complex social landscape and evolution from Prehistoric times to the Industrial period. This study is undertaken by academic institutions, consultancies, charities as well as government organisations.
Native Welsh castles and llysoedd in North Wales | ||
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| Built by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth |  | |
| Other stone castles |
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| Earthwork castles |
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| Royal llysoedd | ||
