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Menai Bridge
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Menai Bridge in mist | |
Location within Anglesey | |
Population | 3,376 |
OS grid reference | SH555725 |
Community |
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Principal area | |
Preserved county | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | MENAI BRIDGE |
Postcode district | LL59 |
Dialling code | 01248 |
Police | North Wales |
Fire | North Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
UK Parliament | |
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Website | menaibridge.org |
Menai Bridge (Welsh : Porthaethwy; usually referred to colloquially as Y Borth) is a town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in north-west Wales. It overlooks the Menai Strait and lies by the Menai Suspension Bridge, built in 1826 by Thomas Telford, just over the water from Bangor. It has a population of 3,376. [1] [2]
There are many small islands near the town, including Church Island. The Menai Heritage Bridges Exhibition celebrates the Menai Suspension Bridge, built by Thomas Telford, and the Britannia Bridge, built by Robert Stephenson.
At the eastern edge of the town is Cwm Cadnant Dingle which is now by-passed by a modern bridge constructed in the 1970s. The Afon Cadnant drains into the Menai Strait at this point and this small estuary provides a natural haven for small boats crossing from the mainland. This was the location of the landing stage for the Bishops of Bangor who had their residence at Glyn Garth on Anglesey but whose cathedral was in Bangor on the mainland.
There are a number of small islands in the Menai Strait some of which are connected to the town by causeways, including Ynys Faelog, Ynys Gaint, Ynys Castell and Ynys y Bîg east of the suspension bridge and Church Island (Ynys Tysilio in Welsh) west of the bridge. The Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path passes along the waterfront.
Menai Bridge has several churches and chapels, including an English and Welsh Presbyterian church and a Catholic church. The town also has a primary school, Ysgol y Borth, and a large bilingual comprehensive school, Ysgol David Hughes.
Menai Bridge is home to the School of Ocean Sciences, part of Bangor University. Their research ship, the Prince Madog, is based at the pier when not at sea. [3]
Attractions in Menai Bridge include the 14th-century Church of St Tysilio, St George's Pier, a butterfly house, Pili Palas, and the Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens, a 200-acre (80 hectare) estate originally developed as a picturesque garden in the 1800s. The garden had been the site of restoration for twenty years. In December 2015, heavy rains caused flooding which washed away rare plants representing twenty years of work by Anthony Tavernor. [4] [5] Tavernor received some help to restore the garden, enabling him and his small staff to begin rebuilding and replanting the garden. The garden was able to reopen by Easter, 2016. [6]
There are over 30 buildings listed by Cadw of being of special importance. These include the suspension bridge itself, St. Mary's Church, the church of St. Tysilio, the Victoria Hotel, and the War memorial on Church Island and several individual houses and buildings [7]
Menai Bridge includes the development along Beaumaris Road known as Glyn Garth. This was a favoured location for holiday houses for the wealthy from the Manchester and Liverpool areas in the late 19th century, and many large houses of that period remain. This was also where the Bishop of Bangor had his palace. [8] The palace was demolished in the early 1960s and replaced by a block of flats, Glyn Garth Court, completed in 1966.
The town existed as Porthaethwy for centuries and still has a house which dates from the 17th century. The name derives from Porth (harbour) + Daethwy (the name of a local Celtic tribe and later of a local medieval commote). It is likely that a community existed here in Roman times as it is the shortest crossing of the Menai Strait.
In the 9th century, St Tysilio lived here as a hermit on Church Island.
A ferry across the Menai was first recorded in 1292. When the bridge opened in 1826, the ferry closed, but connections with the sea remained through the import, export and shipbuilding trades.
Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1872) mentions the Menai Bridge in chapter 8 in a nonsense song.
From 1877 to 1920, the ship HMS Clio was docked at Menai Bridge; it was lent to the North Wales Society to teach young men the ways of seafaring. [9] Many local people believed the ship was used for some type of prison, but this was not entirely true. The ship was home to young men who were in need of discipline to keep them from getting into serious trouble; some were sent to the Clio against their will. [9] The young men on the Clio were not permitted to leave the ship; some of the corporal punishment administered was cruel. Stories about life on the Clio were commonplace among the residents of Menai Bridge; for many years, some mothers threatened their misbehaving children with being sent to live on the ship. [9]
On 12 November 1918, Major Thomas Elmhirst (later Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst), commanding officer of RNAS Anglesey, flew airship SSZ73 under the Menai Bridge following the armistice at the end of World War I.[ citation needed ]
Carreg yr Halen is a small tidal island in the Menai Strait. [10] Its centre lies approximately 20 metres offshore from the Belgian Promenade just upstream of the suspension bridge. Only the rocky tip of the island is visible at high spring tide but at low tide area of rock, sand and some seaweed are exposed which provides feeding ground for a variety of wading birds including oystercatcher, redshank, and curlew.
It is the site of one of the many ferry crossings of the Menai Strait which were in use prior to the construction of the suspension bridge in 1826 [11] [12]
In 1914, Belgian refugees from Mechelen, who had settled in the area, built a promenade (the Belgian promenade) out of gratitude for the town's hospitality. [13] The promenade was built along the Menai Strait from Ynys Tysilio (Church Island) to Carreg yr Halen and was completed in 1916. It was rebuilt in 1963. The ceremonial reopening in 1965 was performed by the only surviving refugee, Eduard Wilhelms. Most of the refugees lived at three houses in Menai Bridge, with 12 housed at the Village Hall in Llandegfan. Most of the men were skilled in marquetry. [14]
A special celebration was held in 2014 at Menai Bridge to celebrate to centenary of the construction of the promenade. [15]
Welsh-language production company, Rondo Media, has converted a disused garage into a fake row of shops in the centre of Menai Bridge as a film set for the soap opera Rownd a Rownd , shown on the Welsh-language channel S4C. They also film the show in schools in the town, Ysgol y Borth, and around the town itself.
The large car park to the north of the High Street is the "fair field". This is a piece of common land set aside for the holding of an annual fair called Ffair Borth, a tradition dating back to 1691. It started as a horse fair, and livestock trading was carried out until the 1970s. It was also a hiring fair. It was one of the year's great occasions for the folk of Anglesey and Arfon. The fair now features traditional fair rides. It comes to Menai Bridge on 24 October every year, unless it falls on a Sunday, in which case it is held on either 23 or 25 October. The fair stalls also take over most of the roads and streets in the town, making passage through the town very difficult.
A traditional verse goes:
'Mae Ffair y Borth yn nesu, | "The Porthaethwy fair is getting near, |
At the local level Menai Bridge is governed by Menai Bridge Town Council. Fourteen town councillors are elected from the two wards of Braint and Tysilio. [16]
Prior to 2013 the town wards of Braint and Tysilio were also county wards to the Isle of Anglesey County Council, electing one county councillor each. Following the 2012 Isle of Anglesey electoral boundary changes Braint and Tysilio were merged with neighbouring wards to create a larger multi-councillor ward of Aethwy. [17]
Bangor is a cathedral city and community in Gwynedd, North Wales. It is the oldest city in Wales. Historically part of Caernarfonshire, it had a population of 15,100 at the 2021 census. Landmarks include Bangor Cathedral, Bangor University and Garth Pier. The Britannia and Menai Suspension bridges connect the city to the Isle of Anglesey.
The Menai Strait is a strait which separates the island of Anglesey from Gwynedd, on the mainland of Wales. It is situated between Caernarfon Bay in the south-west and Conwy Bay in the north-east, which are both inlets of the Irish Sea. The strait is about 25 km (16 mi) long and varies in width from 400 metres (1,300 ft) between Fort Belan and Abermenai Point to 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) between Puffin Island and Penmaenmawr. It contains several islands, including Church Island, on which is located St Tysilio's Church.
Llangefni is the county town of Anglesey in Wales. At the 2011 census, Llangefni's population was 5,116, making it the second-largest town in the county and the largest on the island. The community includes the village of Rhosmeirch.
Beaumaris is a town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, of which it is the former county town of Anglesey. It is located at the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from the coast of North Wales. At the 2021 census, its population was 1,121. The community includes Llanfaes.
The Menai Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was the world's first major suspension bridge. The bridge still carries road traffic and is a Grade I listed structure.
Menai may refer to:
Ynys Gored Goch, sometimes Ynys Gorad Goch, is a small island in the Menai Strait between Gwynedd and Anglesey in north Wales. It is situated in the stretch of the strait called the Swellies between Thomas Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge and Robert Stephenson's Britannia Bridge.
Ynys Castell is a small island in the Menai Strait which separates Anglesey and mainland Wales. It is an extruding piece of Precambrian schist lying to one side of the Afon Cadnant estuary. It lies between Ynys y Bîg and Ynys Gaint. There is a causeway running to the island that is covered at high tide. On the island there is a private house. Ynys Castell means Castle Island in Welsh.
Ynys y Bîg is a small private island in the Menai Strait attached to the island of Anglesey, in North Wales, by a wooden bridge. The bridge runs from the grounds of a private house, itself also called Ynys y Bîg, preventing any public access. The bridge fell into disrepair but was reconstructed in 2019.
The Afon Cadnant is a small river on Anglesey, North Wales in the United Kingdom, which drains to the Menai Strait about 1 km (0.62 mi) north-east of the Menai Suspension Bridge. The river drains a largely agricultural area from Llandegfan to Llansadwrn and beyond, with feeder tributaries extending up towards Pentraeth forest.
Saint Tysilio was a Welsh bishop, prince and scholar.
Church Island, also known as Llandysilio Island, is a small island in the Menai Strait on the shores of Anglesey to which it is attached by a short causeway that is reachable only on foot. The dominant feature of the island is with St Tysilio's Church, constructed in the 15th century, its churchyard, and a grade-II listed war memorial. The 20th-century bard Cynan is among several notable people buried in the churchyard. The Anglesey Coastal Path passes the head of the causeway.
The Anglesey Coastal Path is a 200-kilometre (124 mi) long-distance footpath around the island of Anglesey in North Wales. The route is part of the Wales Coast Path.
The Isle of Anglesey County Council is the local authority for the Isle of Anglesey, a principal area with county status in Wales. Since 2022 the council has 35 councillors who represent 11 multi-member electoral wards.
Ysgol David Hughes is a bilingual secondary school on Anglesey, Wales. The school building was completed and opened in Menai Bridge in 1963 by Anglesey County Council which, ten years earlier, had become the first education authority in the UK to adopt non-selective comprehensive education.
Anglesey is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which 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. Anglesey is the northernmost county in Wales.
Glannau Porthaethwy is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) along the northern shore of the Menai Strait in North Wales. It is a linear designation that extends some 4 km (2.5 mi) along the shore from Britannia Bridge in the west to Craig y Don in the east. It also includes the island shorelines of Ynys Gorad Goch, Ynys Welltog, Ynys Benlas, Ynys Tysilio, Half Tide Rock, Ynys Faelog, Ynys Tobig, Ynys Gaint, Ynys Castell and Ynys y Big.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyll or Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, often shortened to Llanfairpwll and sometimes to Llanfair PG, is a village and community on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales. It is located on the Menai Strait, next to the Britannia Bridge. At the 2011 Census the population was 3,107, of whom 71% could speak Welsh. In 2021, the population decreased to 2,900. It is the sixth largest settlement in the county by population.
St Tysilio's Church is a medieval church in the village of Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales. The current building dates from the early 15th century and underwent renovations in the 19th century. It was designated as a Grade II* listed building on 14 February 1967.
Aethwy is the name of an electoral ward in the south of Anglesey, Wales, created in 2012. It contains the population centres of Menai Bridge and Llanfair PG.