Beaumaris, Anglesey
Encyclopedia
The Royal Borough of Beaumaris is the former county town
of the island of Anglesey
, Wales
, and is located in the commote of Dindaethwy
(and historic rural deanery of Tindaethwy) on the shore of the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait
, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey
from the coast of North Wales
.
settlement known as Porth y Wygyr ("Port of the Vikings"), but the town itself began its development in 1295 when Edward I of England
, having conquered Wales, commissioned the building of Beaumaris Castle
as part of a chain of fortifications around the North Wales coast (others include Conwy
, Caernarfon
and Harlech
).
The castle was built on a marsh and that is where it found its name: the French builders called it beaux marais which translates as "beautiful marsh".
The ancient village of Llanfaes
, a mile to the north of Beaumaris, had been occupied by the Anglo Saxons in 818 but had been regained by Merfyn Frych, King of Gwynedd
, and remained a vital strategic settlement. To counter further Welsh uprisings, and to ensure control of the Menai Strait, Edward I chose the flat coastal plain as the place to build Beaumaris Castle. The castle was designed by the Savoyard
mason Master James of St. George
and is considered the most perfect example of a concentric castle
. The 'troublesome' residents of Llanfaes were removed en bloc to Rhosyr in the west of Anglesey, a new settlement King Edward entitled "Newborough". French and English masons were brought in to construct the castle itself and the walled town.
Beaumaris was awarded a Royal Charter
by Edward I, which was drawn up on similar terms as the charters of his other castle towns in North Wales and intended to invest only the English and Norman-French residents with civic rights. Native Welsh residents of Beaumaris were largely disqualified from holding any civic office, carrying any weapon, holding assemblies and were not allowed to purchase houses or land within the Borough. The Charter also specifically prohibited Jews (who had been largely expelled from most English towns) from living in Beaumaris. A requirement that all trade in the immediate area be conducted at Beaumaris meant the town became the main commercial centre of Anglesey.
Beaumaris became one of the three most important Saxon ports in the UK and the port of registration for all vessels in North West Wales covering not only every harbour on Anglesey but all the ports of North West Wales from Conwy
to Pwllheli
. Shipbuilding
was a major industry in Beaumaris. This was centred on Gallows Point — a nearby spit of land extending into the Menai Strait about a mile west of the town. Gallows Point had originally been called "Osmund's Eyre" but was renamed when the town gallows
were erected there — along with a "Dead House" for the corpses of criminals dispatched in public executions. Later, hangings were carried out at the town gaol
and the bodies buried in a lime-pit within the curtilage of the gaol. One of the last prisoners to hang at Beaumaris issued a curse before he died - decreeing that if he was innocent the four faces of the church clock would never show the same time. Since that day - it's claimed - they never have.
Notable buildings in the town include the castle, a courthouse
built in 1614, the fourteenth century St Mary's parish church
, the town gaol, the 14th century Tudor Rose (one of the oldest original timber-framed buildings in Britain) and the Bulls Head Inn (built in 1472, which General Thomas Mytton
made his headquarters during the "Siege of Beaumaris" during the second English Civil War
in 1648). The hill leading north from the town "Red Hill" is so named from the blood spilled in that conflict.
A native of Anglesey, David Hughes, founded Beaumaris Grammar School
in 1603. It became a non-selective school in 1952 when Anglesey County Council became the first authority in Britain to adopt comprehensive
secondary education
. The school was eventually moved to Menai Bridge
and only the ancient hall of the original school building now remains.
Beaumaris Pier
, opened in 1846, was designed by Frederick Foster and comprises a masonry jetty continuing out into the Strait on wooden and concrete pilings. The pier was re-built and extended to 570 feet (173.7 m) after storm damage in 1872 and a large pavilion was constructed at the end which contained a cafe. It was once the landing stage for steamships of the Liverpool and North Wales Shipping Company including the Snowdon, La Marguerite, St. Elvies and St. Trillo, although the larger vessels in its fleet - the St. Seriol and St. Tudno — were too large for the pier and landed their passengers at Menai Bridge. In the 1960s, through lack of maintenance, the pier became unsafe and was threatened with demolition, but local yachtswoman and lifeboat secretary Miss Mary Burton made a massive private donation to ensure the pier was saved for the town. Today, although the impressive old steamers have long since gone, Beaumaris Pier is still a busy base for yachts and pleasure vessels of all kinds.
A marina
on the western shore of Gallows Point has been proposed, but at present all moorings at Beaumaris are tidal.
The Saunders Roe company set up a factory at Fryars (the site of the old Franciscan friary to the east) when it was feared that the company's main base on the Isle of Wight would be a target for World War II
Luftwaffe
bombers. The factory converted American-built PBY Catalina
flying boat
s and, after the war, produced fast patrol boat
s, minesweepers
and even buses for London Transport
(RT Double deckers) and single deck buses for Cuba
.
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
of the island of Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, and is located in the commote of Dindaethwy
Dindaethwy
Dindaethwy is a historic commote in north-east Anglesey. It includes Beaumaris and Menai Bridge . The corresponding rural deanery is called Tyndaethwy...
(and historic rural deanery of Tindaethwy) on the shore of the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait
Menai Strait
The Menai Strait is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales.The strait is bridged in two places - the main A5 road is carried over the strait by Thomas Telford's elegant iron suspension bridge, the first of its kind,...
, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
from the coast of North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
.
History
Beaumaris was originally a VikingViking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
settlement known as Porth y Wygyr ("Port of the Vikings"), but the town itself began its development in 1295 when Edward I of England
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
, having conquered Wales, commissioned the building of Beaumaris Castle
Beaumaris Castle
Beaumaris Castle, located in the town of the same name on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, was built as part of King Edward I's campaign to conquer the north of Wales. It was designed by James of St. George and was begun in 1295, but never completed...
as part of a chain of fortifications around the North Wales coast (others include Conwy
Conwy Castle
Conwy Castle is a castle in Conwy, on the north coast of Wales.It was built between 1283 and 1289 during King Edward I's second campaign in North Wales....
, Caernarfon
Caernarfon Castle
Caernarfon Castle is a medieval building in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. There was a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began replacing it with the current stone structure...
and Harlech
Harlech Castle
Harlech Castle, located in Harlech, Gwynedd, Wales, is a concentric castle, constructed atop a cliff close to the Irish Sea. Architecturally, it is particularly notable for its massive gatehouse....
).
The castle was built on a marsh and that is where it found its name: the French builders called it beaux marais which translates as "beautiful marsh".
The ancient village of Llanfaes
Llanfaes
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.- History :...
, a mile to the north of Beaumaris, had been occupied by the Anglo Saxons in 818 but had been regained by Merfyn Frych, King of Gwynedd
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
, and remained a vital strategic settlement. To counter further Welsh uprisings, and to ensure control of the Menai Strait, Edward I chose the flat coastal plain as the place to build Beaumaris Castle. The castle was designed by the Savoyard
Savoyard
Savoyard is a Romance language group with several distinct varieties that form a linguistic subgroup from the Arpitan language family. It is spoken in some territories of the historical Duchy of Savoy, nowadays a geographic area spanning France , Switzerland , and Italy...
mason Master James of St. George
James of St. George
Master James of Saint George , also known as Jacques de Saint-Georges d'Espéranche, was an architect from Savoy responsible for designing many of Edward I's castles, including Conwy, Harlech and Caernarfon and Beaumaris in Anglesey .Early records seem to indicate that his father, Master John, was...
and is considered the most perfect example of a concentric castle
Concentric castle
A concentric castle is a castle with two or more concentric curtain walls, such that the outer wall is lower than the inner and can be defended from it. The word concentric does not imply that these castles were circular; in fact if taken too literally the term "concentric" is quite misleading...
. The 'troublesome' residents of Llanfaes were removed en bloc to Rhosyr in the west of Anglesey, a new settlement King Edward entitled "Newborough". French and English masons were brought in to construct the castle itself and the walled town.
Beaumaris was awarded a Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
by Edward I, which was drawn up on similar terms as the charters of his other castle towns in North Wales and intended to invest only the English and Norman-French residents with civic rights. Native Welsh residents of Beaumaris were largely disqualified from holding any civic office, carrying any weapon, holding assemblies and were not allowed to purchase houses or land within the Borough. The Charter also specifically prohibited Jews (who had been largely expelled from most English towns) from living in Beaumaris. A requirement that all trade in the immediate area be conducted at Beaumaris meant the town became the main commercial centre of Anglesey.
Beaumaris became one of the three most important Saxon ports in the UK and the port of registration for all vessels in North West Wales covering not only every harbour on Anglesey but all the ports of North West Wales from Conwy
Conwy
Conwy is a walled market town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales. The town, which faces Deganwy across the River Conwy, formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. Conwy has a population of 14,208...
to Pwllheli
Pwllheli
Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...
. Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
was a major industry in Beaumaris. This was centred on Gallows Point — a nearby spit of land extending into the Menai Strait about a mile west of the town. Gallows Point had originally been called "Osmund's Eyre" but was renamed when the town gallows
Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...
were erected there — along with a "Dead House" for the corpses of criminals dispatched in public executions. Later, hangings were carried out at the town gaol
Beaumaris Gaol
Beaumaris Gaol is a disused jail located in Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales. Although no longer in use it remains largely unaltered and is now a museum open to visitors, with around 30,000 visiting each year....
and the bodies buried in a lime-pit within the curtilage of the gaol. One of the last prisoners to hang at Beaumaris issued a curse before he died - decreeing that if he was innocent the four faces of the church clock would never show the same time. Since that day - it's claimed - they never have.
Architecture
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
built in 1614, the fourteenth century St Mary's parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
, the town gaol, the 14th century Tudor Rose (one of the oldest original timber-framed buildings in Britain) and the Bulls Head Inn (built in 1472, which General Thomas Mytton
Thomas Mytton
-Life:Born about 1597, son of Richard Mytton of Halston, Shropshire, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Owen of Condover, he matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 11 May 1615, aged 18. He became a student of Lincoln's Inn in 1616...
made his headquarters during the "Siege of Beaumaris" during the second English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in 1648). The hill leading north from the town "Red Hill" is so named from the blood spilled in that conflict.
A native of Anglesey, David Hughes, founded Beaumaris Grammar School
Ysgol David Hughes
Ysgol David Hughes is the largest Secondary School in Anglesey, Wales. It was founded in 1603, originally as a free Grammar School in Beaumaris. In 1963, with the local authority leading the way in introducing the comprehensive system, the school moved to Menai Bridge as a mixed comprehensive...
in 1603. It became a non-selective school in 1952 when Anglesey County Council became the first authority in Britain to adopt comprehensive
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
. The school was eventually moved to Menai Bridge
Menai Bridge
Menai Bridge is a small town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in north Wales. It overlooks the Menai Strait and lies by the Menai Suspension Bridge, built in 1826 by Thomas Telford...
and only the ancient hall of the original school building now remains.
Beaumaris Pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
, opened in 1846, was designed by Frederick Foster and comprises a masonry jetty continuing out into the Strait on wooden and concrete pilings. The pier was re-built and extended to 570 feet (173.7 m) after storm damage in 1872 and a large pavilion was constructed at the end which contained a cafe. It was once the landing stage for steamships of the Liverpool and North Wales Shipping Company including the Snowdon, La Marguerite, St. Elvies and St. Trillo, although the larger vessels in its fleet - the St. Seriol and St. Tudno — were too large for the pier and landed their passengers at Menai Bridge. In the 1960s, through lack of maintenance, the pier became unsafe and was threatened with demolition, but local yachtswoman and lifeboat secretary Miss Mary Burton made a massive private donation to ensure the pier was saved for the town. Today, although the impressive old steamers have long since gone, Beaumaris Pier is still a busy base for yachts and pleasure vessels of all kinds.
A marina
Marina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
on the western shore of Gallows Point has been proposed, but at present all moorings at Beaumaris are tidal.
The Saunders Roe company set up a factory at Fryars (the site of the old Franciscan friary to the east) when it was feared that the company's main base on the Isle of Wight would be a target for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
bombers. The factory converted American-built PBY Catalina
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...
flying boat
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
s and, after the war, produced fast patrol boat
Patrol boat
A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties.There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, or police force, and may be intended for marine and/or estuarine or river environments...
s, minesweepers
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
and even buses for London Transport
London Transport Executive
The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in the Greater London area, UK, between 1948-1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.-Creation:On 1...
(RT Double deckers) and single deck buses for Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
Notable residents
- Sir Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris, Anglesey, and Lewisham - ex-officio mayor (1561-2), mayor (1562-3)
- Richard LlwydRichard LlwydRichard Llwyd, also known as The Bard of Snowdon , was a Welsh author, poet and expert on Welsh heraldry and genealogy. His most notable work is the poem Beaumaris Bay, which was published in 1800.-Life history:...
(1752–1835), author, poet and genealogist