The Swellies (or Swillies -

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

: ''Pwll Ceris'') is a stretch of the Menai Strait in North

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The most popular use of the name is for the stretch between the Britannia Bridge and the Menai Bridge. It is notable for its difficulty in safely navigating its

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

s and rocks due to the whirlpools and surges that are the result of the tides washing around the island of

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a Local government in Wales, principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strai ...

at different speeds. There are several small islands in The Swellies, the largest of which are Church Island (

: ''Ynys Dysilio'') and Ynys Gored Goch (Red Weir Island in English but also known as Whitebait Island). Swellies is the most treacherous section of the Menai Strait. A medieval document quoted in the book 'The Menai Strait' 003(also published in Welsh under the title ' Y Fenai' 002 by Gwyn Pari Huws and Terry Beggs ( Gwasg Gomer Press) states: ''In that arm of the see that departeth between this island Mon and North Wales is a swelowe that draweth to schippes that seileth and sweloweth hem yn, as doth Scylla and Charybdis - therefore we may nouzt seile by this swalowe but slily at the full see''.

External links

Illustrated guide from the local lifeboat station
* Menai Strait {{Gwynedd-geo-stub

See also

External links