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Abermenai Point (A quite detailed account of the ferry crossing and associated buildings on the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales website
/ref> The decline of the ferry service was almost certainly due to the construction between 1846 and 1850 of the
Abermenai Point (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 ...
: Pwynt Abermenai) is a headland
A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Joh ...
in the southeast of 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 ...
in 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 ...
. It is the southernmost point of the island and is the northern point of the western entrance of the Menai Strait
The Menai Strait ( cy, Afon Menai, the "river Menai") is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales. It varies in width from from Fort Belan to Abermenai Point to from ...
.
The headland is mainly composed of sand dunes
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
at the end of Newborough Warren
Newborough Warren ( cy, Tywyn Niwbwrch) near the village of Newborough (''Niwbwrch'') is a large dune and beach system of , approximately half of which is a conifer plantation. The whole area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interes ...
and has no road leading up to or onto it. The nearest major public road, along which a public bus runs is the A4080
The A4080 is a British A road which is located on the Island of Anglesey, Wales. It follows a very roundabout route from the A5 road at Llanfairpwllgwyngyll via Newborough and Rhosneigr back to the A55 and the A5 about south of Holyhead. In ...
at Newborough. Due to its exposed location and the nature of the straits the Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was ...
map for the point carries a warning ''"Public Rights of Way to Abermenai Point can be dangerous under tidal conditions."''
The earliest recorded ferry crossing route from the island to the mainland ran from the point to the site at which Fort Belan now sits. Records in the late 11th century relating to the then King of Gwynedd
Gwynedd (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the North West Wales, north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County B ...
, Gruffudd ap Cynan
Gruffudd ap Cynan ( 1137), sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was rememb ...
state that a ferryman was employed there and ferry houses at both locations have been recorded throughout history. In 1725, Daniel Defoe, the author of novels such as "''Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tr ...
''" used the crossing on his way to Holyhead.Hughes, Margaret: ''Anglesey from the Sea'', page 29. Carreg Gwalch, 2001 The ferry ceased to run in the mid-19th century and by the 1940s almost all trace of it had disappeared./ref> The decline of the ferry service was almost certainly due to the construction between 1846 and 1850 of the
Britannia Bridge
Britannia Bridge ( cy, Pont Britannia) is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. It was originally designed and built by the noted railway engineer Robert Stephenson as a tubular bridge of w ...
further up the strait which brought the railway to the island.
See also
*Angharad ferch Owain
Angharad ferch Owain (1065–1162) was the wife of Gruffudd ap Cynan, a king of Gwynedd.
Biography
Angharad was born in the region of Tegeingl in Flintshire county, Wales. Her father was Owain ab Edwin (1044–1105). Her mother was Morwy ...
, who inherited the profits of the port of Abermenai on the death of her husband Gruffudd ap Cynan in 1137
External links
*References
Rhosyr Menai Strait Headlands of Anglesey {{Anglesey-geo-stub