Red Wharf Bay, also known as Traeth Coch ( Welsh for "red beach"), is a village and a sandy bay in Anglesey,

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

. The bay lies between the villages of

Pentraeth Pentraeth () is a village and Community (Wales), community on the island of Anglesey (''Ynys Môn''), North Wales, at . The Royal Mail postcode begins LL75. The community population taken at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 1,178 ...

and

Benllech Benllech () is a village on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. It is in the community of Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf, which has a population of 3,382. The name of Benllech village had been removed by the time of the 2011 census with the community b ...

. It is also close to Castell Mawr Rock, thought to be the site of an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

fort.

Description

Red Wharf Bay is on the western side of the bay. It is linked to

and

via the

Anglesey Coastal Path The Anglesey Coastal Path (formally the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path, ) is a long-distance footpath around the island of Anglesey () in North Wales. The route is part of the Wales Coast Path. Description The path mainly follows the coast. ...

. Red Wharf Bay has three restaurants—The Tavern on the Bay, The Ship Inn, and The Boathouse.

Wildlife

The bay attracts wildlife, including waterfowl and wading birds, such as

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family (biology), family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and Sout ...

shelduck The shelducks, most species of which are found in the genus ''Tadorna'' (except for the Radjah shelduck, which is now found in its own monotypic genus ''Radjah''), are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biolog ...

purple sandpiper The purple sandpiper (''Calidris maritima'') is a small shorebird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. This is a hardy sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America and winters further south on the Atlan ...

curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been infl ...

and

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader in the genus '' Calidris''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brown", with the suffix ''-ling'', meaning a person or ...

. The bay's bordered by salt marshes and sand dunes. Some of these dunes are rich in shell fragments that support the flora common to lime-rich areas, including the pyramidal orchid.

Events

Each year th
Red Wharf Bay Sailing ClubAnglesey Offshore Dinghy Race
takes place from Beaumaris to Traeth Bychan. The race runs up the

Menai Strait 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 s ...

and down the Anglesey coast.

History

The name of Traeth Coch is believed to originate from a battle involving Vikings in 1170 that left the beach soaked in blood. A hoard of five Scandinavian type arm-rings was discovered at Red Wharf Bay between c. 1887 and c. 1894. Historian Mark Redknap wrote that "The Red Wharf Bay arm-rings are probably contemporary with the

Cuerdale Hoard The Cuerdale Hoard is a hoard of more than 8,600 items, including silver coins, English and Carolingian jewellery, hacksilver and ingots. It was discovered on 15 May 1840 on the southern bank of a bend of the River Ribble, in an area called ...

(buried c. 905), and it's been suggested that Ingimund’s activities on Anglesey in 903 might have led to the deposition and their non-recovery." There was once a railway line which terminated at the bay, the Red Wharf Bay branch line, which left the

Anglesey Central Railway The Anglesey Central Railway (Welsh: ''Lein Amlwch'', ''Amlwch Line'') was a standard-gauge railway in Anglesey, Wales, connecting the port of Amlwch and the county town of Llangefni with the North Wales Coast Line at Gaerwen. Built as an in ...

at Pentre Berw. Stone for the

Admiralty Arch, Holyhead Admiralty Arch, in Holyhead, Anglesey, was built in 1824 to mark the end of Thomas Telford's Holyhead road. The arch was designed by Thomas Harrison and its main purpose was to commemorate the visit of King George IV in August 1821. The King a ...

was quarried near the bay.

References

External links

*
360 Panoramic view of Red Wharf Bay (North side)- uses QuickTime
Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf Pentraeth Bays of Anglesey {{Anglesey-geo-stub