Penrhos Coastal Park (6.69km)
A lovely easy family walk with both the genod (girls) at one of our go-to locations today. Penrhos Coastal Park on Ynys Cybi (Holy Island) really is one of Ynys Môn’s hidden gems. Despite living here for most of my life it’s only in the last few years I’ve really become aware of how much Penrhos has to offer. There’s beautiful mature woodland with all kinds of plants and wildlife (including red squirrels), romantic ruins, windswept headlands and a sheltered sandy beach. It’s one to make the most of whilst you can as there are plans to turn this beautiful, unspoilt spot into a holiday and leisure park.
(N.b. The OS app quit half way round so the data is from Strava which isn’t as accurate. The distance is probably not as far as stated)
Distance: 6.69km (according to Strava)
Time taken: 2 hrs
Parking: Yes, two at either end of the park.
Facilities:Yes. Cafe, toilets, picnic benches and bins at the mainland end car park.
1. To park, follow the A5 from Fali (Valley) onto Ynys Cybi. Almost immediately after you cross onto the island there is a car park on your right (near the toll house), but this was closed today so I continued and took the second turn on the right after this to park in a smaller car park by Traeth Penrhos.
To start the walk, turn right out of the car park, away from the beach and head up the single track lane.
When the road veers right back to the A5 you keep going straight through a gap by a white gate. (There is an option to enter the woodland slightly to the right of our entry point but we go to the left today).
Keep following the road and some interesting looking buildings will come into view ahead of you. These are the remnants of the old Penrhos Estate.
Penrhos Estate
In 1553, during Edward VI’s reign, Penrhos was granted to John ap Owen. At this time, the land consisted of little more than the Penrhos headland upon which a farm was built, originally known as Tudor House and subsequently Penrhos. The estate was the seat of the principal land and property owners on Ynys Cybi for over 400 years, passing into the hands of the Stanley family following the marriage of Margaret Owen to Sir John Thomas Stanley in 1763. The Stanley family were notable residents in the area. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Penrhos was evacuated and the house occupied by troops. During this time the house and grounds were neglected and became ruinous in places. When the war ended, the existing tenants were given the opportunity to buy their properties and the remaining estate, covering thousands of acres, was sold off.
Penrhos Mansion (https://holyheadstoriesofaport.com/)
Penrhos Mansion (https://holyheadstoriesofaport.com/)
The Penrhos mansion was bought by Sir Patrick Abercrombie with a view to its partial restoration. His ambition was never realised, and the remains were systematically plundered and subsequently demolished. The Home Farm at Penrhos was bought by Captain Nigel Conant, the estate’s land agent, who continued to farm some 500 acres until its sale in 1969 for the development of the Anglesey Aluminium smelting plant. Anglesey Aluminium granted public access in 1972 under the direction of Ken Williams, a local policeman and naturalist.
Penrhos Nature Reserve was officially opened by H.R.H. Prince Charles in 1971.
Since the closure of Anglesey Aluminium in 2009, there have been several planning applications put to the council seeking permission to build on the site. In 2013 Land and Lakes Anglesey Ltd were successful, gaining approval for their planning application for a Holiday and Leisure Park. If this development proceeds, it will bring about the closure of most of the Penrhos Nature Reserve to the public as it is now known.
The first building that will come into view ahead of you is the Tower (now a private dwelling) which was built in the early 19th Century and formed part of the service accommodation for Penrhos Mansion (also said to include dairy, laundry and gun-room). After you follow the road to the left you’ll pass by the Bailiff’s Tower (built 1802-1808), barn and cart sheds, all formerly part of the Home Farm. The Bailiffs Tower is currently home to Holyhead Cricket Club.
The Tower.
Bailiff’s Tower.
Cart sheds.
Continue past these buildings and follow the road down with the forest on your right and open fields to your left.
2. You’ll see a glimpse of the beach come into view at the bottom of the hill but before we reach the beach we turn right through a gateway into the forest.
As you’re walking around Penrhos keep your eyes peeled for painted rocks or even books hiding around the place. It was the sundial at Penrhos that first drew my attention to this lovely pastime of painting rocks and hiding them for others to find and re hide, as it was here I found my first painted rock. We found and hid a few on this walk and also found a book in a tree (Sleeping Beauty which made princess mad Megan very happy!)
Continue straight up this section until you arrive at a gap in a wall.
3. Pass through the gap into what is known as the Secret Garden. It’s not so secret but is one of the most beautiful and peaceful parts of Penrhos in my opinion.
Entrance to the Secret Garden.
I recommend taking time to explore this area as there are a few treasures to find. We turned right after the gap and made our way around the outside. The area is cross-crossed with paths (like much of Penrhos) and it’s fun just to wander. At the far end of the Secret Garden you do come across what remains of the old mansion and outlying buildings.
The Secret Garden.
Looking through at the ruins.
Window in a wall.
Nature taking over.
Penrhos house was completely remodelled for John Thomas Stanley in the early 19th Century. The Candle Tower formed part of the service courtyard of the mansion, and is probably contemporary with the remodelling, built c. 1802-1808, when turrets were known to have been added to Penrhos. It would have been entered from the terrace of the former house and had one floor internally.
If you take a step up onto a wall near the tower you will find the remains of a fireplace with beautiful turquoise tiles still intact. I wonder if these had anything to do with Henry Stanley, 3rd Baron of Alderley, who had converted to Islam in mid-life becoming the first Muslim member of the House of Lords.
Turquoise fireplace.
Cennin Pedr in bloom.
Remains of an old gate.
Sadly, the Secret Garden is one of the areas that will be lost to the public once Bluestone build their holiday chalets.
The Watertower.
4. Once you leave the Secret Garden area turn right and follow the wall. You’ll soon come upon the Watertower, probably another addition during the remodelling. It’s a 4 storey square water tower designed in the manner of a church bell tower. Originally there was an iron-railed walkway around the top storey.
The Watertower.
After the Watertower we head down the hill in another of my favourite sections of the park, Chestnut Walk. I particularly enjoy running this section (not just because it’s downhill). I do love a good avenue of trees and like to imagine riding up it in it’s hey day towards the mansion.
5. At the bottom of this section we come to another tower, known as the Betting Stand as the gentry would watch dog races in the quillet opposite in the 1800’s. The bookmaker used to communicate the odds of each race by standing on the top level of the tower. The quillet is one of only 3 left in the UK. The stairs to the top of the tower were a later addition, suggesting that the tower in its present form was converted from a pre-existing folly. It’s other name, The Rotten Tower, came from unhappy gamblers who had lost money betting at “that Rotten Tower”!
The Betting Stand.
After the Betting Stand I usually head to the right (as you’re leaving Chestnut Walk) to continue around the outside of the park. Megan chose a different path, but it ultimately led us to the same point! At this stage we’re walking parallel to the A5 which can be quite noisy.
6. At the bottom of this section turn left. If you follow this track to the end you will come out by the toll house, which is now a cafe, and the main car park. However, we took the second left turn which cuts out the car park.
After you turn left you come to an open section with picnic tables and a view of the sea. Turn left onto the path and enjoy the open views across Bae Beddmanarch. From this point you are basically following the coastal path back to the car.
Nice area for a picnic.
Follow the path around to the left, past the War Memorial which commemorates David Richard Williams who was killed at Bluff’s Cove in the Falklands War. He was formerly a young warden at this park. Not long after this you’ll go back into the forest and turn right when you get to a wooden gate.
Memorial.
There’s a feeding area for red squirrels just beyond here. I have seen numerous red squirrels at Penrhos but oddly they appear less frequently when the chatty 4 year old is with me. Strange that. Not long after this is another of Penrhos’ quirky little areas, the pet cemetery. There are around 60 gravestones here and the area was established in the 1980s. Megan made me read almost every name before we were allowed to move on.
Pet cemetery.
View from the pet cemetery.
After you’ve read every single gravestone, turn right towards the sea, then left along the coast. On your right along here you’ll come across a bench named Tunnicliffe’s Seat. Charles Tunnicliffe was an internationally renowned naturalistic painter of British birds and other wildlife. He was born in Macclesfield in 1901 but moved to Ynys Môn in 1947 where he lived until his death. He illustrated a number of books including the Ladybird books and Tarka the Otter.
8. Continuing to follow the coast path signs, we turned right and headed up the headland (Gorsedd Y Penrhyn) to the viewing platform at the top named Arthur’s Seat. If you look back the way you’ve come you can look down on the woodland and towards the old Aluminium Plant beyond. To your right you’ll notice a pretty little beach (the same beach you turned away from at the beginning of the walk. Big mistake when you have a beach loving 4 year old. “Are we nearly at the beach yet?”)
Heading up Gorsedd Y Penrhyn.
Looking back at Penrhos with Anglesey Aluminium’s tower beyond and Mynydd Twr (Holyhead Mountain) beyond that.
We had a little rest at the top here for me to take off my coat. No mean feat when you need to remove a baby in a rucksack first! Bless her, Anwen is a very patient wee thing and absolutely loves being outdoors. Of course, as soon as I took my coat off Megan was then too hot to continue so her coat came off too (with the understanding that she would carry it the rest of the way... yeah right. I suppose in her defence she was also carrying her magic wand- a stick- and a book we’d found in a tree.)
We headed off down the hill feeling much cooler and finally headed for the beach. Oddly the beach isn’t named on maps but is known as Private Beach. The tide was in today but at low tide there’s plenty of room for running around, paddling and rockpooling.
Panorama of Private beach.
Clear waters. So tempting to go for a paddle!
The beach with the bathing house.
As you look out to sea, on the left of the beach you’ll see an old, empty property which is a Victorian bathing house. The Bathing House was built by the Stanley family for the ladies to change into bathing wear for swimming in the private bay sometime in the early 1800’s. The ladies would often have their lunch brought to them there by their servants.
9. You can head straight home from here back along the road you first walked down. However, we decided to extend our walk by following the coastal path and turning right (almost opposite where we first turned into the forest) and heading around the headland.
At the far end of the headland there are incredible views over Caergybi. At one point you’ll reach a small, rocky beach with the remains of the old boathouse belonging to the Penrhos estate.
It’s here on 17th Sept 1817 that a tragedy befell the Stanley family. The two young daughters of Sir John Thomas Stanley and Lady Maria Josepha, Emmie (age 8) sand Elfrida (age 4), had decided to go swimming with their three maid servants (21yr old Alice Witcher, 20yr old Elizabeth (Lizzie) Jackson and 20yr old Charlotte Andrews). Instead of heading to the Private beach as instructed, they went to the forbidden Ffynnon (now the Boat House beach) where a dangerous undertow sweeps round the rocks at high tide. Shortly after entering the water little Elfrida and Alice were swept out by the current, prompting Lizzie to go to their aid. She entered the water in a desperate bid to pull them out but sadly she too disappeared beneath the waves. Charlotte, the remaining maid, instructed Emmie to hastily run for help, then, without fear for her own safety she too waded into the sea. With an incoming high tide there would only be one winner. Exhausted and with her saturated clothing pulling her down she too sunk beneath the waves. Emmie ran for help, dressed only in her shift and barefoot, but because of the thistles and stinging nettles in the rough ground between the sea and the house, she went the longest way round by the path along the cliffs. When Maria Josepha was told the news she cried out in her anguish against Emmie, blaming her for not going the shortest way for help. A pitiful sight awaited the rescuers when they arrived at the scene. The lifeless bodies of all four were floating on the surface of the water with little Elfrida hand in hand with Alice. A small wherry was launched and one by one the poor innocents were retrieved from the sea. No one uttered a word as each body was brought ashore with only the pitiful sobbing of poor Emmie breaking the silence.
Two days later on the 19th the three maids were laid to rest with little Elfrida being interred the following day. The Stanleys ensured that Elfrida would never be forgotten as a memorial to her very short life can be seen in beautiful stained glass in St Cybi's church. Elfrida's sister Emmie (Emmeline) passed away in 1906 at the age of 96 and never spoke about the tragedy.
The old boathouse.
Ffynnon (Boat house beach), the site of the drowning.
The old boathouse.
Inside the old boathouse.
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| Some old machinery in the old boathouse. |
Old machinery in the old boathouse.
Looking back at Boathouse Beach from the path. It’s hard to imagine such a beautiful place was witness to such a tragedy.
The final place to explore on our walk is the old Naval Battery built in 1802 by Edward Stanley.
In his early years Edward Stanley had acquired a passion for the sea. As a child he used to leave his bed and sleep on the shelf of a wardrobe, for the pleasure of imagining himself in a berth on board a man-of-war. In 1802, after he had been at Cambridge and done some foreign travel, Edward Stanley returned home at his brother's request, and took command of the Alderley Volunteers--corps of defence raised by him on the family Penrhos Estate. The Naval Battery was built in expectation of a French invasion. It took 56 men, 7 months to select and carry rock from the tip of Bryn Glas face at Penrhos Beach, to the best view point of the Irish sea. It was designed to look like a small version of Caernafon Castle with turrets and square ports for the cannon. We didn’t spend too long here as Megan had started to get a bit whingy (in her defence, we’d been for quite a long walk the previous day.)
Napoleonic naval battery
It’s not far from here now until you arrive back at the car park. If you have any energy left you can always have a wander onto Traeth Penrhos, but on this day I had a tired 4 year old who was very excited to go home and read her new book.
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