Aberffraw - St. Cwyfan’s Circular (5.3miles / 8.5km)
Lovely easy walk along the Anglesey Coastal Path today. It’s summer holidays so everywhere is busy at the moment. I’ve been to Eglwys Cwyfan (Egg-loo-iss Coo-ee-van) before a few times, and I’ve been to Aberffraw (Ah-bear-ffr-ow, to rhyme with brow) a few times, I’ve never joined the two together though so I thought I’d give it a go with the genod today. It was looking pretty black when we set off so I thought a vaguely familiar route would be for the best. Luckily the weather improved and the walk turned out to be perfect for us. The coastal path can be a bit scary at times (and unsuitable for small children), but this section was great. There were nice wide paths for the most part and any narrow, high up sections had a barrier between the path and the drop. There were quite a few kissing gates to negotiate but I didn’t struggle with any of them with Anwen on my back. Definitely a walk I’d recommend if you have younger kids.
Distance: 8.5km / 5.3 miles (according to the OS map app)
Time taken: 2hrs 24mins
Total ascent: 671.23ft / 204.59m (OS map app)
Parking: Yes- plenty of free parking in Aberffraw, but can get busy.
Facilities: None. Although some shops etc. in the village itself.
Walkers: myself (33 yrs, fat and unfit), Megan (4 years) and Anwen (15 months, in the rucksack).
1. For once, the parking is really easy to find! There are spaces on either side of the A4080 which goes through Aberffraw. It does get very busy though, so please make sure you park considerately. To start our walk we crossed the bridge over the river so that we were walking on the right hand side of the estuary heading towards the sea. The river is called Afon Ffraw (Ahv-on Ffr-ow) Aber means “the mouth of the river” in Welsh, so Aberffraw is so named as it lies at the mouth of the river Ffraw. It’s hard to imagine today, but historically Aberffraw was a very important place.
Aberffraw
Aberffraw or Aberffro was the medieval capital of Ynys Môn and later, Cymru. Here was the Royal Palace, or Llys of the Kings and Princes of Gwynedd, erected in 450AD. The House of Aberffraw ruled for 8 centuries, through to Rhodri the Great (870AD). It housed the Welsh Laws (900AD) and survived attacks by Vikings, Irish and Normans. In the 12th century Aberffraw became one of the 3 chief thrones of Britain and, under Llywelyn Fawr, the capital of Cymru. Eventually succumbing to England’s Edward I in 1282, the lands were passed to the Bodorgans/Meyricks and Bodowens/Owens. The Llys was dismantled in 1315 to provide materials for the building of Beaumaris Castle.
Aberffraw was a busy port for exporting Anglesey produce, and home to great fishing vessels. However, following the great storm of 1331 the harbour began silting up and sand dunes formed, thus diminishing the importance of the village. After being declared the poorest village in Anglesey in the 1940s, many of its traditional small white Welsh cottages fell into disrepair and were demolished, being replaced by council houses and the addition of a small housing estate unknowingly built over the historic Llys area. A few traditional cottages and houses were saved by the Conservation area programme of the 1980s. In recent times, many properties have become holiday cottages which has unfortunately diminished the Welsh language that was previously prevalent in the village.
Crossing the bridge, towards the village.
The often photographed bridge, built in 1731.
After crossing the bridge we turn left, towards the sea. We start along a road which runs parallel to the river but when the road turns up to the right, we continue straight on, staying beside the river. It was low tide today so we walked on the sand, but there is a footpath slightly higher up for when the tide is in.
Walking by the Afon Ffraw.
Afon Ffraw, with the beach (Traeth Mawr) on the other side.
2. As we get to where the river curves left to join the sea, with Traeth Mawr (Tr-ah-eeth Mah-oor “Big Beach”) to be seen on the other side, we stay right and head through a kissing gate up onto the headland. The footpath cuts straight across the headland but it’s worth following the path that goes around the edge as you get incredible views and it isn’t a big diversion at all. There’s also a cairn to be found.
Path up onto the headland.
Take the left path around the headland, you won’t be disappointed!
Looking down on the beach.
Trwyn Du Cairn.
Trwyn Du Cairn
Here we have the remains of a Bronze Age burial kerb cairn which is located on top of a Mesolithic Camp (7000BC) and flint scatter site. In 7000BC, this would have been overlooking a river valley, with sea levels being considerably lower. Towards the centre of the cairn is a stone lined grave or cist.
Stunning views across to Eryri.
Having a lovely time.
Path as we leave the headland.
View from Porth Lleidiog.
A few rocks to negotiate, slippy when wet!
Couldn’t resist walking along this!
Right to the end.
Back again. Just a short detour.
Flowers.
Narrow but safe section.
Spotted from the path.
Had to take a closer look.
Taking a break to blow grass seeds.
Looking across to Porth China. The church, our destination, is in the bay just out of view.
St Cwyfans.
St Cwyfans - you can see the arches on this wall.
We followed the track which climbs steadily up the hill. You can walk all the way back to the car on this road, which is what I had initially intended to do. However, due to Megan being a bit whiny and having to move out of the way of the cars coming up and down I decided that we would take the cut through back towards the first headland.
Break over.
Eglwys Bach Y Môr (Little Church of the Sea)
When we get in view of the church we follow the bay around until we reach the causeway (we pass the road we will take home on our right.) Remember the church is only accessible at low tide.
Eglwys Bach Y Môr.
3. As it was low tide we decided it was safe to cross the causeway to the island and have a look at the church. There are steep steps onto the island itself.
Eglwys Sant Cwyfan “Eglwys Bach Y Môr”
Perched on a tiny island called Cribinau (Cree-bin-ai), encircled by a sea wall, this simple medieval church dates back to the 12th century. It’s thought to be dedicated to the Irish St. Kevin, who founded the monastery across the sea at Glendalough in Co Wicklow, Ireland.
Originally the church stood on a peninsula between two bays, Porth Cwyfan and Porth China, as shown on John Speed’s map of Anglesey from 1636. In the decades after this the sea slowly eroded the coast in the two bays enough that the peninsula was cut off, turning it into an island. A causeway was built to the island to allow parishioners to reach the church. It’s remains are visible today. However, even with the causeway, high tides prevented access. At those times services were held in a room in the nearby house, Plas Llangwyfan, with was consecrated especially for the purpose.
The waves continued to eat away at the island until, in the late 19th century, some of the graves surrounding the church began to fall into the sea. At this time the church was also disused and roofless, having been replaced by a new church further inland. However, in 1893 local architect Harold Hughes, concerned for the fate of this evocative old church, raised money to save it by constructing a sea wall around the island and restoring the building.
Although the church was initially built in the 12th century, only a small portion of the south wall dates from this period. Most of the walls were rebuilt during a 14th century reconstruction. In the early 16th century an aisle was added to the north side, accessed through an arcade of three arches, but it was demolished in the 19th century as the cliff edge eroded ever closer. The infilled arches can now be seen in the outer wall, after the old cement mortar was removed during refurbishment in 2006. This refurbishment also involved limewashing the walls, making them very white, to the consternation of some locals who were used to the old grey appearance.
This little church was at the centre of a big controversy in the 18th century. In 1766 the Bishop of Bangor appointed Dr Thomas Bowles as the parish priest of Trefdraeth, which included St. Cwyfans as a chapelry. Unfortunately Dr Bowles spoke no Welsh, and only 5 of the 500 parishioners understood English. They protested against his appointment and eventually the case was heard in the ecclesiastical court in 1773. The judge ruled that Bowles should not have been appointed, as Welsh speaking priests should be sent to primarily Welsh speaking parishes. However, once a priest has been granted ecclesiastical freehold of a parish it is very difficult to remove them, so the judge ruled that he should be allowed to stay in his post, which he did until his death later that year.
St Cwyfans with the causeway on the right.
Steep steps onto the island.
St Cwyfans.
After spending a little bit of time enjoying the scenery we retraced our steps back across the causeway and round the bay.
Looking back at the church.
Church and causeway.
Looking back at the church.
A rare picture of the three of us! It’s hard to get the angles right and the children still.
4. We turn away from the beach up the single track lane on our left. There are some spaces to park here if you fancy visiting the church without having to do the full walk.
Turning off the beach.
Follow the narrow road.
There are fantastic views back towards St Cwyfan.
5. We turn off the road onto a rough track on the right. It comes after a gateway on the left and a sharp bend to the right. There are a couple of branches off this track but we keep mostly straight until we get to another kissing gate back onto the headland, where we turn left on joining our original path and head back up the river to the car.
Rough track towards the headland.
Views over Eryri.
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