Llugwy-Moelfre Circular (4.83miles/7.77km)
Had a proper family walk today. My parents in law were up from Warwickshire and were keen to make a start on the Anglesey Coastal Path (here’s to many more lovely walks!). We also managed to persuade my husband to come along! I chose this route as a starting point for them as I had done it before and knew it would be a reasonably straightforward route. There’s also loads of beautiful views and interesting historical points along the way. I added in Din Llugwy as a little extra detour as it would be a shame not to show it given we were in the area!
Although this is a relatively easy walk, there are a few sections with uneven steps and it was quite muddy so good boots are a must. The other factor to consider with young kids is that there are a few sections where there is nothing between you and some pretty steep drops down to the sea. It’s definitely one of the easier sections of the coast path that I have done though, and a great place to start.
Distance: 4.83miles/ 7.77km (according to the OS map app)
Time taken: 2hrs 31 (moving time)
Total ascent: 1130ft / 344.4m (OS Map app)
Parking: Yes, for a few cars (5 or 6 if parked sensibly). Also some pay and display car parks at various points on the route including by Llugwy beach.
Facilities: There’s a cafe at Llugwy and other places to eat in Moelfre.
Walkers: Ages ranging from 23months to 70+. Fitness ranging from very fat and unfit, to a 5 year old who never stops!
1. I decided to add on the detour to Din Llugwy (Dean Tl igg wee) before setting off so we parked on the road where the access is. To find Din Llugwy you head for Moelfre (Moil- rhymes with foil- vreh) on the A5025. When you get to the Moelfre Roundabout you turn for the village then immediately take a left down a single track lane. After about half a mile the road veers right (by the driveway to Plas Llugwy) and not long after here widens to create a parking area. There are signs for Din Llugwy and the Medieval Chapel. We parked on the left.
Plenty of space to park and clear signs.
The route to Din Llugwy is very clear. Head through the kissing gate and down the steps, then follow the path ahead of you along the boundary of the field. Bare in mind that there are often sheep here, so please keep dogs on leads and pick up after them. You’ll see the chapel on your right but we’ll head there on the way back.
Follow the path ahead.
Medieval chapel on your right.
Once you’ve passed the line of trees and bushes, the field opens up again and you can see a second kissing gate slightly to your right taking you into the wooded area beyond. There are plenty of signs to make sure you are on the right path.
Views down to the bay.
Gate into the woods.
Look out for painted rocks! We found three on today’s walk!
Once in the trees the path is really clear. There are some stony steps to navigate, which can be slippery when wet. It isn’t far though to get to the ancient monument. This section through the woods can be quite magical if you come at the right time for certain flowering plants. I’m not very good with plants but one of my favourites is Wild Garlic and there’s plenty of that here! Unfortunately it’s wasn’t too smelly today!
Path in the woods.
2. You soon step out of the trees and arrive at Din Llugwy itself. Pictures don’t really do it justice and it’s worth spending some time wandering around and taking in this ancient site. Derelict buildings and sites are a real passion of mine. It’s hard to put into words the feeling I get when standing where so many others have stood before me. I love to imagine their daily lives and dramas. Places like Din Llugwy have such a special atmosphere that really can’t be captured on camera.
Din Llugwy
Din Llugwy is an ancient village site. Excavations in 1905 to 1907 produced hundreds of Roman period pot sherds of the third and fourth centuries, many repaired with iron clamps. Animal bones were found too, some made into tools one into a musical instrument. The most important economic activity, however, appears to have been ironworking, smithing, and perhaps smelting.
Din Llugwy
Despite the mainly Roman finds, the origins of the settlement may well go back into the Iron Age and it was probably a small farming community. From excavation, it seems that the round structures were probably houses and the rectangular ones barns or workshops. For a pre-Roman site, a great deal remains including the enclosing wall and the foundations of many buildings, many of them with substantial and well-made foundations constructed from the local limestone. The outer protective wall is almost intact although much reduced in height.
Hut circle.
Din Llugwy is situated on a low hill with good views of Anglesey and a reliable source of fresh water nearby. The hill is now overgrown with sycamore and ash but it is probable that when it was occupied, the village would have had uninterrupted views all around.
Some views still to be seen through the trees.
The site covers half an acre and consists of the foundations of a number of buildings, with the entire area enclosed by a thick double wall, filled in with rubble. The size and shape of the buildings vary, suggesting different purposes. The round buildings are typical of Iron Age domestic dwellings, many of which are scattered around Anglesey. Excavations in the largest have found Roman coins, pottery and a glass jug as well as a silver ingot. This one is thought to have been the chieftain’s hut.
The chieftain’s hut?
The rectangular building (On the right as we move into the enclosure) was found to contain large amounts of metallic slag as well as remains of several hearths with charcoal formed from oak. It was evidently a workshop for the smelting and working of iron. The entrance to the fortified compound was through a rectangular building. The village’s livestock would’ve been housed in this building.
After we’d taken everything in we headed back the way we came until we went through the kissing gate back out of the trees. After this we headed straight on up to the chapel ahead of us. There is access to the chapel through a gate, make sure you close it behind you.
Hen Capel Llugwy
Hen Capel Llugwy (Llugwy’s old chapel)
The 12th century saw the cessation of Viking raids on Anglesey and, as a result, increasing prosperity and stability. At this time many of the old Celtic churches, originally built with timber, were replaced by stone buildings. Hen Capel Llugwy is one of these.
Nothing it’s known of the history of this church, so we do not know to which saint it was dedicated. But its position, on a lonely hillside overlooking Llugwy Bay (and on a clear day, the Isle of Man) and lying near to Din Llugwy, means that this is an evocative site. The chapel’s original purpose is unknown, but it might have been used as a memorial chapel or in connection with a local royal court, or as a chapel of ease in a large parish with a growing population. It was used for a time until the early 18th century as a private place of worship for Plas Llugwy (which we saw from Din Llugwy), a “venerable mansion” once owned by the Lloyd family which came into the possession of William Irby, 1st Baron Boston. After the early part of the 18th century though, the chapel became unused and then later fell into disrepair.
The building, now roofless, was originally built in the 12th century, but the upper parts of the walls were reconstructed in the 14th century. A small chapel, with a crypt underneath, was added in the 16th century.
The crypt under the south chapel was used to bury members of a local family, the Pierce Lloyds. The 19th century antiquarian Angharad Llwyd mentions the church in her history of Anglesey. She said that the architecture was of “the rudest kind, [which] bears testimony to it’s great antiquity.” She recounted that a fox had once taken shelter in the ruins, and when it was dug out the vault was discovered, “containing several human skeletons which crumbled into dust when exposed to the air”. She added that further exploration of the vault then revealed “a large mass of human bones, several feet in depth”.
In 1999, the vault was used to record some “atmospheres” for the album “You have just been poisoned by the serpents” by The Serpents, a collective of Welsh musicians including members of Echo and the Bunnymen, Super Furry Animals and Ectogram that was described by one journalist as “possibly the strangest pop group of all time.”
Exploring the crypt!
The sight of this church, standing on its own far from any dwellings, must leave people wondering why it was built in such an isolated place. It is common on Anglesey to see these 12th and 13th century churches far from settlement, or perhaps just next to a single farm (usually named something like Ty’n Llan, which means “Farm by the church”). However, it’s isolation probably has more to do with changing population patterns than any desire for solitude on the part of the churchman. It is very likely that the church would have been the only stone building, and thus the only one to survive when a village was abandoned due to depopulation and consolidation of communities. Thus Capel Llugwy was once probably the centre of a sizeable community, perhaps formed around the nucleus of the Din Llugwy farmstead.
Hen Capel Llugwy would once have been whitewashed.
After Megan had run around the outside of the chapel (a level of energy which she would maintain the whole way), we headed back to the cars to start our walk properly. Once at the cars we continued down the single track lane towards the coast. It can be a busy lane, especially in the hight of summer, so listen out for cars coming at speed! When you reach a crossroads go straight across, past a post box (which had been beautifully decorated with crocheted sunflowers- we assumed in solidarity with Ukraine). We will return later in the walk along the road from the right.
Actually setting off on our walk!
Beautiful post box.
Down to the sea.
Traeth Llugwy.
The path begins by curving around the beautiful Traeth Llugwy giving you plenty of time to enjoy the remarkable views and take in some interesting points. Firstly, you’ll notice a small island with a tower in the middle of the bay. This is Ynys Dulas (Un iss Dill ass).
Ynys Dulas
Ynys Dulas is situated about a mile and a half offshore, within Dulas Bay. The size of the island depends on the tide, with a maximum length of 623 m and width of 207m. The island is mainly rocky, but at low tide sand is exposed, most noticeably on the southern part of the island where it separates the main rock formation from two smaller ones named Garnog. Seals are often spotted living on and around the island. There is very little flora on the island owing to its rocky composition. However, on lower lying parts of the island, exposed at low tide, seaweeds and other sea plants live. A smaller rock called Garreg Allan is found about 100m behind the island, but is not visible with the naked eye from the shore.
A raised shelf of seabed about 1.5km long reaches out a little beyond Garreg Allan, meaning that the sea around it is no more than 5m deep. This is followed by a drop to water much deeper, over 20m deep, which indicates that Ynys Dulas may have been part of a recently (geologically speaking) submerged headland. The island also marks the termination of an old limestone headland which geologically separated Dulas Bay from Llugwy Bay and Red Wharf Bay.
The island has a tower on it, which served as both a landmark and also as refuge for sailors shipwrecked on the island. The 9m tall, cylindrical, stone-cone shaped structure was completed in 1824 by Colonel James Hughes of Llys Dulas. The tower was supplied with essential foodstuffs, flint and firewood to provide aid and comfort until the sailors could be rescued. This practise was curtailed when it was found that some local inhabitants were purloining the provisions.
A map drawn up in September 1748 by Lewis Morris shows the island named as Ynys Gadarn (Strong or Mighty Island) not Ynys Dulas.
Traeth Llugwy
Our first set of steps down.
The end of Traeth Llugwy.
Back up the steps.
Traeth Llugwy. According to the OS map, the rock there is called Carreg Ddafad (Sheep Rock)
Following the path round the bay.
Looking across the whole of Traeth Llugwy.
As we get towards the end of the bay, an unusual structure can be seen on the beach at low tide. It consists of a curving stone wall, extending from boulders near the low tide line. It curves some 140m in a westerly direction and terminates some 100m from the high tide line, pointing shoreward. This structure is the remains of a medieval fish weir - or gored in Cymraeg. Fish weirs use the ebb and flow of the tide to trap fish.
Looking down at the Gored.
Someone’s lockdown project!
Fast asleep!
As we get to the end of the beach we turn right, through a wooden kissing gate, and into a field. A sign on a fence reads something like “no access to the art installation”. There’s no art installation to be seen (nor was there the last time I came) but after doing some Googling I did find this https://www.toallatsea.co.uk/the-installation. It’s a shame it’s not there anymore. I’d have loved to have seen it.
There’s a second wooden gate out of the field and we pass behind a cottage before coming back out on the coast. We just follow the path really along the rugged coastline. There is quite a lot of evidence of quarrying along this section of the coastline. The east coast of Anglesey once had many limestone quarries, though only one remains now. The stone was used to build both bridges onto the island.
Coastline with the Great Orme in the distance.
Evidence of quarrying.
Poser!
4. Eventually we spot a memorial stone up above us on our right. This stone commemorates the lives lost when the Royal Charter was wrecked on the rocks just below. There is access to the memorial over a stone stile, but we didn’t go up there today. Just after the stile are steps down into Porth Helaeth, where the ship ran aground. Porth Helaeth today is just a stony beach where people seem to enjoy building cairns!
Royal Charter Memorial
Royal Charter
On the night of 25-26 October 1859 an exceptional storm, considered the worst in the 19th century, hit Anglesey and the rest of Britain.
That day the steam clipper Royal Charter was making its way across the Irish Sea towards Liverpool, after a brief stop in Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland. The ship was an iron hulled hybrid steam ship over 300ft long. It was returning from Melbourne, Australia with around 375 passengers and 112 crew. One of the fastest ships at the time, it had left Australia on 25th of August, 59 days previously. Among the passengers were many miners returning from the Australian gold fields. In the hold were boxes full of gold, each labelled with the owner’s name and brought to the ship in Melbourne with a police escort. The contents of the boxes were worth £322,440, which in today’s money would be many tens of millions of pounds. Much more gold was being carried by the passengers themselves, in their luggage or sewn into their clothes. It was a ship of fabulous wealth.
The captain, Thomas Taylor, mindful of the reputation of his ship as being the fastest around, aimed to get from Queenstown to Liverpool within 24 hours. They set sail up St. George’s Channel, but the wind soon picked up and turned against them. Being a hybrid steam sail ship, they lowered the sails and continued on powered by the engine. They came within sight of Holyhead by early afternoon, at which time the sky had taken on a hazy and unusual look. As this was before the days of satellites, radios and broadcast weather reports, they had no idea of the hurricane bearing down on them. They pressed on towards Liverpool, despite the increasing wind. They rounded the corner of Anglesey and headed east along the coast towards Liverpool, fighting against the easterly winds. Soon 100mph gusts turned to come from the north. As the coast of Anglesey lay just 3 miles to the south this was an unfortunate turn of events. The wind strengthened even further and all attempts to steer the ship with the rudder failed. She was drifting like a log, heading for the coast.
At around 11pm Captain Taylor gave the order to drop the anchors to halt the drift towards land. As the winds increased further to full hurricane, Force 12, rockets and other distress signals were set off. But no other ship could make it to their rescue. After struggling against the fierce winds for two hours, one of the two anchor cables snapped. An hour later the second cable also failed. The winds were now driving the ship towards the rocky coast at speed. In desperation the captain ordered that all the masts and rigging be cut down and dumped overboard, to reduce the area exposed to the winds. This would give the steam engine a better chance of fighting against the gales. However, before this could be done the ship shuddered as she was driven onto a sandbank.
The ship was now resting at an angle in Porth Helaeth, next to the little village of Moelfre. The hull was sound and undamaged, but the winds were still blowing strong. As the sky began to lighten they could see that they were just 25 yards from the rocky shore. At the same time, just beyond the clifftop, Thomas Hughes and Mesach Williams were working at securing the roof of the latter’s cottage, which was threatened by the winds. The dawning light revealed to them the drama developing off the coast. Hughes ran to the village to raise the alarm while Williams watched helplessly from the clifftop. On board the ship, plans were made to try to rescue the passengers and crew. It was decided to try to get a rope ashore from the ship, which could then be used, along with a bosun’s chair, to bring people to safety. A Maltese seaman Guże Ruggier (also known as Joe Rodgers), volunteered to take on the dangerous task.
A strong swimmer, Ruggier declined the offer of a life belt, tied the rope around his waist, crawled out on the boom at the bow and dove clear of the ship into the water. Struggling against the waves, he eventually made it to shore, where a crowd of villagers had gathered. The line was secured and the task of bringing people ashore began, assisted by 28 brave Moelfre residents who formed a human chain on the landward end. However, at this time the tide was rising and was lifting the ship off the sandbank. Soon the waves threw it clear of the sandbank and onto the adjacent rocks. The storm was so powerful that the iron hull of the ship was broken in two. It had initially been pushed by the winds and waves parallel to the shoreline, but then had snapped in the middle. The two halves of the ship began to rotate, with bow and stern facing the land and the exposed interior of the ship facing the oncoming waves and wind. Crashing waves flooded into the interior sections of the ship, washing out into the stormy seas all those inside.
Only around 40 of the roughly 490 passengers and crew survived. All the women and children aboard perished. While the line was being prepared in the rescue attempt a number of women and children waiting to be taken off were swept overboard by a huge wave, so the rest were told to remain below deck until the bosun’s chair was fully operational. The ship broke up before they had the chance of rescue.
News spread around Anglesey quickly and many people descended on the site, hearing rumours of treasure. Also on the scene was Mr W.H. Smith, Customs House agent for Beaumaris. He was to act as Receiver of Wreck, to ensure that all property thrown up by the wreck was treated according to law. Any gold that was found on shore was to be brought to him, and the finder was given a receipt for it. However, he was only one man to keep watch over the activities, and many gold ingots disappeared into pockets. Later salvage operations brought up most of the gold from the seabed, but some continued to be washed up around the coast for many years, and today scuba divers still find some.
Also given up by the sea over the next few weeks were the bodies of the perished. Many were soon recovered near the wreck and taken to the local church of Llanallgo. The Rector, Reverend Stephen Roose Hughes, took charge of the dead, 140 of whom now lie in that churchyard. He also wrote hundreds of letters to relatives of the dead and comforted the bereaved. It’s took a terrible toll on the gentle man and he died within three years, aged 47. He too lies in the churchyard. Many bodies were carried along the coast and washed up in other parishes. The neighbouring parish of Penrhos Llugwy was served by Reverend Hugh Hughes, brother of Reverend Stephen Roose Hughes. 45 victims lie there. On the other side of Moelfre 65 bodies washed ashore in a sheltered cove in Llaneugrad parish. Some were carried as far as Red Wharf Bay and are buried in Pentraeth and Llanddona.
Such a dramatic event, the sinking of a ship full of gold with huge loss of life, was bound to attract attention around the world. Reporters rapidly made their way to Anglesey. The most sensationalist part of the press ran stories of local villagers plundering the bodies of the dead. The Daily Telegraph called for the death penalty for the “greedy Cambro-British thieves”. The people of Moelfre were outraged at these accusations. The 28 men who had struggled to save those on the ship banded together to write a letter in response, saying that, if it were not for them, they would have been even fewer survivors.
Two months later one of the most famous writers and journalists, Charles Dickens, arrived on Anglesey to investigate the aftermath. He spent much time with Reverend Hughes and writes movingly of the efforts he made in identifying the dead and ministering to those affected by the tragedy. He also included extracts of some of the letters received by the vicar, from people expressing their gratitude for the work he had done. This piece was originally published in issue 11 of Dickens’ journal All The Year Round, and later included in his book The Uncommercial Traveller (Can be read here https://www.gutenberg.org/files/914/914-h/914-h.htm).
Looking back at Porth Helaeth.
Gate to the right of the caravan on the left.
We’re now heading to the headland in front of us so keep following the path onwards, and keep left when it splits.
Keep following the path.
Still full of energy.
Looking back the way we’ve come. Porth Helaeth top left.
Daddy and Megan having a rest. (Sorry, Queen Megan. Also, she’s not resting. She’s sitting on a throne.)
As you take the final left onto the headland, make sure you look down and you will see the rusted, twisted remains of another of the Anglesey coast’s victims, HV Hindlea. This wreck gives this section of coast it’s third shipwreck themed name... Porth Hindlea took over from Porth Jewess, which in turn took over from Porth Llestar.
Porth Llestar / Jewess/ Hindlea
The remains of the Hindlea can be seen in the clear water at low tide.
The sites of two shipwrecks, 100 years apart.
H.V. Hindlea
In a remarkable coincidence, in 1959, just a day after the centenary memorial for the Royal Charter had been held at Llanallgo Church, another ship, a small cargo ship called the Hindlea, was wrecked just a short distance from the site of the Royal Charter.
Another fierce storm had blown up and, despite having a much stronger engine than the Royal Charter, the Hindlea could not make headway against the wind and decided to anchor in the bay near Moelfre. As with the previous wreck, the winds changed to northerly. The anchor chain held, but the winds were so strong that the anchor began to drag across the bottom as the ship was blown towards the rocks.
The captain delayed giving the order to abandon ship for an hour and a half until the ship was only some 200m from the shore. At 12:11pm Seaford Radio receive the ship’s distress call saying that assistance was required as the ship was dragging its anchor. 45 minutes later the Moelfre Reserve lifeboat “Edmund and Mary Robinson” was alongside. It was a makeshift crew with only two regular crew members, 2nd coxswain Marley Francis and Bowman Hugh Owen, available alongside coxswain Dic Evans and his mechanic Evan Owen. Downed telephone lines because of the storm meant others couldn’t be contacted. Instead volunteer Hugh Jones, who had never been to sea in a lifeboat before, was recruited.
On its first attempt to get alongside under the ship’s port quarter, the lifeboat was laid over on its beam ends with its mast underwater. On the second attempt, the lifeboat was thrown against the side of the ship. However, the coxswain took the lifeboat in another eight times allowing a member of the Hindlea’s crew to jump to safety each time. During the rescue the lifeboat was at one point washed onto the deck of the ship and then back off, and Evans had to manoeuvre perilously close to the ships propellers which were churning at full speed. Thirty five minutes after the final rescue The Hindlea was hurled against the cliffs and broken in two.
For this remarkable rescue Dic Evans was given the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Gold Medal for Gallantry, the first of two of these rarely given awards that he was to win, alongside many other honours. The mechanic, Evan Owen, received the silver medal and the three other members of the crew were also given bronze medals.
Members of the Hindlea Rescue Crew (https://www.thenational.wales/news/19674858.rnli-coxswain-dic-evans-led-hindlea-rescue-october-1959/)
At the tip of the headland is a memorial bench to commemorate the rescue of the crew of the Hindlea. Beyond the headland, across the small strait called Y Swnt, lies Ynys Moelfre. We stood here a while and watched the seabirds coming and going, spotting gannets, cormorants and plenty of gulls!
Granddad reading the Hindlea memorial.
Ynys Moelfre.
Looking across to Eryri.
We followed the coastal path into the village of Moelfre, passing the Lifeboat station and the fantastic bronze statue of coxswain Dic Evans. In Covid free times it would be possible to go into the lifeboat station to take a closer look at the boat but unfortunately it’s currently closed off to the public. Hopefully it will open up again soon. We did peer in through the windows of course! It’s worth heading up behind the statue of Dic Evans to look at another art installation commemorating the bravery of Guże Ruggier during the wrecking of the Royal Charter.
Moelfre Lifeboat Station.
Bronze statue of Dic Evans looking out to sea. Over his 50 years as a lifeboatman, having joined the crew in 1921, Dic was involved in 179 launches which rescued 281 lives.
5. After reaching the centre of the village we decided that a sit down at the pub would be a good idea! It was lovely to relax with a pint.
Lobster pots in the harbour.
Fruit Shoot and a KitKat for the girls.
I think Megan would rather have a pint!
Empty glasses all round at the Kinmel Arms.
After finishing at the pub we turned right up the hill. We go past a lovely garden with a waterfall and just past this there’s a war memorial. On the opposite side of the road you’ll see an anchor from the Hindlea.
Beautiful garden.
We turn next right and basically follow the road back to the crossroads we reached on the way down to Llugwy. The road starts fine, with a good pavement, but once we leave the village and it becomes a 60mph road, the pavement vanishes. There is enough verge to get out of the way of cars, but with a fair few blind corners, it’s not particularly pleasant. We do pass the last limestone quarry on Anglesey on this route though.
No pavement!
6. When we get back to the crossroads we turn left and it’s a bit of a pull up the hill back to the car.
I really enjoyed this walk today. It’s pretty straightforward and it has plenty of interesting historical locations. Definitely one I’ll do again.
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