Anglesey - Day 3 Monday 17th June - Part 2: Holyhead Mountain Hut Circles and Trearddur Bay

I had noticed this sign when we pulled into South Stacks Car Park

So while waiting for D and B to return and after buying E and I an icecream (from memory mine was Ginger Crunch!!) I went to explore.

Around 2500 years ago Iron Age farmers starting building their homes below the hill fort which was located at the top of Holyhead Mountain.

The low stone walls were built to support wooden roofed huts. Some of the houses have stone benches and storage pits and it is likely these huts were used by families to live in. Smaller rectangular buildings may have been workshops or sheds to keep livestock. The people who lived here grew wheat, oats and barley in the fields nearby, kept livestock and foraged on the seashore.

Often called the Ty Mawr Hut Group, around 20 structures remain today although originally there were many more and over 50 were recorded in the 1860's covering an area of 15 - 20 acres.

Excavations took place in the mid 19th century by William Owen Stanley who found items from Roman times here such as coins and pottery. Further excavations have discovered Mesolithic tools in the area.

The summit of Holyhead Mountain has an Iron Age Hillfort, a Roman Watch Tower and an old Telegraph Station.

Here you can see a reconstruction of the hut circles - apologies for the reflection.

I was fortunate enough to be able to explore the site on my own initially and it had such a wonderful timeless and tranquil atmosphere with a sense of peace - I could almost have been back in the Iron Ages the sense of history was that palpable.

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The stone walls and grassy banks were full of wild flowers.

I am bit unsure about this one perhaps a Bedstraw species

Tormentil

English Stonecrop

I fell in love with this plant which was growing out of hut walls everywhere. Wall Pennywort.

Danish Scurvy Grass (thanks again to Dr Richard Bates via Twitter for id confirmation).

Please leave a comment if any of my flower id's are incorrect.

Lichen

After B and D eventually returned we had our sandwiches and then all explored the hut circles.

On the way back to Penmon instead of going through Holyhead we detoured back to the North Wales Expressway via Trearddur Bay.

Every time we drove through Menai Bridge we saw this dragon - which often had smoke coming out of his mouth! Hence we called it The Smoking Dragon.

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D went a local walk in the evening and I have included his lovely photo of a nettle.

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Day 4 will include a visit to Plas Cadnant Hidden Gardens, Llanfairpg and Horatio Nelson's statue on the shores of the Menai Straits plus a tale of a nearly lost Timothy!


Reference: Information Boards at Holyhead Mountain Hut Circle
"The Rocks of Anglesey's Coast" by Jack E Treagus and Susan H Streagus

*D Photos taken by my son with the CanonSX50HS bridge camera
Rest of photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera

Anglesey - Day 3 Monday 17th June - Part 1: South Stack

On Monday we drove to Holy Island and RSPB South Stacks.

Holyhead Mountain (taken from the car)

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It was very very windy when we arrived at the reserve.

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The reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area (SPA) and is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). At this time of year there are breeding Guillemots (we saw so many), Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, several species of Gull, Puffins and Choughs. The visitor centre, shop and cafe are currently closed but there are temporary toilets and food/drink facilities.

We walked across the heathland towards Ellins Tower which was built in 1868 by the Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey for his wife and is now used by the RSPB. Adders, lizards and Silver Studded Blues occur but none were around during our visit although it is perhaps a little early for the latter. We did see a few Stonechats and there were quite a few wild flowers.

Clover and Tormentil

Sorrel, Campion and the large pink flower is Common Valerian (thanks to Amanda and Dr Richard Bates for id confirmation).

I think this is Horseshoe Vetch? The leaves in the photo are not that clear and I would ideally like to see the seed pods to help with id. Please let me know if I am wrong.

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South Stack lighthouse

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Apologies for the following photos - I am afraid there are no closeups of the nesting seabirds! The cliffs are a long way off and it was so windy I was finding it very difficult to hold my bins and the camera steady.

By far the most common species were Guillemots.

We did spend quite a lot of time in Ellins Tower watching the birds (how I had wished we had taken the telescope on holiday!) although there are a couple in the tower you can use. The highlight of the visit was a close up view of a Chough just outside the tower on the cliff top. Having "dipped" at The Lizard this was a new "tick" for me. Around ten pairs nest on the cliffs and nearby Holyhead Mountain.

I also got talking to a lady volunteer who asked where we came from. It turned out that she was a year older than me, had attended the same Girls'Grammar School, lived as a child in the next avenue to where my parents lived and until 5 years ago when she moved to Anglesey she lived just round the corner from where we now live - talk about a coincidence! We spent quite a lot of time reminiscing about school days and teachers.

B and D wanted to visit the lighthouse - E and I didn't plan to (me because of not liking heights and the 400 steps!) so we stayed for some time watching the seabirds from Ellins Tower before walking back to the car

English Stonecrop

I have included D's photos of the lighthouse and their walk.

I haven't been able to id this caterpillar.

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Looking back towards Ellins Tower

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A closer view of Guillemots

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About to start the final part of the descent and I would have not fancied it. Such a shame really because I think you can get closer to the birds and also view the amazing geology.

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B an D were quite close to nesting gulls (Herring) on the little islet where the lighthouse is located.

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A petition to erect a lighthouse at this location was presented to Charles II in 1665 but permission was not granted. A lighthouse was eventually built by Trinity House in 1809. Originally it had argand oil lamps and reflectors. In the mid 1870's a new lantern was installed and in 1909 an early form of incandescent light was installed. This was replaced in 1927 by a more modern version. In 1938 electricity was installed and the lighthouse was automated in 1983. South Stack rock is separated by Holy Island by a distance of 30 metres. The height of the lighthouse is 28 metres.

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Geology

The cliffs at South Stack were originally laid down as sandstones and mudstones in the early Cambrian around 522 million years ago. During the Caledonian Orogeny (mountain building episode) the rocks were folded and compression of the original horizontal sedimentary rock of sandstones and mudstones led to the formation of the metamorphosed schists and quartzites we see today.

D managed to get some photos of the folds in the rocks by the lighthouse.

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The return journey

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There is a ghost story connected to the lighthouse. On 25th October 1859 the most severe storm of the century occurred which was called The Royal Charter Gale. Over 2 days over 200 vessels around the coast of Britain were wrecked or driven ashore and 800 lives were lost. A shop called the Royal Charter was driven onto the rocks at Moelfre on the other side of Anglesey with a loss of 500 passengers and crew. At South Stack lighthouse the assistant lighthouse keeper John (Jack Jones) was struggling at night down the 400 steps. No-one knows for certain what happened but he stumbled and was seriously injured. Somehow he managed to cross the bridge to the islet and reached the lighthouse where Henry Bowen the lighthouse keeper found him. Three weeks later he died from his injuries. Since then footsteps have been heard, strange screams and the rattling of doors in the lighthouse itself.





While B and D were at the lighthouse I explored the Holyhead Hut Circles - in fact I went back again later with B, D and E - I will write about this in the next post along with a few photos of Treaddur Bay.


*D Photos taken by D with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera
Rest of photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera