Holyhead is the largest town within the county of Anglesey in north Wales - although to be exact it is not on the island of Anglesey itself but rather on the adjacent Holy Island that lies off the western coast of Anglesey and is connected by a causeway over which runs the main A5 trunk road.
Its Welsh name is "Caergybi", the fortress of Cybi, an early Welsh Saint. There is indeed an old Roman fort whose walls still remain to this day which was probably built in the third century to defend the area from Irish raids. It is within the confines of this fort that Saint Cybi is traditionally said to have established an early Christian monastery but any traces have been since obscured by the parish church built between 13th and 16th centuries.
Holyhead only really developed as a major port in the 19th century with the enlargement of the harbour and the arrival in 1848 of the Chester and Holyhead Railway. The town became the principal port for traffic between Britain and Ireland and stood at the terminus of a major communication route to London. Today the ferries continue to run to Dublin on a daily basis.
Table of References
- http://www.gazetteer-wales.co.uk/
- http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/
- http://www.holyhead.com/sitemap/
- http://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/anglesey.htm
- http://www.holyhead.org/