Anglesey

Anglesey Principal Area

Administrative headquarters	Llangefni
surface	714 km²
Residents	69,751 (2011)
Welsh speakers	70.4%
ISO 3166-2	GB-AGY
ONS code	00NA
Website	www.anglesey.gov.uk

Map from 1946

Bryn Celli Ddu

Bryn Celli Ddu, interior view

Penrhos Feiwl

Anglesey ( Welsh Ynys Môn ; Latin Mona ) is an island off the northwest coast of Wales in the Irish Sea and a principal area of the same name . To the northwest lies the tidal island of Ynys y Fydlyn . The administrative seat is in Llangefni . The landscape is dominated by hills. Holy Island (formerly Holyhead Island) is off Anglesey to the west and is connected to Anglesey by a bridge and an artificial dam.

traffic

Over the Menai Straits two bridges (lead Menai Bridge and Britannia Bridge ), the Anglesey with the island of Great Britain connect. Ferries to Dublin (including the Ulysses , one of the largest ferries in the world) in the Republic of Ireland operate from the port of the largest city, Holyhead .

Surname

The English name of the island (Anglesey) is derived from the Old Norse "Ongul's ey" (German island of Ongul). Ongul is the name of a Viking leader. The name Anglesey has certainly not related to historical people of the fishing .

history

At the end of prehistoric times , Anglesey was a center of the Druids , which is why it was called "Island of the Druids". In AD 61, the Romans under Gaius Suetonius Paulinus destroyed the sanctuary there in order to break the persistent resistance of the Celtic population, promoted by the priesthood. They called the island Mona , as it was also called by the locals. After Paulinus was recalled from his governorship in the province of Britannia , the Romans lost control of the island. The Roman suffect consul and later governor of Britain, Gnaeus Iulius Agricola , conquered the island again in 77 AD through auxiliary troops who took off their heavy equipment and swam to the island. According to Tacitus, this impressed the Celts there so much that they surrendered without a fight. The English added Anglesey to their kingdom in the 13th century.

Eleanor Cobham, accused of witchcraft , died at Beaumaris Castle on Anglesey in 1452 .

Anglesey is one of the thirteen traditional counties of Wales . In 1974 Anglesey became a district of the newly formed county of Gwynedd and since 1996 Anglesey has been a principal area with county status .

Attractions

Anglesey is a popular tourist destination. Among the megalithic structures that have been preserved are those of Barclodiad-y-Gawres (a system of the Maes Howe or Newgrange type near Aberffraw ), that of Trefignath and the restored system of Bryn Celli Ddu , which has a Bronze Age grave in the middle of an originally Neolithic sanctuary. The two needle-like menhirs of Penrhos Feilw , about 3 meters high, are 2 of 39 menhirs on the island. Din Lligwy is the site of a high-ranking megalithic and an Iron Age monument. In Aber Alaw , the Rundcairn Bedd Branwen can be seen, in which Queen Branwen from the Mabinogion is said to be buried. On the island there is the Iron Age sacrificial locality Llyn Cerrig Bach and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch the place with the longest place name in Europe. Anglesey is classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . Furthermore, on the island of Plas Newydd and the ruins of Beaumaris Castle . Right on the island's south coast is the Anglesey Circuit , one of the most modern racetracks in the UK.

About one kilometer off the island of Anglesey, a farm consisting of five tidal power stations with a capacity of two megawatts each is being planned, which is expected to produce electricity for 10,000 households in Wales by 2015 ^[obsolete] . The plants are ocean current power plants , as they were already installed in the Strangford tidal power plant in a strait off Northern Ireland . Similar to a wind turbine, rotors are driven by the ocean current and thus generate electricity. The £ 70 million project has now been approved and £ 10 million government funding. The existing infrastructure of the Port of Holyhead is to be used for the construction, operation and maintenance of the facilities and thus further strengthen the port's economic importance. It is also hoped that Wales will be able to take on a pioneering role in renewable energy .

The pagan metal band Eluveitie wrote a song (Inis Mona) about the island and the druids.

Other megalithic systems: