Today was a beautiful early Autumn day with the sun shining from a blue sky. As yet there is little sign of the leaves changing colour so the trees are still in full leaf. Daf, Joshua – our son – and I took a short walk following a leaflet left by visitors to our cottage. The trail took us to the West End of Beaumaris, giving snippets of information as we went along about the old slipways on the shore where passengers and goods disembarked and the Customs Officer – only the third to exist in Wales, checked ships’ cargoes. In 1792, there were 327 ships registered at Beaumaris – compared to only 11 at Cardiff – and wealthy merchants built themselves the beautiful houses which still adorn the town.
We left the edge of the Menai Strait, turning inland and following a lane which lead under one of the old bridges supporting a carraigeway on the Baron Hill Estate leading up to the, now derilict, great house of the Bulkeley family. We followed the path up a wooded valley to the ruins of two watermills. As our route meandered up the valley, on the left, the stream tumbled through its deep birch planted ravine, while to our right was the leet – the ditch along which diverted water once ran to power the mills. Beyond stood the moss covered stone dam whose pool had once provided the water, now sadly out of use – a romantic reminder of a past age.
We emerged from tranquil woodland by the Primary School – very close to the spot where the Roundheads defeated Royalist forces in 1648, before taking over Beaumaris Castle – then we rejoined the 21st Century, walking past Sunday homes, on past the massive stone walls of the old Gaol, to Castle Street and a welcome ice cream treat at Redboat.
The walk takes only about half an hour but is one of the tranquil things to do on Anglesey and is a reminder of just how much history is held within the lovely, small town of Beaumaris.
Dorothy
4th October 2009