There is the astonishing beauty of the Menai Straits and Snowdonia’s glorious backdrop falling away to the west to disappear into the sea at Aberdaron.
It was also home to Wales’ greatest artist, Sir Kyffin Williams who lived and worked there from 1974 until his death in 2006.
The Menai Straits is an obvious manifestation of natural beauty and the work of Sir Kyffin Williams a conceptual and captivating engagement with that same Welsh beauty.
This page is an extension to my page on a visit to the area of the Menai Straits beneath the Britannia Bridge.
You’ll find a link at the bottom of this page to take you there.
PAGE CONTENTS
I'LL BRING YOU HERE AND THEN LEAVE YOU
FOR YOUR SAFETY
LOCAL HISTORY
SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS
GETTING HERE
PARKING ADVICE
SHARE YOUR VISIT EXPERIENCES
Pwllfanogl at Llanfair PG on the Menai Straits
I'LL BRING YOU TO PWLLFANOGL AND THEN LEAVE YOU
TO YOUR PLEASANT REVERIE
The Llanfairpwll leg of Anglesey Coastal Path draws you to your left. You cannot go right, as this is the property and shoreline of the Marquess of Anglesey’ Plas Newydd estate.
This is not an overly exhausting walk. In fact, it barely counts as a pootle because the distance along the coastal path to St Mary’s Church, Nelson’s Statue and the Britannia Bridge is only about half a mile away.
I will not offer you any further guidance about this little walk.
For me, Pwllfanogl is one of those special little places to pass a time in pleasant reflection.
If the light was special enough for Sir Kyffin Williams then it's got to be good enough for mere mortals like you and me.
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Concrete Anglesey Coastal Path
FOR YOUR SAFETY
I once again repeat my safety advice about walking along the shoreline of the Menai Straits at this point.
Admiral Lord Nelson regarded this as being one of the most treacherous stretches of water in his sailing experiences.
To fall in and be washed away on a receding tide could well prove fatal. It’s important that I stress this advice.
Stick to the man-made path and all will be well.
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Pier and Hut
LOCAL HISTORY
Pwllfanogl was once a busy little village on the outskirts of the large village of Llanfair PG with its own little shipbuilding industry. It was one of a number of little ports along the Menai Straits and served a commercial purpose.
During the 19th century you would have found a little pub here called ‘The Boat Inn’ and also a creamery and a working water mill, which is now a private abode and a storied level taller. A fabulous looking house as well.
As I’ve written on a few other pages, Anglesey is known as Môn Mam Cymru (Mona Mother of Wales) because of its role down the centuries as the ‘Breadbasket of Wales’.
Anglesey's rich fertile soil proved a vital resource for the rebellious Welsh Princes in their struggles against Edward 1st.
So vital was this resource to the rebel cause that Edward that he constructed a castle at both ends of the Menai Straits at Beaumaris and Caernarfon.
That rebellion was eventually crushed and over the intervening centuries Anglesey regained its importance and trade between the island and the mainland was vital commerce for farmers and traders.
Of course, there was the Copper Trade in Amlwch exported from Amlwch Port.
Pier and Dock
Pwllfanogl played its role in Anglesey’s commerce, not only as a small port exporting and importing livestock and agricultural products. Intriguingly, there was a creamery that produced margarine in addition the mill that processed barley.
Margarine was first produced as the result of a challenge by Napoleon in France to feed his troops. It proved so important a product that this bland and horrible material found its way around the world.
I understand that during the Second World War it was manufactured from whale oil. Argh!
Sadly, its prosperity was comparatively short lived and passed into history soon after the death of Colonel Cotton, the man who created and managed this thriving little port.
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Silver View on the Menai Straits
SIR KYFFIN WILLIAMS
One of Wales’ greatest artists who was born in Anglesey’s County town of Llangefni on May 9, 1918, and passed his later years at Min y Môr before his death on September 1st, 2006, at the age of 88 years.
Sir Kyffin Williams loved the light on Anglesey and Snowdonia and many of his best works reflect that love at a deep level of cultural understanding. You will find many of his works in a permanent exhibition at Oriel Môn in Llangefni. Click Here to be guided to the gallery.
John ‘Kyffin’ Williams KBE RA was invalided out of the British Army in 1941 because of his epilepsy and advised by his doctor to take up art to help with his condition.
He moved to live at Pwllfanogl in 1974 at Min y Môr. Sir Kyffin Williams came to live here because of the problems he was experiencing finding a studio with good light for his painting. The house was adapted to suit his artistic needs by the Marquess of Anglesey, his friend and admirer.
One of the people painted in this waterside studio was my friend William Lee of Bodffordd, Anglesey, who has sadly died. I can well imagine William conversing warmly and sensitively with Sir Kyffin.
William was interested in everything, loquacious and well self-educated despite his near blindness.
It was my father who rescued William from a transformer fire when he was 9 years of age, and he was forever embarrassing my dad by calling him a hero. A fine companion for Sir Kyffin.
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Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path access restrictions
GETTING HERE
At the Marquess Column end of the village is the only major turning signposted for Brynsiencyn. Have a recce first so that you can work out the distances. It’s only a few 100 metres to the left turning.
On the corner of the Brynsiencyn turning is an old Toll House, where the first wonderful Women’s institute in Britain was established in 1915.
Having turned down here you’ll immediately cross over the railway bridge. The turning for Pwllfanogl is about 150 metres ahead of you on your left. The tall Plas Newydd Estate walls start here.
It is a rough track, though much improved from its previous Neanderthal state.
Follow the road all the way to its first corner. Here on your left is a small arched doorway signed for the Anglesey Coastal Path. Go through here and arrive on the Menai Straits, with what remains of the old village of Pwllfanogl on your right, across the River Braint.
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Anglesey Coastal Path becomes a beach
PARKING ADVICE
First of all, an important bit of advice to you
I cannot advise you on parking because the road leading to Pwllfanogl does not have room for parking. It is an area of private housing and I would respectfully urge to you to respect that privacy and park your car in the village.
It has to be the village because the Brynsiencyn road is closed in by walls on either side other than the entrance to the Plas Newydd Estate.
A second piece of advice for you. If you decide to walk from the village of Llanfairpwll, then you really to take the greatest of care, especially if you have children in tow.
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Strait Ducks
When I was writing about Llanddwyn Beach on the West Coast of Anglesey, it was fun sharing my Fish Batting story.
I'm sure you've got some even better Anglesey holiday stories that people really would love to hear about.
Go on, let us hear them.
North Stack Fog Signal Station, just south of the Port of Holyhead, offers astonishing coastal walk and beautiful views of rugged Anglesey coastline.
Holyhead Breakwater Country Park. Astonishing coastal beauty. Award Winning Anglesey Green Flag Country Park. A superb green space for family fun and walks
White Beach really, really is a hidden gem. By that, I mean it is really, really well hidden. Dinner plate pebbles, nice picnics, CRAZY HORSES and some pretty good fishing.
