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Newborough Forest

Forests and woodlands of AngleseyRhosyr

Newborough Forest (Welsh: Coedwig Niwbwrch) is a forest to the west of Newborough, Anglesey, North Wales. It is one of the most important red squirrel conservation sites in the United Kingdom. It appears increasingly likely that there are now only 500 red squirrels in Wales and numbers are continuing to decline. The whole area was mainly shifting sand dunes prior to 1947 when afforestation began. During the late seventies and eighties there were concerns that the water levels within the forest and within neighbouring warren were falling, with the result that winter flooding was not to the same depth and that dune slack pools were drying out sooner. Proposals were put forward in 2004 to remove large parts of the forest. The local community and conservation groups objected and in 2008 a public consultation was held into the future management of the Newborough woodland.Newborough Forest is a major tourist attraction, with over 319,000 people visiting the forest in 2015.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Newborough Forest (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

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N 53.15737 ° E -4.37668 °
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, Rhosyr
Wales, United Kingdom
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Llys Rhosyr
Llys Rhosyr

Llys Rhosyr, also known as "Cae Llys", is an archaeological site near Newborough in Anglesey; the ruins of a pre-Edwardian commotal court. The Welsh word llys originally referred to an enclosed open-air space but gradually took on the meaning of a place where legal proceedings took place and was gradually extended to refer to royal "courts".Llys Rhosyr was a commotal centre before Edward I of England's conquest of Wales and debate now surrounds the former use of the Rhosyr site. Archaeologists at Gwynedd Archaeological Trust consider it to have been a royal home and have established an exhibition in the Pritchard-Jones Institute in the village on their findings supporting this theory. Excavations reveal that the enclosure had a hall, accommodation and storage barns, originally built in stone and wood. The buildings may have occupied an area as much as 450 by 300 feet (137 m × 91 m).A fierce sandstorm in the winter of 1332 buried the site and much of the surrounding area, which may have caused the decline in activity during the 14th century revealed by the archaeological investigation. When Henry Rowlands was writing in the early 18th century, the sands had uncovered parts of the walls, but no significant remains were visible, though he comments that local people were aware of the location and nature of the remains, a site sometimes known as 'llys' or 'cae'r llys' ('the field of the court' in English).From 1992 it was excavated by the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust and was opened to the public for the first time in 1995. What remains is the outlines of the walls, around only a quarter of which are exposed, including the main surrounding wall and foundations and lower walls of three large buildings, possibly the hall, a chamber and storage barns. Many artifacts were recovered from the site, including pottery and silverware indicating use by people of a high social status, as well as lead fishing weights. It is the only royal court of Gwynedd whose site has so far been excavated.

Afon Cefni
Afon Cefni

Afon Cefni is one of the major rivers on the island of Anglesey, Wales. It is 16.9 kilometres (11 mi) long. Its source is near to the village of Capel Coch, before flowing through Bodffordd and into Llyn Cefni in the centre of the island. It continues to run south through the county town of Llangefni. Just north of the A55 the river turns and flows south-west. It passes through the flatlands of the Malltraeth Marshes, where the river course was altered in 1824, creating a canal-like straight stretch. This part of the river and the surrounding marshes, part of which is a RSPB reserve, are frequented by a variety of wetland birds which in their turn are preyed on by falcons, hawks and harriers. A cycle trail follows the straightened course of the river as it flows through the marshes.Finally it flows under a bridge carrying the North Wales Coast Railway Line at Malltraeth Sands in the south-west of the island and into the Irish Sea. The viaduct is described as "noble" and has nineteen arches. An embankment carries the A4080 across the estuary at the village of Malltraeth, half a mile below the railway bridge. Another RSPB reserve is to be found in the estuary here, Newbourough Warren. Malltraeth Pool at the north end of the estuary is a place visited by many waterbirds during their spring and autumn migrations, and other wildfowl and waders are to be seen on the estuary all winter. Newborough Forest on the southern shore is used by large numbers of ravens as a winter roost, and a peninsula and a rocky islet in the estuary are a breeding ground for shags and cormorants.Migration of fish and eels is effectively blocked by the dam at the Cefni water treatment works, holding back the Cefni reservoir. Attempts to prompt the installation of a fish pass have proven unsuccessful to date. There was a ship named after the river built in Glasgow in 1890 by a company based in Menai Bridge. There is currently a tug named Afon Cefni, operated by Holyhead Towing. It can be tracked on Ship AIS websites.

Malltraeth
Malltraeth

Malltraeth (origin: Mall (corrupt, blasted, desolate, + Traeth (beach))) is a small village in the southwest of Anglesey, in the community of Bodorgan. It is now at the end of a large bay, which used to extend much further inland, almost creating a second sea strait in the area (the Menai Strait broke through following the end of the ice age). The population as of the 2011 census was only 255.After several abortive attempts, a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long 'cob' or dyke was completed across it during the 19th century, allowing land reclamation behind it. Despite this, the land remains very wet and prone to flooding, much of it of great natural and scientific importance as a result. The former salt marsh creeks are still visible on aerial photography and evident as shallow depressions in the fields. Coal mining occurred for a time in the underlying Carboniferous rock strata and the subsidence of these workings resulted in the lakes "Llynnau Gwaith-glo". The village takes its name from the expanse of sand which used to exist there, some of which survives downstream of the Cob. Malltraeth means "unwholesome strand" and is recorded from at least 1304. The extent of the previous strand or beach is reflected in the names Trefdraeth ("strand farm") and Glantraeth ("strand edge"), north of Malltraeth and now far from the shore. The village had two pubs: The Royal Oak and The Joiners Arms. The Royal Oak closed in 2015 and The Joiners Arms remained closed for an extended period after the COVID pandemic lockdown in 2020, however it finally reopened in early 2022. It also had a village Post Office and shop at 16 High Street, but this closed as a victim of Royal Mail making deep cuts in local post offices. A mainline railway runs just a few hundred metres north of the village, but there is no station. The nearest stations are Bodorgan, a request stop, which offers limited local journeys, along with Bangor and Holyhead, which offer more frequent access to longer distance travel to most parts of Wales, England and Scotland. On Sunday 26 September 2010, a newly constructed picnic area 'Clwt Glas' overlooking the Cefni Estuary in Malltraeth was opened by Olympic athlete Colin Jackson CBE and 99-year-old Mrs M A Edwards MBE, a long time and distinguished resident of the area. 'Clwt Glas' (Green Patch) was an area of land at the lower end of Malltraeth and was essentially the reverse side of a mound built as part of the scheme to reclaim the Cefni Marsh (Cors Ddyga) during the latter years of the 18th Century. It was transformed as a community project with the help of several grants into a picnic area, garden and information point. The long-established Meyrick landowning family of Bodorgan are located within the area, and are the owners of the Anglesey Racing Circuit near Aberffraw. Older still is the ancient standing stone found on the northern edge of the village.

Bodorgan
Bodorgan

Bodorgan is a village and community on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom. According to the 2001 Census, there were 1,503 residents in the now former electoral ward, 72.7% of them being able to speak Welsh. This increased to 1,704 at the 2011 Census but only 67.72% of this increased population were Welsh speakers.The village is served by Bodorgan railway station, which is located near the hamlets of Bethel and Llangadwaladr to the north-west, which are in the community, as is Malltraeth. It lies on an unclassified road to the southwest of the village of Hermon, through which the A4080 road passes. To the east and south of Bodorgan lies the estuary of the Afon Cefni and the extensive Malltraeth Sands.Bodorgan Hall is the largest country estate in Anglesey. The house, dovecote and a barn are Grade II listed buildings. The reasons given for listing the house are that it is a "site in a magnificent coastal position, which retains many of its original characteristics, having well preserved formal terraces; deer park still in use; substantial remains of extensive and once well known walled kitchen gardens; other, less formal, designed garden areas which have partially survived, including some planting; woodland and shooting coverts; large circular brick dovecote and other buildings of interest." Until 2013, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge lived in a farmhouse on the Bodorgan Estate during the time when Prince William was serving as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot based at RAF Valley nearby.The village hosted several matches of the 2019 Inter Games Football Tournament, a replacement football tournament for the popular Island Games. The games were held in Gibraltar but due to lack of pitches there Anglesey was deemed to be a better host. The former RAF Bodorgan is nearby.