Anglesey history trail

Ice retreat (19,000–13,000 BC)

Anglesey emerged from the last Ice Age, and ancient forests once stood where the sea now is. The jawbone and tooth of a woolly mammoth, nicknamed Myfanwy, were found at Holyhead more than 150 years ago and hint at the island’s deep natural past. You can find out more at Holyhead Maritime Museum.

Mesolithic settlers (around 7000 BC)

The first clear human presence appears in the Mesolithic, followed by Neolithic and Bronze Age communities who built burial chambers, standing stones and hillforts. Many are still visible today.

Bryn Celli Ddu

One of Anglesey’s most famous prehistoric landmarks, Bryn Celli Ddu (the “Mound in the Dark Grove”) is really two sites in one, and it’s about a 24-minute drive from Lakehouse. In the early Neolithic (New Stone Age) a henge — a bank and ditch enclosing a circle of stones — was built here. It was later replaced by a chambered tomb beneath a mound, with a long, narrow passage leading to an inner chamber.

Its most unusual feature can only be seen once a year. As the sun rises on the summer solstice, the longest day, shafts of light shine straight down the tomb’s passage and illuminate the chamber within.

Opening times, directions and a map →

Castell Mawr, above Red Wharf Bay

This rocky outcrop is thought to be the site of an Iron Age fort. Pair it with the bay below for a powerful sense of time stacked in layers. It’s a beautiful place to look at, but please don’t climb it. The rock is treacherous.

Vikings on Anglesey

Red Wharf Bay (Traeth Coch) is long believed to have been a significant Viking landing place. In the 19th century a hoard of five complete Hiberno-Norse silver arm-rings was found on the south-eastern side of the bay, evidence that ties local events to wider Norse movements after Ingimund was expelled from Dublin.

Local legend says the bay is called Traeth Coch (Red Beach) because a bloody Viking battle stained its sands red.

Walk it today: Red Wharf Bay sits between Pentraeth and Benllech, linked by the Anglesey Coastal Path and backed by salt marsh and dunes rich in wildlife. Stand by the shore, look up to Castell Mawr, and imagine longships riding the tide.

Faith, farms and sea routes

Early Christian and medieval echoes: churches, chapels and long-used trackways connect communities to pilgrimage and trade. You’ll find these threads along the coast and inland. Pair a coastal walk with a visit to a village church to feel the continuity through the ages.

Coastal life: the island’s edge has always been a working frontier of fishing, small ports and trading stops that shaped everyday life and drew in visitors, allies and raiders.

Industrial age to modern paths

Industrial shifts: the island was transformed by new transport, maritime activity and local industries, leaving archives, maps and photographs that document a changing landscape of work. Thomas Telford’s Menai Suspension Bridge opened in 1826, and the copper mines of Parys Mountain date back around 4,000 years.

Anglesey Coastal Path (opened 2006): a waymarked route of about 200 km (125 miles) that stitches together history with scenery, ideal for sampling sites from prehistoric stones to Viking shores in short, satisfying segments.

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