Medieval churches that appear to have been dedicated to the Irish saint Brigid, Bride or Ffraid can be found across most parts of Wales. The large west facing haven known as St Bride’s Bay in Pembrokeshire seems to have been known by versions of the…

One of the disciples of St David in the Latin Life of St David is named sanctus Aidanus. According to text, written late in the eleventh century by Rhygyfarch ap Sulien at his scriptorium in Llanbadarn Fawr, Aidan left David’s monastery and…

A mosaic of St Andrew that survives in St Patrick’s Church in Rosslare remembers the ‘saints’ that sailed between Wales and Ireland for the first sixty years of the crossing. Four vessels were initially commissioned by the Great Western Railway: the…

The Catholic mission in Fishguard was established in the late nineteenth century to minister to Irish workers and families involved in the construction of the port, mirroring a similar mission to Catholic families in Holyhead in the mid-nineteenth…

#ThatPurplePlace is a not-for-profit community interest company that was founded in 2022 with the aim of promoting physical and mental health for individuals, businesses, and the community of Ynys Cybi. Founder, Abi Jenkins is driven by her passion…

Stephen Magee is a member of the family that were the proprietors of the former Foresters Arms pub in Holyhead, and a custodian of its history. Stephen sat down with with Ports, Past and Present and told stories of the once-bustling Foresters Arms…

Towards the end of the Civil War, Major Thomas Swift took control of the fort of Holyhead in 1649, and in the following year he was made Postmaster. This gave him responsibility for the ships carrying the mail to Ireland, which was a troublesome…

The oldest building in Pembroke Dock is the tower that stands behind the dockyard wall on Fort Road. Although the Anglican church in Pembroke Dock, dedicated to St John the Evangelist, appears to have a tall tower that is similar to other…

Most Welsh place-names that incorporate the names of saints occur in the form of llan with the name of the saint, and places named Llangybi (the enclosure, church or parish of Cybi) can be found elsewhere in Wales on the Llŷn Peninsula, in…

The two-storey folly was erected in 1868 for Ellin or Ellen Stanley. Ellen came from the Williams family of Bodelwyddan near St Asaph in north Wales and married William Owen Stanley of Penrhos in 1832. They lived at Penrhos mansion near Holyhead,…