Residents of Holyhead fondly remember Pollecoff’s department and drapery store for its ‘elegance and quality’. Its owner, Solomon Polliakoff, was born in Russia in 1867. He emigrated to the United Kingdom to escape persecution and to better himself…

The newly-created Boathouse Hotel is the first social enterprise Eco-Hotel in North Wales with a social and environmental mission. Nestled in a dip on Newry Beach Promenade, the Boathouse Hotel boasts a perfect location on the Anglesey Coastal Path…

For some 25 years I regularly took students from Bangor University to Ireland. We set off on the Friday afternoon boat from Holyhead and then settled into our lodgings. On Saturday we went south: to the south Dublin tombs, including Brennanstown,…

As my name suggests, I have crossed the Irish Sea many times. I first went to Ireland to pursue archaeology in 1960 when I was researching the North Wales megalithic tombs and needed to see the Irish ones as well. My memory of that first visit to…

The Nature Trail is just over a mile long, with varying terrain and should take around 40 minutes to complete. Beginning at the car park, follow the markers on the Port Places app. This experience will help to guide you round the trail and give you…

Bring the past to life and reimagine the present with a range of perspectives as diverse as the connections between Ireland and Wales across the Irish Sea. Developed by James L. Smith of the Ports, Past and Present Project using project material…

In the decade 1912-1923, continuous waves of events impacted Irish society, including the 1913 Lockout, the First World War, the 1916 Easter Rising, the Spanish flu, the War of Independence, Anglo-Irish treaty, partition, Civil War and finally the…

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 shared photographs of an impressive family memorabilia collection once situated in the pub with…

Billy lived in Holyhead in the nineteenth century. He was a young man affected by paraplegia in a time when society still operated under conventional notions of ‘perfection,’ and of the many important stories presented in the invaluable Holyhead:…

History has played out on the route between Dublin and London, and the Port of Holyhead was often the critically timed step across the Irish Sea. Over an intense three-month period one hundred years ago, Irish delegations and secret documents…