Holyhead | Caergybi
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Holyhead is the largest town on Holy Island, Anglesey. It is a major seaport, boasting a ferry link with Ireland over 200 years old. Although Holyhead remained a comparatively small fishing village until around 1800, the area was settled as far back as the Neolithic era, as can be seen in the many remains of circular huts, burial chambers and standing stones. In the fourth century, a Roman military outpost was established here and in the sixth century the abandoned camp was repurposed, with a church and monastery dedicated to St Cybi. The Welsh name of Holyhead, Caergybi (‘Cybi’s fort’), neatly summarizes both its Roman and early Christian origins.
Since at least since the seventeenth century, Holyhead has served as north Wales’s main port for sailing to Ireland. The completion of Thomas Telford’s post road, the opening of his Menai Suspension Bridge, and the arrival of the railway in the first half of the nineteenth century considerably boosted the growth of the town. In 1819, the first steam ships were employed in the transport of mail and passengers between Holyhead and Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), making the service more reliable and increasing the traffic across the Irish Sea. It therefore became necessary to develop a new, much larger harbour able to give refuge to up to 1000 ships in the event of bad weather. The result was the construction of Holyhead breakwater, which at 2.7km remains the UK’s longest seawall.
Caergybi yw’r dref fwyaf ar Ynys Gybi sy’n rhan o Ynys Môn ehangach. Mae’n borthladd sylweddol, sy’n gallu ymfalchïo mewn cysylltiad fferi ag Iwerddon sy’n dyddio’n ôl dros ddau gan mlynedd. Er mai pentref pysgota cymharol fychan oedd Caergybi tan tua 1800, roedd pobl wedi bod yn byw yn yr ardal ers cyn belled yn ôl a’r cyfnod Neolithig, fel y tystia’r olion niferus o gytiau crwn, siambrau claddu a meini hirion. Cafodd caer filwrol Rufeinig ei sefydlu yma yn y bedwaredd ganrif ac yn ddiweddarach, yn y chweched ganrif, cafodd y gwersyll gwag ei addasu i bwrpas gwahanol pan gysegrwyd eglwys a mynachlog i Sant Cybi. Mae’r enw Caergybi ynddo’i hun yn grynodeb taclus o wreiddiau Rhufeinig a Christnogol cynnar y lle.
Ers yr ail ganrif ar bymtheg o leiaf mae Caergybi wedi bod yn brif borthladd gogledd Cymru ar gyfer mordeithiau i Iwerddon. Roedd cwblhau lôn bost Thomas Telford, agor Pont y Borth a dyfodiad y rheilffordd yn hanner cyntaf y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg yn hwb sylweddol i dwf y dref. Yn 1819 dechreuwyd defnyddio agerlongau i gludo post a theithwyr rhwng Caergybi a Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), gan wneud y gwasanaeth yn fwy dibynadwy a chynyddu’r traffig ar draws Môr Iwerddon. Daeth yn angenrheidiol felly i ddatblygu harbwr newydd, llawer mwy, a allai roi lloches i hyd at fil o longau mewn tywydd garw. Y canlyniad oedd adeiladu morglawdd Caergybi – morglawdd hiraf Prydain hyd heddiw ac yntau’n ymestyn dros 2.7k.