Malltraeth
Encyclopedia
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, in the area 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
Menai Strait
The Menai Strait is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales.The strait is bridged in two places - the main A5 road is carried over the strait by Thomas Telford's elegant iron suspension bridge, the first of its kind,...
broke through following the end of the ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
).
After several abortive attempts, a 1 km-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
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
creeks are still visible on aerial photography and evident as shallow depressions in the fields. Coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
occurred for a time in the underlying Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
rock strata and the subsidence of these workings resulted in the lakes "Llynnau Gwaith-glo".
The village has two pubs: The Royal Oak and The Joiners. It also had a village Post Office shop, but this closed as a victim of the Royal Mail's making deep cuts in local post offices. A mainline railway runs just a few hundred metres north of the town, but there is no station. The nearest stations are Bodorgan
Bodorgan railway station
Bodorgan railway station serves the hamlet of Bodorgan and the village of Bethel on the Isle of Anglesey. The stop is an unmanned halt, and serves as a request stop for Chester and Holyhead-bound local trains along the North Wales coast....
, which offers limited local journeys, along with Bangor
Bangor, Wales
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...
and Holyhead
Holyhead
Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....
, which offer more frequent access to longer distance travel to most parts of Wales, England, and Scotland
The long-established Meyrick landowning family of Bodorgan are located within the area, and are the owners of the Anglesey Racing Circuit near Aberffraw
Aberffraw
Aberffraw is a small village and community on the south west coast of the Isle of Anglesey , in Wales, by the west bank of the River Ffraw, at . The UK postcode begins LL63. Access by road is by way of the A4080 and the nearest rail station is Bodorgan. In the early Middle Ages Aberffraw was the...
. Older still is the ancient standing stone
Standing stone
Standing stones, orthostats, liths, or more commonly megaliths are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....
found on the northern edge of the village.
For live weather and webcam view from Malltraeth, and links to aerial and ground photographs of the area and surroundings, please visit fotonix.co.uk
Malltraeth Marsh
The reclaimed land is called Malltraeth MarshMalltraeth Marsh
Malltraeth Marsh is a large marsh area in Anglesey, North Wales, located northeast of Malltraeth village, north of Llangaffo and south of Rhostrehwfa...
, through which runs the Afon Cefni
Afon Cefni
Afon Cefni is one of the major rivers on the island of Anglesey, Wales. It is long. The river starts at the Llyn Cefni in the centre of the island and then runs south through the county town of Llangefni. Just north of the A55 the river turns and flows south-west. It passes through the flatlands...
, which was canalised in 1824. The marsh is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
and is particularly renowned for its bird life, beautifully captured in Charles Tunnicliffe
Charles Tunnicliffe
Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe was an internationally renowned naturalistic painter of British birds and other wildlife. He spent most of his working life on the Isle of Anglesey.-Life:...
's paintings, which form the resident gallery at Oriel Ynys Môn, near Llangefni.
Llangefni
Llangefni is the county town of Anglesey in Wales and contains the principal offices of the Isle of Anglesey County Council. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llangefni was 4,662 people and it is the second largest settlement on the island...
There is an RSPB reserve in the marsh area.