Gwynedd Archaeological Trust

Ymddiriedolaeth Archaeolegol Gwynedd

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The Menai Straits 2000 years of history

The steep banks of the Straits at the Porthaethwy ferry could not provide access for wheeled vehicles. It is likely, though, that, as road improvements were being made in the early 18th century, coaches began to appear and had to be accommodated. The more gentle slopes eastward were used, probably crossing from the site which later became the George Hotel to Porth y Wrach on the Anglesey side.

Coach traffic expanded considerably in the second half of the 18th century, largely as a result of improvements at the headland of Penmaenmawr and in Nant Ffrancon. In 1768 the Bishop Bangor, seeing an opportunity, built an inn on a tenement of his at Cae’r Glowr. The Bishop’s interests were set back when legal proceedings found against him as an intruder in the use of Porthaethwy landing places. The Inn was taken over, however, and enlarged, as the George and Dragon. Later, access for wheeled vehicles to the landing place was provided with a curving ramp down to the shoreline and a covered walkway was provided for foot passengers from the gardens to the shore. Some this was Telford's work, on the London to Holyhead road, before the bridge was built. The landing place on the Anglesey shoreline was at Porth y Wrach, a wide and convenient slipway that led directly to a block of coaching stables owned by the George. Mail coaches and their teams were changed at these points, while private vehicles were ferried across. Orders for horses to be made ready were conveyed across the Straits by speaking trumpet.

The George was an undoubted success. It became the most important ferry on the this stretch of the water. It continued to thrive and, after the bridge was open and the ferry redundant, visitors came to see the engineering wonders of Telford and Stephenson. The Shrewsbury, Chester and Holyhead Mails and other Coaches, stopped there to change horses. William Bulkeley Hughes of Plas Coch organised a banquet at the George Hotel, in August 1851, and a ball the following day, to celebrate Robert Stephenson's achievement.

The George changed hands, and saw new tenants, several times after 1827. In the 1860s and 70s the Hotel was described as having 13 acres of charming grounds, most tastefully laid out. There was a public drawing room, coffee room, sitting rooms, a billiard room, good cellars, a tap-room and 76 beds. Stabling was provided for 21 horses, coach-houses, cow-houses, a barn, and granary. The property was lighted with gas made on the premises.

The George Hotel was taken over by the Normal College, Bangor in 1919 and the site, with repair and renovation continues to be used as a residence for students, offices and additional functions associated with its amalgamation with the University of Wales, Bangor.

Remnants of its original use as a coaching inn and ferry landing still survive. In particular there are still slight remains of the stone built landing stage on the shoreline, the curving carriageway to the shore, the once impressive flanking wall emblazoned with the ‘George Hotel’ sign and the covered stepped walkway for foot passengers. On the Anglesey side the Porth y Wrach landing stage is sill there, now in use as a slipway for pleasure boats. The coaching stables and their curtilage was encroached upon in the 1830s as part of the developing warehouse, timber yard and shipping enterprise of the Davies family of Menai Bridge.