Gwynedd Archaeological Trust Ymddiriedolaeth Archaeolegol Gwynedd 01248 352535 |
The Menai Straits 2000 years of history |
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The landing places on the Anglesey shore are less well known. In the sixteenth century Cadnant is frequently mentioned as one of the unloading places and Porth Daniel is recorded as the limit of the Porthesgob Ferry where it meets Porthaethwy waters. Porth Daniel is a small inlet on the Porthaethwy shoreline, on Water Street, immediately adjacent to the promenade leading to St. George’s Pier. It is shown on the Llantysilio Enclosure Award Map of c.1815 and on William Provis’ Survey of Menai Bridge made around 1820, during the construction of the suspension bridge. Trefelias, on the Anglesey shore, was a township of the Bishop of Bangor’s manor of Treffos (Davies, 1942, 140). A survey of 1352 identifies a tenant of Trefelias named Ithel Borthwis (Ithel the ferryman). Ithel and his fellow tenants also payed 111/2d annually towards the repair of a fish weir there. The narrow, now wooded, valley of the Afon Cadnant opens into the Straits between the islands of Ynys Geint and Ynys Castell. The fish weir is still visible, extending from the shore to Ynys Castell. Another of the Porthesgob landing places on the Anglesey shore is referred to as Porth Philip Ddu (Davies, 1942 146-7). This has not been located but is said, in the sixteenth century, to have been remembered as the loading and unloading places for Treffos, the manorial centre. A certain Philip Du is recorded as one of the free tenants of the Bishop of Bangor in the township of Bodffyddion in 1348. Melville Richards suggested that Bodffyddion lay in the parish of Llandegfan, to the east of Trefelias. A short distance further again lies the small gravelly promontory of Borthwen. Borthwen lies directly opposite Garth point and the two locations are closely associated from the sixteenth century onwards. The crossing between the two points is short at very low tides (375m) but double the distance at high tide. A stone pier was built at Borthwen at about the same time as the pier on the Bangor side. The pier has survived and the Gazelle Hotel now occupies the ferry house. |
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Borthwen (Gazelle) and Garth Point |
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Cadnant and fish trap |
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