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Penmon

On the eastern tip of Anglesey, this is a beauty spot whose lovely views across the Menai Strait go some way to explaining why it was chosen, centuries earlier, as a religious site. Penmon Priory was established by St Seiriol in the 6th century, and in 1237, Llywelyn the Great gave the monastery and its estates to the prior of Puffin Island. St Seiriol was nicknamed Seiriol the Pale, as he used to meet and talk to St Cybi of Holyhead at a point halfway between their monasteries. Seiriol travelled westwards in the morning and eastwards in the evening, so the sun never tanned his face. St Cyri, on the other hand, travelled in the opposite direction, and was known as St Cyri the Tanned. Seirol was eventually buried on nearby Puffin Island, where he had also founded a monastery. Once known as Priestholm and now often called Ynys Seiriol, this island is thought to have been connected to the mainland at one time, as St Seiriol was said to have a chapel across the bay in Penmaenmawr and ancient records tell of journeys between the two places. The remains of monastic buildings that date back to the 6th century can still be seen here. The island was so named because of the large puffin colonies that nested here. However, the numbers of the nesting birds declined in the 19th century partly due to rats on the island and also because the young birds were considered a delicacy when pickled.

The Parish Church of St Seiriol, originally the priory church, was rebuilt in the 12th century and contains wonderful examples of Norman architecture and a carved cross, recently moved to the church from the fields nearby, that shows influences from both Scandinavia and Ireland. The ruins of the priory’s domestic buildings include a 13th-century wing with a refectory on the ground floor where traces of the seat used by the monk who read aloud during meals can still be seen.

A nearby Dovecote, built in around 1600 by Sir Richard Bulkeley, contains nearly 1,000 nesting places. A path, beginning across the road, leads up to St Seiriol’s Well, which was probably the site of the original 6th-century priory. Although the upper part of the building covering the well appears to date from the 18th century, the lower portion is much older and could indeed incorporate something from the priory’s original chapel.

An abandoned quarry close to the village once provided stone for Beaumaris Castle, as well as the Telford and Stephenson bridges, which link the island and the Welsh mainland.