Beloved Holyhead, farewell!
Every object around thee is dear;
Thy promontory, and meadows, and dell,
Where I wandered for many a year.
But oft has the ocean’s blue wave
Flowed lately, commixt with my tears;
Since my Mother was laid in her grave,
Where yon hallowed turret appears.
Oh! Sexton remember the spot,
And lay me beside her cold bed
Whenever this body is brought
To sleep in belov’d Holyhead.
Holyhead is a place of great antiquity, situated at the western extremity
of Anglesey, upon an island, or more properly a peninsula, which at high
water becomes insulated, but still it forms part of the county of
Anglesey. It is a seaport, market town, (market on Saturday) and
contributory borough. About three miles from the town the Stanley
Embankment crosses the sands, and an arm of the sea, connecting the Isle
of Holyhead with the main land of Anglesey. This vast embankment is
three quarters of a mile in length, and on an average 28 feet in height,
with a bridge of one arch 19 feet span, under which the tide, compressed
into a narrow compass, ebbs and flows with great force and velocity.
Here ocean rushes from her wide domains,
With distant roar salutes the sandy plains;
Now slow, serene, the placid currents creep,
Then backwards roll terrific to the deep.
Though Holyhead is not of large pretensions, and cannot fairly claim the
picturesque scenery of some parts of the Principality, yet its history is
pregnant with interest. There is an air of the nautical about the place,
and, though near to some of the most uncultivated parts of Wales, it
appears to possess an ideality of its own, and one differing materially
from that of the surrounding country. It has been but little noticed by
some excursionists, who have favoured the public, through the medium of
the press, with the result of their wanderings; although they have
written largely and excellently on the Principality, they have scarcely
thought it worth their notice to pay a passing tribute to this ancient
place. Indeed, the Island of Anglesey, which has to be traversed in
order to reach it, is flat and uninteresting. This circumstance, has,
doubtless, had the effect of deterring many persons from visiting this
place, and contemplating the grand marine views around it.
Mr. Walpole, whose splendid work appeared in 1784, makes the following
remark on Holyhead:—“The village consists of a straggling confused heap
of thatched houses built on rocks.” The Rev. R. Warner, who wrote his
interesting and learned work on North Wales, in 1798, merely observes,
“The parish of Holyhead reckons a population of about 2000.” Mr.
Bingley, in his instructive volume, gives us some half-dozen lines on the
place; but Mr. Aiken, and several others have not so much as named it.
From what they had heard and read, they concluded that the insignificant
village possessed but few events at all worthy of being recorded, and
those few not of the most interesting nature. They, therefore, refused
To strike their harps amid the cheerless gloom.
Such was Holyhead a few years ago. At that time there was no harbour for
her vessels, but what the rude hand of Nature had formed—no lighthouse
streaming in the midnight gloom—no telegraph to announce to distant
parties what vessels heaved in sight—no railway train gliding swiftly and
smoothly along the iron-road—no joyous excursionists pouring in by
thousands, paying their respects to the natives, beneath the shining of a
Summer’s sun—no coachman with his sounding horn—no spirit for commercial
enterprise—no Bible Society—no Missionary Society—no schools to “teach
the young idea how to shoot”—no Saving’s Bank—no Libraries—no Mechanic’s
Institute. It could not boast, like other towns, of advance in trade, or
commercial prosperity. It had rather to hang its harp upon the willows,
and wonder why all the mighty advantages that Nature had lavished on its
transcendently lovely Bay, had been so long comparatively overlooked.
The present century rose on Holyhead like a sun in smiles. Her growth to
importance has taken place within the last half century; the time of her
visitation had dawned, her set time was come; the tide of her future
prosperity sprung auspiciously; the sympathies of England were turned
towards her—the wealth of England was expended on her—and the experience,
science, industry, and enterprise of England were put forth on her
behalf. The erection of South Stack Lighthouse in 1808, the commencement
of the Pier, with its Harbour, Graving Dock, and Lighthouse in 1810, the
Government establishment, and the completion of the great Parliamentary
road, gave a commercial impulse to the place, and materially contributed
to attract and support a thriving population.
The commencement of the Breakwater, or New Harbour, and the Chester and
Holyhead Railway, sounded the tocsin aloud for the advancement of
Holyhead; and the advantage was taken by the spirited inhabitants in a
manner which did them credit. Within the last four years, in particular,
it has rapidly increased in extent and improved in appearance: streets
and public edifices, large and well built, seem to have started into
existence as by the enchantment of some mighty magician; almost
everything is new, and everything wonderfully improved, affording ample
accommodation of every kind for the numerous visitors who may do
themselves the honour of reposing within its precincts. The town is
rapidly rising to that respectability and celebrity to which the
salubrity of its air, its rich and varied prospects, by land and sea, so
justly entitle it; but like most other places in a transition state, it
exhibits a motley mixture of old and new houses. The important
conveyances, vehicles to all parts of the country, the railway, and
steamers, to and from Ireland daily, bestow on it a charm which it is in
vain to look for in any other spot in the Principality.
There are places of worship, exclusive of the parish Church, for
Independents, Baptists, Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. There are
two Public Schools, conducted respectively upon the National and British
plan; and an Infant School, under the auspices of the Independents. The
British School was erected in 1848, on land given by the late Lord
Stanley, of Alderley, and the Hon. W. O. Stanley, of Penrhos. A
Mechanics’ Institute has been established—a new Church and Cemetery are
in contemplation—a Gas Company is formed—accommodations for bathing are
“looming in the future.” Indeed, although the writer is not a prophet,
nor the son of a prophet, yet he will venture to divine that, a few years
hence, there will be a convenient Market-place—water will be brought to
every roan’s door—gas, one of the greatest _desiderata_ in the march of
improvement, will illumine our streets, and other improvements necessary
and desirable for the sanitary condition of the town, will follow in the
wake, and Holyhead will be raised to that position which she is designed
to occupy.
We trust the sun of Holyhead’s hope has at length arisen; may it be the
beginning of a bright and prosperous day, not only in a commercial point
of view, but in a moral aspect, for with increasing shipping, trade,
population, &c., will Christian responsibility increase also; and
benevolent efforts to meet the multiplied demand, we trust, will not be
found wanting.