Beaumaris, Anglesey

Historical Description

Beaumaris, a market-town, a municipal borough, and a parish, and the county town of Anglesey. The town stands on the west side of Beaumaris Bay, at the NE end of the Menai Strait, 6½ miles by road N by E of Bangor, 4½ NE of Menai Bridge station on the L. & N.W.R, and 249 from London; it is also connected with Bangor by a ferry from Garth Point, the distance across the Strait being ½ of a mile, and the landing-place 2 miles below Beaumaris, the total distance from Bangor being 4 miles. The name is supposed to be derived from the French beau marais, beautiful marsh. Beaumaris first acquired consequence, if not existence, from the castle built by Edward I. in 1293 to secure his conquests. Edward I. surrounded the town with walls, and made it a corporation. It is well-built, and comprises two long streets, Watergate and Castle Street, together with a third leading to the west. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O), a county hall, in which the assizes and quarter sessions are held, a county police station, a commodious town-hall, with assembly rooms, a custom house, a literary institute, a club, a market-house, and a free grammar school. The town-hall is used for the meetings of the corporation and for petty sessions. The church was built at the end of the 13th century, with the exception of the chance], which is of the 16th century. It contains some good monuments of the Bulkeley family, an altar-tomb of the 15th century, and a monumental stone to Sir Henry, the father of Sir Philip Sidney. There are chapels for Baptists, Con-gregationalists, Calvinistic Methodists, Wesleyans, and Presbyterians. The grammar school was founded in 1609 by D. Hughes. The castle of Edward I., in a state of ruin, is adjacent to the upper end of the town, and has a picturesque appearance in spite of the lowness of the site. It was garrisoned in 1643 for Charles I., and made a considerable defence, but surrendered in 1646 to General Mytton. The outer wall has ten low round towers; and there is a narrow wall, running towards the sea, called the Gunner's Walk, and forming an advance work. The main structure is nearly quadrangular, with a large round tower at each corner; and the banqueting-hall, the state-rooms, and a small chapel, with finely groined roof, can still be traced. A bardic meeting was held in 1832 in the ruined banqueting-hall and chapel, attended by the Princess Victoria and her mother the Duchess of Kent The surrounding grounds have been converted into a pleasant promenade.

The town is much and increasingly frequented as a watering-place, and it offers many attractions to visitors— fine bathing-ground, charming walks, pleasant recreations, and most magnificent views. There is a ferry to Bangor, and steamers ply to the Menai Bridge, Llandudno, Liverpool, and Carnarvon. A weekly market is held on Saturday. The number of vessels registered as belonging to the port in 1893 was 119 (6505 tons), viz., Ill (6261 tons) sailing, 119and 8 (244 tons) steamers. The entries in 1892, chiefly coastwise, were 6118 (1,275,977 tons). The chief imports are timber, coal, and provisions, and the chief exports copper-ores, slate, and marble. The town was made a borough by Edward I.; it is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors; is the seat of the assizes for Anglesey, and of quarter sessions; and is the headquarters of the Royal Anglesey Engineer Militia. The Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, abolished the separate representation of the Beaumaris group of boroughs. Its borough boundaries include Beaumaris parish, Llanfaes, and part of Llaniestyn. Area of the municipal borough, 3136 acres; population, 2202; area of the civil parish, 511 acres of land and 88 of foreshore and water; population, 1837; of the ecclesiastical parish, 2926. The living is annexed to the rectory of Llandegfan in the diocese of Bangor. Baron Hill, the seat of the Bulkeley family, is situated on an eminence overlooking the town.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

FindMyPast have a parish records collection which includes transcripts and images of most Welsh parish registers.
This includes Beaumaris: Baptisms from c1600 to 1894, Marriages from 1803 to 1888, and Burials from 1781 to 1967. Free to search.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

For births, marriages, and deaths in Beaumaris from 1837 to 1937 you should search for the Bangor Registration District.
For births, marriages, and deaths in Beaumaris from 1937 to 1968 you should search for the Anglesey East Registration District.
For births, marriages, and deaths in Beaumaris from 1968 to 1974 you should search for the Anglesey Registration District.

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Anglesey is online.

Maps

Online maps of Beaumaris are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers online:

• Western Mail
• The North Wales Chronicle