Exploring Holy Island, Anglesey: A Guide to Its Best Attractions

Nestled along the rugged coastline of North Wales, Holy Island is full pf spectacular natural beauty, history, and spiritual significance. This enchanting island, connected to Anglesey by two road bridges, offers a plethora of experiences for visitors seeking great beaches and adventure. Here’s a guide to the best things to do in Holy Island, Anglesey.

Holyhead Breakwater Country Park

Just a few kilometres west of Holyhead’s town centre this hidden gem of a park is set in a dramatic location in the old quarries between Holyhead Mountain and the Irish Sea. Once the source of stone used to construct Holyhead Breakwater it then housed brickworks that made the special brick used in smelting furnaces before closing in the early 1970s. The country park opened in 1990. The brick kiln chimney, axles from the crushers and a fog signal cannon once used on North Stack are part of this fascinating outdoor museum with further information available on site. The park has its own well-stocked lake, around which the nature trail, along with the many other paths, are great places to spot birds. Chough and peregrine falcon are frequently seen and heard enjoying the updrafts from the quarry walls. The gorse and bramble attract willow warblers, stonechats, wheatears and linnets, and little owls frequent the reserve. The surrounding heathland areas are a haven for insects; look out for the silver studded blue butterfly and moths such as the ruby tiger, cinnabar, buff-tip and silver Y. There are also many different types of orchids here such as bee, marsh and common spotted. From the vantage point of the cliffs it is possible to spot harbour porpoises, grey seals and both Risso’s and common dolphins below. The park is the start of many fabulous walks including the Holyhead Breakwater and a popular circular path around scenic ‘Rocky Coast’. Other trails lead to the summit of Holyhead Mountain and along the coast to the breathtaking North Stack and South Stack. The park offers orienteering trails and has a visitor centre and cafe. www.anglesey.gov.uk/en/Residents/Countryside/Holyhead-Breakwater-Country-Park.aspx

Walking in Breakwater Country Park

Holyhead Mountain and South Stack walk

This circular walk combines a superb section of the coast path and some modest but rough mountain terrain. Despite its relatively low 220-metre summit Holyhead Mountain has a true mountain feel. Start at Holyhead Breakwater Country Park. Immediately head up the rock steps carved out of the hillside on to the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path for great views over Holyhead Harbour and two hidden rocky bays below. The large ferries to Ireland can be seen slipping in and out of the harbour beyond the breakwater and several kilometres out to sea The Skerries can be spotted on a clear day. Continue uphill past the old magazine hut, once used by the quarry to store explosives and dynamite, until you arrive at Ynys Arw / North Stack foghorn station, now a private house. The views from here are staggering, with precipitous sea cliffs diving into swirling seas below. Directly beneath the stack is an enormous sea cave where grey seal pups can be spotted in the autumn. Head south along the coastal footpath towards Holyhead Mountain to find the steep rocky track towards the summit. Pass the Iron Age hill fort of Caer y Tŵr, whose walls are made of naturally occurring rocky outcrops and extensive stone ramparts that the Romans were thought to have built a watchtower within. At the trig point there are 360-degree views over Holyhead Harbour, the Carneddau Mountains and Snowdon. From the summit, descend through a rocky landscape to reach a wide path leading to South Stack. Look out for choughs, gulls, the odd puffin and peregrine, thousands of guillemots and razorbills and the occasional porpoise. Continue to the small tourist car park above Ellin’s Tower. To return take the path that heads north-north-east from the road, then veers increasingly east towards the radio stations and skirts the southern base of Holyhead Mountain. Head into the fields with medieval field boundaries and follow the track between old drystone walls to reach the lane and the houses of the hamlet of Gorlan then return via path to the country park.

Summit of Holyhead Mountain

Walk the length of Holyhead Breakwater

Considered the longest breakwater in Europe, this listed Victorian structure encloses

160 hectares of deep water to create a safe anchor for ships entering Holyhead. Located to the north-west of Holyhead town it is possible to walk the length of the 2.7-kilometre breakwater along the promenade at the top that leads to the Holyhead Breakwater Lighthouse. Its construction involved up to 1,300 men who initially raised a mound from the sea and then encased this in ten-tonne blocks of limestone. Underwater, divers in submarine bells created the foundations using picks and blasting using gunpowder in watertight pipes. It took twenty-eight years to build and required over seven million tonnes of limestone from the quarry on Holyhead Mountain. Today it is a very popular walking and fishing spot.

South Stack Cliffs Nature Reserve

This wonderful reserve is made up of heathland and farmland set on a stretch of dramatic sea cliffs which face the islet of South Stack. In spring thousands of guillemots, razorbills, kittiwake, fulmars and puffins breed on the iconic cliffs making it a seabird spectacle readily accessed from the reserve’s car park. Around ten pairs of the rare chough can be seen swooping along the cliffs all year round. The reserve’s heathland is part of the largest area of maritime heath in North Wales and supports the wonderfully named endemic plant, the spatulate fleawort, along with the silver-studded blue butterfly, adders and common lizards.

www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/south-stack-cliffs

South Stack Nature Reserve, Holy Island

 

Penrhos Coastal Park

There’s a little bit of everything in this park which makes it very popular with locals. Lying just east of Holyhead its eighty hectares is packed with history, wildlife, beaches and woods. With the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path and National Cycle Network routes 5 and 8 passing through, it is popular for walking, cycling and running. There is a hidden sandy beach that can only be reached by walking through the park and at low tide the beach area becomes quite extensive with the exposed sandbanks and mudflats in Beddmanarch Bay. It’s a popular spot for sea anglers after bass, dabs and whiting that come in on the flooding tide. The pet cemetery and its tiny headstones offer a quirkier side to the park.

Penrhos Beach, Holy Island

 

St Cybi Church and William Morris windows

St Cybi, the son of a sixth century Cornish king, became a priest in North Wales where the King of Gwynedd gave him an old Roman naval fort in which to base his religious community. It is one of the few examples of a three-walled fort with the fourth wall being the sea. Today, Holyhead’s town centre is built around the now Gothic St Cybi’s Church with its interesting medieval carvings and beautiful stained-glass windows. The William Morris Tree of Life window is a major tourist attraction. Commissioned by a Muslim family for a Christian building, the window is unique in not depicting people or animals. Instead, the entire window is given to the Tree of Life which fills the glass with rich green foliage and pomegranates in pink and deep orange.

Borthwen Beach, Rhoscolyn

Borthwen is a pretty, sandy crescent located on the southern shore of Holy island, with views across the Irish Sea to the Llŷn Peninsula. Backed by sand dunes there are also a few little rocky islets along the length of the beach. This is a great family beach with its shallow sloping sands and abundance of rockpools and is a popular launch point for sea kayaks and other boat users. It is a good starting point to explore the dramatic, rocky coastline along the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path. There are numerous inlets and coves and many small offshore islands, including Ynysoedd Gwylanod upon which the Rhoscolyn Beacon stands – a popular destination for sea kayakers along with the rock-hopping nearer the beach. The beach is reached by a very narrow lane and there is a small car park by the beach with toilets and cold showers. Check out Holy Island’s best beaches in our blog – link

Spectacular sea arches

A pair of striking natural arches are located a short, dramatic walk along the cliff tops west of Rhoscolyn. The superb Bwa Gwyn, the white arch, is comprised of fractured quartzitic rocks. It is possible to swim through the arch and also explore the adjacent sea cave accessed by a short but easy scramble. A small land bridge from the surrounding cliff gives access to the top of the arch where a grindstone once used to extract china clay from the quarry can still be seen. A short walk to the north leads to another natural arch, Bwa Du, the black arch. Both can be reached via the coast path.

Bwa Gwyn (White Arch), Holy Island

 

St Gwenfaen’s Well

The ruins of this early medieval holy well house are nestled in a small hollow overlooking the cliffs of Porth Gwalch west of Rhoscolyn. Old stone walls still delineate two small rooms that sit a metre or so below the surrounding landscape. Stone steps lead down to an antechamber with four corner seats and a small well chamber from which the spring rises. Water flows into a second pool outside of the building which has steps into it for bathing. The church of St Gwenfaen, the only church in Wales dedicated to her, is in the village of Rhoscolyn. Gwenfaen’s legend is that she was chased by Druids and escaped by climbing the rock stack off Rhoscolyn Head. The tide came in and she was carried away by angels; Porth Saint was thus named. She was known for curing mental illness and an offering of two white quartz pebbles into the water of the well is said to cure such problems. The well is blessed every year on, or near, St Gwenfaen’s Day (4 November) after Holy Communion in the nearby church. The well is located alongside the coast path between Borthwen Beach and Bwa Gwyn.

St Gwenfaen’s Well

 

Visit South Stack Lighthouse

Spectacularly located to the north-west of Holyhead this small rocky island (which has a high point of forty-one metres) is home to one of Wales most iconic sights – the South Stack Lighthouse. It acts as a waymark for coastal traffic and a landmark and orientation light for vessels crossing the Irish Sea between the ports of Holyhead, Dublin and Liverpool. Visitors can experience the majesty of the surrounding sea cliffs by descending the 400 steps to the thirty-metre-long metal footbridge that spans the turbulent sea and treacherous rocks below to reach the island. Prior to the footbridge the only means of crossing to the island was via a wicker basket suspended from a hemp rope over the swirling sea. The lighthouse tour is worthwhile, especially to learn more about the unique lives of the keepers.

www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouse-visitor-centres/south-stack-lighthouse-visitor-centre

Bag the tiny Ynys Peibio

This very small grass-covered, tidal island has a high point of less than five metres and is around fifty metres from the beach to the south-east of the port at Holyhead. Its small square tower is thought to have been an old navigational aid for Holyhead Harbour. It is easy to access from the Môrâwelon housing estate and from the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path and involves a very short walk across a pebble beach.

Paddle board in Holy Island

With a beautiful coastline and beaches Holy Island is a great paddle board destination. Check our paddle board guide to Holy Island for routes in the Inland Sea, Borthwen, Holyhead Harbour, Penrhos Country Park and more.

From historic landmarks and breathtaking natural scenery to coastal walks and outdoor adventures, Holy Island, Anglesey, offers a wealth of experiences for visitors to explore and enjoy.

Paddle boarding in Holy Island