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.