Introduction
Village and community in Anglesey, Wales
For other uses, see Aberffraw (disambiguation).
Human settlement in WalesAberffrawThe village from the eastAberffrawLocation within AngleseyPopulation597 (2021)OS grid referenceSH3568CommunityAberffrawPrincipal areaAngleseyPreserved countyGwyneddCountryWalesSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townTŶ CROESPostcode districtLL63Dialling code01407PoliceNorth WalesFireNorth WalesAmbulanceWelsh
UK ParliamentYnys MônSenedd Cymru – Welsh ParliamentBangor Conwy Môn
List of places
UK
Wales
Anglesey
53°11′17″N 4°27′47″W / 53.188°N 4.463°W / 53.188; -4.463
Map of the community
Aberffraw is a village and community on the south west coast of the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. The village is 9 miles from the island's county town, Llangefni, and is on the west bank of the Afon Ffraw (Ffraw River). The community includes Soar and Dothan. It is on the A4080 and the nearest rail station is Bodorgan.
The village has a long history as a settlement from the Mesolithic Age. More recently, in medieval times, the site became the capital of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and a royal residence for the family of the House of Aberffraw.
The name of the village is often truncated to "Berffro" in the local dialect of Welsh. Local attractions include a part of the Anglesey Coastal Path, the beach and dunes at Aberffraw bay, a lake for recreational fishing, historic churches and prehistoric burial chambers.
Coast near Aberffraw
History
[edit]
Aberffraw is one of the oldest Mesolithic sites from prehistoric Wales, dating to c. 9,000 years ago. At Aberffraw Bay is the Trwyn Du (Welsh: Black nose) site. The burial was discovered whilst excavating a Bronze Age kerb cairn (bowl barrow) from 2000 BC, which was excavated because of the threat of coastal erosion. The 1977 dig revealed that the cairn was built on top of a deposit of 7,000 flint tools and two axes from 7000 BC, a few millennia after the last Ice Age.
An intact monument near Aberffraw is Din Dryfol, a Neolithic chambered tomb from 3000 BC, and around the banks of the nearby River Gwna are the remains of a stone hut circle and roundhouses, which were lived in during the Welsh Iron Age, c. 500 BC, until the British Roman period, before the 4th century.
In Welsh mythology Aberffraw features as the site of Branwen and Matholwch's wedding festival, where Efnysien maimed Matholwch's horses.
Aberffraw Royal court[edit]
Aberffraw is situated on Anglesey (Ynys Môn) at the mouth of the River Ffraw. The location was once a royal court where the early Kings of Gwynedd established their principal (chief) family seat. The site was a preshistoric settlement later occupied during the Roman period (c. 0- 400 AD). The town became a Welsh Princely court (Welsh: Llys) and location of a royal palace as part of the administrative centre and one of the three county divisions (hundred, Welsh: cantref) of Anglesey.
Medieval Royal House of Aberffraw[edit]
See also: House of Aberffraw
In the early Middle Ages Aberffraw was settled by Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion who built a palace in the 5th century. Rhodri the Great, the King of Gwynedd rebuilt the residence in the year 873 and had returned the capital of the Kingdom of Gwynedd to the Aberffraw cantref after Cadwallon ap Cadfan (c. 620) moved the royal court to Caernarfon in mainland Wales in the 7th century. Rhodri's palace (Welsh: Llys) became a royal court and his son Anarawd ap Rhodri started a cadet branch named the Royal House of Aberffraw. Anarawd's descendants settled the area for centuries as Kings of Gwynedd and were eventually titled the Prince of Wales. Llywelyn ab Iorwerth in 1201 re-established the palace as a residence and installed personnel to work similarly to the original set up of the king's royal suite based on the rules from their creation in 914.
During the Viking Age (850s – 1100s), Wales was subjected to Viking raids all throughout the country between 852 and 919 (the Jómsvíkinga saga refers to that period). An example of this pattern was with the Viking leader Ingimund who was expelled from Dublin and tried unsuccessfully to establish a base on Anglesey (c. 902), but instead left for Chester. Then, between the years 950–998 the second phase of Viking raids in Wales saw raids, attacks, and slave raids with a Viking raid at Aberffraw in 968. King Maredudd ab Owain paid the demanded ransom for the safe return of the Welsh who were slaved by the Vikings.
The court was then eventually dismantled in 1317 to provide building materials for Caernarfon Castle across the Menai Strait. The royal court was destroyed on Saint Nicholas Day, 6 December 1331, when a sandstorm buried 186 acres from Aberffraw north to Rhosneigr on the west of Anglesey in the Aberffraw cantref. This disaster drove families living in this area from their homes, and they migrated south to the villages of Llanddwyn and Newborough.
Aberffraw cantref (hundred)[edit]
See also: Aberffraw cantref
The Meyrick (Welsh: Meurig) family of Bodorgan, Anglesey, were given the Crown lease for the manor lands of the Aberffraw cantref during the Tudor period (c. 1500). Llewelyn ap Heilyn fought at the Battle of Bosworth alongside Henry VII of England. Afterward, Llewelyn's son Meurig became captain of the bodyguard to Henry VIII and was rewarded with the lease. Today, the same family at Bodorgan Hall (near Aberffraw) is represented by the Tapps-Gervis-Meyrick baronets. After the Meyrick family ownership, it was the Owen family of Penrhos locally on Anglesey who owned the lands of Aberffraw until 1808. Subsequently, the Hughes family of Baron Dinorben, the Williams and Wynn families of Baron Newborough, then the Marquess of Anglesey Paget family, and finally Lord Bulkeley (Viscount) all briefly owned the lands surrounding Aberffraw. Today, the current town was developed in the mid to late 20th century. By 1949, the village was called the poorest in Anglesey.