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ON RIGHT FROM LOND.

From
Holyhd.

From

London.

ON LEFT FROM LOND.

Menai Suspension Bridge (see p. 182).

Beaumaris, 44 miles.

A

It

Beaumaris, the county town of Anglesea, is pleasantly situated on the Menai Strait. castle was erected here about the close of the thirteenth century, by Edward I., the remains of which are included within the domains of Sir R. B. W. Bulkeley Bart. Beaumaris is much resorted to during the summer months, and has of late been much improved. Wae once surrounded with walls, which in some places are still entire. The town-hall is an elegant modern building.) The church contains a curious monument, and in the vestry! were deposited the remains of Lady Beatrix Herbert, daughter of the celebrated Lord Herbert of Cherbury. In the neighbourhood of Beaumaris is Baron Hill, the seat of Sir R. B. W. Balkeley, Bart., commanding beautiful prospects; and about 4 miles from the town are the remains of Penmon Priory, consisting of the refectory, the dormitory, and the church. Beaumaris unites with Amlwch, Holyhead, and Llangefni, in returning 1 M.P. Pop. 1851, 2500.

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Holyhead is a place of very remote antiquity, and appears, from the vestiges of military works still to be seen, to have been an important Roman station. The principal trade of this port consists in the importation of agricultural produce from Ireland; and the town is greatly increased and improved

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The island of Anglesey is rich in mineral produce. The copper mines in the

Parys mountain (situated near Amlwch, on the N. coast of the island), which were discovered in 1768, produced at one time as much as 3000 tons of metal annually, but they have now greatly declined. Lead ore and asbestos have also been found, Iand coal is worked.

Anglesey was formerly a principal seat of Druidícal superstition, and contained sacred groves, which were cut down by the Romans under Suetonius Paulinus, A. D. 61. It was subjugated with the rest of Wales, by Edward I., and made a county by Henry VIII.

in consequence of its being the most convenient place of embarkation for Dublin. Steam-packets leave Holyhead for that city thrice daily, in connection with the express and mail trains which leave London at 9-30 A.M., 5 P.M., and 8-45 P.M., and which arrive at Holyhead at 5-15 P.M., 12-35 A.M., and 5-45 A.M. The distance to Kingstown is about 60 miles, and the voyage is performed in 4 hours, the packets arriving at Kingstown at 10 P.M., 6-30 A.M., and 11 A.M. respectively; the whole distance between London and the Irish metropolis being thus accomplished in less than 14 hours. Communication is besides constantly kept up by submarine electric telegraph between the sister kingdoms. A religious house is said to have been erected at Holyhead in the latter part of the sixth century; but the house for canons regular, called the College, appears to have been founded about 1137. The church, which is a handsome building, was erected about the time of Edward III. Holyhead contains also an assembly room, baths, a light-house, an extensive harbour, and a pier. The promontory of the head is an immense precipice, hollowed by the ocean into magnificent caverns, affording shelter to falcons and sea-fowls. In the neighbourhood a harbour of refuge on a great scale, is in the course of formation. Pop. 1851, 5622.

• See account of it, p. 250.

CONWAY, or Aber-Conway, was formerly surrounded by high and massive walls, strengthened by twenty-four towers, which, with four gateways, still remain in tolerable preservation. The principal object is the remains of the magnificent castle erected by Edward I. It is seated on a rock, washed on two sides by the Conway, and is of an oblong form, flanked by eight embattled towers. During the civil wars it was garrisoned for the King, but was taken by the Parliamentary army. It remained entire, however, till it was granted by Charles II. to the Earl of Conway, who dismantled it for the sake of the timber, iron, lead, &c. It is now the property of the Marquis of Hertford, to whom it gives the title of Baron Conway. Over the river is a fine suspension bridge, erected from designs by Telford. The church contains several monuments of the Wynne family. In Castle Street is a very old structure, called the College, inhabited at present by a few poor families. Near the market-place is a very large antique building, erected in 1585, by Robert Wynne, Esq. of Gwyder It is now the property of Lord Mostyn. Aberconway unites with Caernarvon. Bangor, Nevin, Pwllheli, and Criccieth, in returning one M.P. Pop. of bor. 1851, 2105.

The railway between Chester and Holyhead is rendered pre-eminently remarkable by those stupendous and wonderful triumphs of modern engineering, the Conway and Britannia tubu lar bridges, by which the line is respectively carried across the estuary formed by the mouth of the river Conway, and across the Menai Strait. These hollow rectangular tubes, sustained in their position by no other power than that which they derive from the strength of their materials, and the manner in which these are combined, consist of plates of wrought iron from to of an inch in thickness, firmly rivetted together, so as to form a single and continuous structure,-one tube (or connected series of tubes) serving for the passage of the up, and the other of the down, trains. To attempt any description of these great works would be out of place here; but the following particulars with reference to the larger structure, that which crosses the Menai Strait, will not be uninteresting. In this, the Britannia Bridge, the total length of each line of tube (regarded as a whole) is 1513 feet, which is made up by the union of four separate lengths of tube-two of longer, and two of shorter, dimensions. The two main lengths of tube, each measuring 472 feet, pass from the towers constructed respectively at high water mark on the Caernarvon and Anglesey shores, to the Britannia tower,-a structure of solid masonry, raised in the middle of the strait to the height of 210 feet, and based on a little rock formerly covered at high water. The shorter portions of tube connect the land-towers on either side with the abutments which terminate the embankments upon which the line of railway is carried, and by which the shores of the strait are approached. The total weight of each tube (regarded as a whole, in its entire length,) is nearly 5000 tons, and the whole struc ture is elevated to a height of 100 feet above the level of the water, so as to admit of the unimpeded passage of large vessels beneath it. In the construction of the tubes and towers as many as 1500 workmen were employed. The tubes were formed on the ground, upon the Caernarvon shore, and afterwards floated by means of pontoons, and subsequently raised to the required elevation by the use of powerful hydraulic presses. The Conway bridge, the construction of which preceded that of the larger structure, but which is similar in principle, consists of only one span of 400 feet, from shore to shore, and two abutments of masonry. Its height above the level of the water is only 18 feet. The tubes of which it is composed (each weighing 1300 tons) were built on the adjacent shore, and thence floated and raised in the same manner as described in reference to the Britannia Bridge.

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