Beaumaris
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  Beaumaris Location withinAnglesey | |
| Population | 1,121 (2021) |
| OS grid reference | SH6076 |
| Community |
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| Principal area |
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| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BEAUMARIS |
| Postcode district | LL58 |
| Dialling code | 01248 |
| Police | North Wales |
| Fire | North Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
53°16′01″N4°05′35″W / 53.267°N 4.093°W /53.267; -4.093  Map of the community | |
Beaumaris (/boʊˈmærɪs,bjuː-/;[1]Welsh:BiwmaresWelsh pronunciation:[bɪuˈmaːrɛs]ⓘ)[citation needed] is a town andcommunity on theIsle of Anglesey inWales, of which it is the formercounty town. It is located at the eastern entrance to theMenai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from the coast ofNorth Wales. At the 2021 census, its population was 1,121.[2] The community includesLlanfaes.
Beaumaris was originally aViking settlement known asPorth y Wygyr ("Port of the Vikings"),[3] but the town itself began its development in 1295 whenEdward I of England, having conquered Wales, commissioned the building ofBeaumaris Castle as part of a chain of fortifications around the North Wales coast (others includeConwy,Caernarfon andHarlech).[4]
The castle was built on a marsh and that is where it found its name; the Norman-French builders called itbeaux marais, which translates as "fair marsh".[5]
The ancient village ofLlanfaes, a mile to the north of Beaumaris, had been occupied byAnglo-Saxons in 818[citation needed] but had been regained byMerfyn Frych,King of Gwynedd, and remained a vital strategic settlement. To counter further Welsh uprisings, and to ensure control of the Menai Strait, Edward I chose the flat coastal plain as the place to build Beaumaris Castle. The castle was designed by theSavoyard mason MasterJames of Saint George[6] and is considered the most perfect example of aconcentric castle. The 'troublesome' residents of Llanfaes were removeden bloc toRhosyr in the west of Anglesey, a new settlement King Edward entitled "Newborough".[7]
Beaumaris was awarded aroyal charter by Edward I in 1296,[8][9] which was drawn up on similar terms to the charters of his other castle towns in North Wales and intended to invest only the English and Norman-French residents with civic rights. Native Welsh residents of Beaumaris were largely disqualified from holding any civic office, carrying any weapon, and holding assemblies; and were not allowed to buy houses or land within the borough. The charter also specifically prohibitedJews (who had been largely expelled from most English towns) from living in Beaumaris.[10]
From 1562 until theReform Act 1832, theBeaumaris constituency was arotten borough with the member of parliament elected by the corporation of the town, which was in the control of the Bulkeley family.[11][12]
Beaumaris was the port of registration for all vessels in North West Wales, covering every harbour on Anglesey and all the ports fromConwy toPwllheli.Shipbuilding was a major industry in Beaumaris. This was centred on Gallows Point – a nearby spit of land extending into the Menai Strait about a mile west of the town. Gallows Point had originally been called "Osmund's Eyre" but was renamed when the towngallows was erected there – along with a "Dead House" for the corpses of criminals dispatched inpublic executions.[13] Later, hangings were carried out at thetown gaol and the bodies buried in a lime-pit within thecurtilage of the gaol. One of the last prisoners to hang at Beaumaris issued a curse before he died – decreeing that if he was innocent the four faces of the church clock would never show the same time.[14]
Beaumaris was a haven of refuge in a storm to the passengers of the sailing ship,Everton, on a Thursday morning in November,1762 when it ran aground on a nearby sand bank. The ship's Captain, knowing nothing could be done before high tide six hours hence, ordered the yawl to be lowered carrying himself and all the passengers to shore for fresh provisions in the town. One of those passengers was Devereux Jarratt from Virginia who was voyaging to London to receive holy orders from the Bishop of London in the Church of England. He writes in his autobiography, "As I had eaten nothing for several days, but salt beef, ranced butter, black biscuit, &tc. while on board, the meat, butter, and every thing I ate, at Beaumaris, exceeded any thing I ever had tasted in all my life. Having refreshed ourselves, in the most delicious and agreeable manner, we took a view of the town, and the remains of an old castle standing just without the town, which had been erected as a place of security and defence, by one of the first kings of England. Every thing appeared so delightful, and the inhabitants looked so fresh and ruddy, that I thought no people in the world could live better than the Welsh. The high mountain of Penmanmaur, lying over against the town, with the top in the clouds, and all the visible parts covered with snow, exhibited the most grand and majestic appearance, I had ever seen."[15]
According to historianHywel Teifi Edwards, when the "ProvincialEisteddfod" was held at Beaumaris in1832, a youngPrincess Victoria andher mother were in attendance.[16]
Beaumaris has never had a railway station built to the town, although the nearby village ofPentraeth had astation on the formerRed Wharf Bay branch line which ran off theAnglesey Central Railway. It was roughly six miles west of the town by road. This station closed in 1930.[17]
There are two tiers of local government covering Beaumaris, atcommunity (town) andcounty level: Beaumaris Town Council andIsle of Anglesey County Council. The town council is based atBeaumaris Town Hall on Castle Street.[18]
Beaumaris was anancient borough. It was awarded its firstcharter in 1296.[8] In 1836 it became amunicipal borough under theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across Wales and England.[19][20] The borough was abolished in 1974, with its area instead becoming a community. District-level functions passed toYnys Môn-Isle of Anglesey Borough Council, which in 1996 was reconstituted as a county council.[21][22]
Notable buildings in the town include the castle, acourthouse built in 1614, the 14th-centurySt Mary's and St Nicholas's Church,Beaumaris Gaol,[23] the 14th-century Tudor Rose (one of the oldest originaltimber-framed buildings in Britain) and the Bulls Head Inn, built in 1472, which GeneralThomas Mytton made his headquarters during the "Siege of Beaumaris" during the secondEnglish Civil War in 1648.[24]
A native of Anglesey, David Hughes, foundedBeaumaris Grammar School in 1603. It became a non-selective school in 1952 when Anglesey County Council became the first authority in Britain to adoptcomprehensivesecondary education. The school was eventually moved toMenai Bridge and only the ancient hall of the original school building now remains.[25]Beaumaris Town Hall was completed in 1785.[26]
Beaumaris Pier, opened in 1846, was designed by Frederick Foster and is a masonry jetty on wooden and concrete pilings. The pier was rebuilt and extended to 570 feet (170 m) after storm damage in 1872, and a large pavilion containing a cafe was built at the end. It was once the landing stage forsteamships of the Liverpool and North Wales Shipping Company, including theSnowdon,La Marguerite,St. Elvies andSt. Trillo, although the larger vessels in its fleet – theSt. Seriol andSt. Tudno – were too large for the pier and landed their passengers at Menai Bridge. In the 1960s, through lack of maintenance, the pier became unsafe and was threatened with demolition, but local yachtswoman and lifeboat secretary Miss Mary Burton made a large private donation to ensure the pier was saved for the town. A further reconstruction was carried out between 2010 and 2012.[27]
TheSaunders Roe company set up a factory at Fryars (the site of the old Franciscan friary to the east) when it was feared that the company's main base on the Isle of Wight would be a target forWorld War IILuftwaffe bombers. The factory converted American-builtPBY Catalinaflying boats.[28] After the war, the company focused on their ship building produced at the site with fastpatrol boats,minesweepers and an experimental Austin Float Plane.[29] They also produced buses forLondon Transport (RT Double deckers) and single deck buses forCuba.[29]
The first recorded rescue of people in difficulty at sea was in 1830 when 375 people were rescued from a foundered emigrant ship. A lifeboat station was established in 1891 and closed four years later when a neighbouring station was provided with a more powerful lifeboat. The station was reopened in 1914 and is operated by theRNLI.[30]
Beaumaris is served by one primary school. Its 300-year-old grammar school moved to nearbyMenai Bridge in 1963 and became thecomprehensive Ysgol David Hughes.[31]
According to theUnited Kingdom Census 2021, 36.8 per cent of all usual residents aged 3+ in Beaumaris can speak Welsh.[32] 56.3 per cent of the population noted that they could speak, read, write or understand Welsh.[33]
The2011 census noted 39.5 per cent of all usual residents aged 3 years and older in the town could speak Welsh.[34] The 2011 census also noted that 58.7 per cent of all usual residents aged 3+ who were born in Wales could speak Welsh.[35] In 2001, 39.7 per cent of all usual residents aged 3+ in Beaumaris could speak Welsh. In 1981, 39.9 per cent of the population could speak Welsh; 10 people were monoglot Welsh speakers.[36]
TheBeaumaris Food Festival is an annualfood festival that has been held since 2013 in the town and castle grounds.[37]
In 2018,Netflix used Beaumaris as the fictional seaside town (and in particular the pier) for the seriesFree Rein.[43][44]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The latest series of cult teen drama Free Rein is being filmed in the town in and around the pier area.
In real life, most scenes set on the island were filmed in Anglesey, North Wales. The small town of Beaumaris appears as the island's pier on the show.
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