Ramble Around Aberlleiniog Castle

by Leah Williams
(Anglesey)

If you wander off the Anglesey Coastal Path near Llangoed, on the beautiful eastern side of the island, you can pay a visit to Aberlleiniog Castle.

This is a little-known Scheduled Ancient Monument, a motte and bailey castle built around 1088 by Hugh D'Avranches (also known as Hugh the Fat), the Norman Earl of Chester.

Both castle and surrounding land is owned by Menter Mon, who mangages the site in partnership with Llangoed and Penmon Community Council and with the advice of Coed Cymru.

Project funders include the Heritage Lottery Fund, Cadw, the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme and the Countryside Council of Wales.

The castl has an enthralling and engaging history, having been the subject of many different uses, defensive and otherwise, right up to the present day.

As well as its historical and heritage interest, the site has a rich and varied biodiversity.

It is a proposed Local Nature Reserve and lies within the Anglesey Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

A number of newly constructed footpaths which provide access to the castle were created by a project funded by Cydcoed, a Forestry Commission Wales project funded by the European Union Objective 1 project and the Welsh Assembly Government.

You can get to these footpaths from the public car park in Llangoed village centre (GR SH611796), the public car park at Lleiniog Beach (GR SH615796) and a pedestrian only entrance/exit point at Haulfre Lane (GR SH15796).

The difficulty rating of the footpaths is easy to moderate, and a walk to and around the site can last a couple of hours.

Take care as the paths can be wet in places, and you are recommended to take walking booots.

Leaflets are available providing information on the footpaths, available from Menter Mon (tel: (01248) 725700), shops and businesses in Llangoed, Beaumaris and Llanfairpwll.

A project to improve further public access to the site has started, which will link the castle to the existing footpaths, using a timber bridge and steps and platforms.

So if you would like a group walk around Aberlleiniog Castle you can contact Leah Williams at Menter Mon on (01248) 725700.

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Comments for Ramble Around Aberlleiniog Castle

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Feb 27, 2015

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by: Nina

Thanks for reminding me about Aberlleiniog castle. I am going to visit Anglesey in the coming next month. Once I have visited Anglesey, but at that time I have missed Aberlleiniog castle. If you don’t share this post I would miss this place again.

Nov 05, 2009

castell aberlleiniog
by: Carys - High Wycombe

Last Monday 2nd Nov 09 my brother and his wife took my husband and myself to see Aberlleiniog castle on Anglesey.

I wasn't expecting much, but to my surprise we found the most charming little castle - perfect for children to play.

What used to be in the past a difficult place to get to, has now been transformed into a lovely woodland walk with wooden walkways and bridges at the end in order to access the castle.

The walkways have also been made safe with footgrips. When you enter, there is very little to see on the inside, but I wondered what would be found if a little careful digging took place.

The children of nearby village Llangoed must have had a whale of a time playing there in the past as it's the perfect place to let one's imagination run wild.

From the top one can see quite far along the coastline and in winter when the trees are bare, I should imagine that the view is wonderful.

This is an exciting place to take children, but they do need careful supervisione especially when they walk along the edge of the ramparts, there's quite a drop down to the dry moat below.

It would be good if we could get a little more information about this castle.

How much research has been made? There was no notice explaining the castle and we only gleaned a little information from the notice at the nearby beach.

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