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Anglesey

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"The Island of MONA or ANGLESEY is in circumference 60 Miles, contains about 200,000 Acres, 74 Parishes & 1840 Houses, has 2 Market Towns, one of which (viz.) Beaumaris sends a Member to Parliament. This Island was anciently called Insula Opaca, from the great quantity of Wood with which it was over grown, but now it is very bare of trees especially in ye Northern & Western parts. The Principal Comodities of this Island are Corn, Cattle, Fish & Fowl, which it produces in such abundance that the Welsh call it Mam Cymru, i.e. the Mother or Nurse of Wales. The Air at certain times by reason of the Mists and Foggs that proceed from ye Irish Sea is Aguish. The Soil is Rocky and Mountainous, it affords plenty of Grind Stones, Milstones, &c." [Emanuel Bowen, Britannia Depicta, 1720]

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Archives & Libraries

Anglesey Record Office

Anglesey Library Services

The National Library of Wales

The National Archives has details of many archive repositories in the UK with links to their web sites, if any.

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Bibliography

An Anglesey Bibliography - Books of General Interest for Family Historians

It is acknowledged that the principal source of the details of books etc included on these pages is the online catalogues of the National Library of Wales

Anglesey History - a listing of local books

Gwynedd Family History Society have an online listing of their extensive library of books

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Cemeteries

Gwynedd Family History Society have published a selection of Memorial Inscription indexes

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Census

The UK BMD web site provides 2558 links to websites that offer on-line transcriptions of UK births, marriages, deaths and censuses. A wide range of other indexes and transcriptions are also available for most counties, these may include parish records, wills, monumental inscriptions etc

There are census transcriptions on the following parish pages;- Amlwch 1801 (including parts of the parishes of Llaneilian, Llanerchymedd, Llanwenllwyfo and Rhosbol) ; Amlwch 1841 & 1851; Bodewryd 1851 ; Coedana 1851 ; Holyhead 1851 ; Llanbabo 1851 ; Llanbedrgoch 1851 ; Llandyfrydog 1851 ; Llanedwen 1851 ; Llaneilian 1851 ; Llanerchymedd 1851 ; Llanfair yn Neubwll 1851 ; Llangristiolus 1851 ; Llanrhwydrys 1851.

Gwynedd Family History Society have published a selection of census indexes

Neil Summers' Amlwch data site has an index of the 1881 census for Anglesey

Carry out initial searches on all censuses 1841-1911 on LDS Family Search - using basic data supplied by Find My Past (subscription site) and all follow up searches are directed there

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Church History

Church Plans Online - the Lambeth Palace Library holds a database of the Incorporated Church Building Society's images of the plans of various churches (use the onsite search facility)

Welsh Chapels & Churches

Gwynedd Family History Society have a map of the ecclesiastical parishes of Anglesey (Publications) on which there are links to photographs of some parish churches.

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Church Records

England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index Marriages 1754 - 1837 on Tinstaafl Transcripts  - Work in progress

Joyce Hinde has supplied a list of Parish Registers held at Anglesey Record Office.

The FreeReg site has a list of churches and chapels in the county

Anglesey Records Office has a list of nonconformist chapel records it holds

Gwynedd Family History Society have published a selection of Baptism and Marriage Indexes

Pre-1837 Calvinistic Methodist Births/Baptisms in Anglesey transcribed by Joyce and Douglas W. Hinde.

Wesleyan Methodist Births/Baptisms in the Holyhead Circuit 1842-1890 indexed by Joyce Hinde

Wesleyan Methodist Births/Baptisms in the Beaumaris Circuit indexed by Joyce and Douglas W. Hinde

Anglesey Wesleyan Circuit records - details of extant records on Archives Network Wales

National Library of Wales An online searchable index of Marriage Bonds and Allegations. It contains details of some 90,000 marriages by licence which took place in Wales between 1616 and 1837. In early 2016 the NLW made changes in its online catalogue and now the only apparent method of finding these bonds is to search the main catalogue

Family Search UK/Ireland - Historical Record Collections
IGI Batch Numbers - Hugh Wallis's site and Archer Software's site

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Civil Registration

Brett Langston has provided details of the Registration Districts in Anglesey for the period 1837 to 1930.

Certificates of birth, death and marriage can be obtained from the Superintendent Registrar at the following District Register Office:

North Wales BMD Births, Marriages and Deaths on the internet. Clwyd and Gwynedd Family History Societies, and Montgomeryshire Genealogical Society are collaborating with the local Registration Services to make the indexes to these records freely searchable via the Internet. Although the indexes are not yet complete for all years and districts, it is hoped that the database will eventually cover all North Wales births, marriages and deaths for the years 1837 to 1950.

The UK BMD web site provides 2558 links to websites that offer on-line transcriptions of UK births, marriages, deaths and censuses. A wide range of other indexes and transcriptions are also available for most counties, these may include parish records, wills, monumental inscriptions etc

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Description & Travel

Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R., Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: History Data Service, UK Data Archive [distributor], 17 May 2001. SN: 4348. Here is a gazetteer/finding aid plus a set of overview maps to accurately identify the position of parishes within the county

Isle of Anglesey Culture, heritage and more - and the council's main site

Anglesey - history, maps, places, photographs

Postcards of Anglesey - on the Anglesey.info site

Isle of Anglesey - on wikipedia

Menai Bridges - on the Anglesey.info site

A Vision of Britain Through Time. "This site contains information about your home area from the 2001 census -- and from every earlier British census back to 1801. It can present this information both as maps of the whole country and as graphs showing change over time in your area. It truly offers a Vision of Britain through time"

Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516. The Gazetteer compiled by Dr Samantha Letters is a catalogue of markets and fairs in medieval England and Wales. This is the first comprehensive national survey.

Anglesey - on Cyndi's List

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Emigration & Immigration

On Caryl Williams's site - Passenger list for the ship 'Higginson' sailing from Caernarfonshire with 141 Welsh Emigrants on board and arriving in New York May 18th 1850. Most of these 141 passengers were Welsh people from Merionethshire and the County of Anglesey, six were English. The Ship left Caernarfon on April 9th with 141 passengers and arrived at New York with the same number.

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Gazetteers

The section of The National Gazetteer (1868) relating to Anglesey - transcribed by Colin Hinson.

Tallis's Topographical Dictionary of England and Wales, published in 1860 in six vols, editor E. L. Blanchard.
See Welsh Family History Archive for all the excellent county maps (showing the hundreds) and the alphabetical gazetteer
From the preface;
"In the following pages will be found fully described the past history and present aspect of every place of any significance in England and Wales, forming a work of permanent importance to the commercial world, of ready service to the tourist of the day, and of constant interest to the general reader, who may derive from this source a large supply of entertainment, as well as of information for the amusement and instruction of a leisure hour."

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Genealogy

Here are details of the Genealogy Mailing Lists serving the Welsh counties

John Ball's Welsh Family History Archive provides some very useful material and links for those with Welsh ancestry.

Timeline of genealogically interesting dates by Gareth Hicks

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History

Ancient Monuments on Anglesey - on the Anglesey.info site

Anglesey War Memorials - on the Anglesey.info site

The Toll Houses of Anglesey - on the Anglesey.info site

TS Indefatigable Anglesey 1944-1995 - on the Anglesey.info site

The Modern Antiquarian page for Anglesey - full sites listing with data (dolmens, standing stones, cromlechs, quoits, mounds, barrows etc )

Descriptive information about the history of Anglesey has been made available online by Warren Kovach.

Gwynedd Family History Society have a history of Wales feature on their site (Publications)

Castles Wales site - Medieval Gwynedd and The Early Welsh Kingdoms, Gwynedd

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Land & Property

Historic Houses of Anglesey - on the Anglesey.info site

Survey and Valuation of Lands in Seven Anglesey parishes undertaken on behalf of the David Hughes Charity, 13 September 1811 - on the People's Collection Wales site (use search box)
"This survey and valuation of lands in the parishes of Cerrigceinwen, Llangristiolus, Llanddeusant, Llanfflewin, Llanrhuddlad, Aberffraw and Ceirchiog, Anglesey, was compiled by Thomas Jones, Bryntirion, and William Jones, Nant"

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Maps

Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R., Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: History Data Service, UK Data Archive [distributor], 17 May 2001. SN: 4348. Here is a gazetteer/finding aid plus a set of overview maps to accurately identify the position of parishes within the county

Gwynedd Family History Society have a map of the ecclesiastical parishes of Anglesey (under Parishes) - with some links to photographs of parish churches

Map of Anglesey in 1833 - Copied from the original in "A Topographical Dictionary of Wales" by Samuel Lewis 1833

Welsh county maps on the UK Genealogy Archives site

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Merchant Marine

Survey of 20th century Welsh Seafarers for North-West Wales Papers - details of extant records on Archives Network Wales "The Welsh Seafarers for North-West Wales project recorded the careers of twentieth century seafarers. Forms were distributed via the Caernarfon, Dolgellau and Anglesey Record Offices, with help from local maritime museums and individuals"

Royal National Lifeboat Institution (Anglesey), archive - details of extant records on Archives Network Wales

Lighthouse Personnel in England and Wales and the Channel Islands 1841-1910. Includes;- Table of Keepers; Table of Stations by county; Location map of the lighthouse sites.

Welsh Mariners by Dr Reg Davies---includes a searchable database of over 17,000 Welsh born (or Wales resident) Master mariners, mates and engineers who held certificates of competency or service; in practice it is an index of men active from 1850 to 1945 in the merchant navy.

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Military History

Anglesey War Memorials on the Anglesey-Mon Info Web site

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Newspapers

Daily Post - Anglesey

Gwynedd Archives Service have a substantial collection of the following publications;

Yr ArweinyddBaner ac Amserau CymruCaernarfon & Denbigh HeraldCaernarfon - Llyn Chronicle
Cambrian NewsY CymroY DyddY Ddraig Goch
Eco'r WyddfaY Genedl GymreigGoriadYr Herald Gymraeg
Illustrated London NewsLlais OgwanNorth Wales ChronicleNorth Wales Weekly News
Y RhedegyddY TystYr Udgorn 
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Occupations

Victorian Professional Photographers in Wales 1850-1925 - a county based database compiled by Mari Alderman, includes sources and a bibliography

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Poor Houses, Poor Law

The Workhouse - on Peter Higginbotham's site

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Public Records

Details of extant records are on Archives Network Wales for the following material (use on-site search box);

  • Civil Parish Records, Anglesey 1786-1998
  • Ecclesiastical parishes, papers 1550-2001
  • Tithe Rent Charge Account Books 1924-1936
  • Anglesey Constabulary, records 1867-1978
  • Anglesey County Council records 1837-1986
  • Anglesey gas, records 1856-1955
  • Anglesey education records 1840- 1990
  • Anglesey Petty Sessions records 1792-1991
  • Anglesey Poor Law Union Records 1833-1941
  • Anglesey Quarter Sessions records [16th century]-1971
  • Anglesey Savings Bank Records 1818-1876
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Schools

The Blue Books of 1847. An inquiry into the state of education in Wales - on the NLW's Digital Mirror site

Day Schools in Anglesey in 1847. This database consists of day schools which existed in 1847 included here within an alphabetical list of parishes
It contains the names and types of day schools listed in the Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales published in 1847

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Societies

  • Gwynedd FHS
  • Anglesey Antiquarian Society. The web site is a significant resource for people interested in the history of the Island. The Index to the Transations 1911-1985 has been digitised and is available on the web site via a searchable database together with the contents list of subsequent Transactions up to 2007. The Index contains the names of many individuals as well as other information. The Anglesey Bibliography is in the process of being digitised
  • Gwynedd Archaeological Trust