North Wales Coast

From the Dee Estuary to the Menai Strait

 

For many people in the landlocked counties of the North West Midlands, the North Wales coast was the ‘seaside’. Even though the opportunity to travel further afield has become more generally available, much of the sandy beach that stretches from the Dee Estuary west to the Great Orme is flanked on its landward side by holiday accommodation of various types (camp and caravan sites, chalets, Bed & Breakfast lodgings, holiday apartments and Hotels) and towns that have been seeking to attract holidaymakers since the nineteenth century. There are also reminders of a much older history from Medieval Castles to Bronze Age Mines.

 

The map of North Wales shows the Lleyn Peninsular to the left, with Anglesey above and closer to the top centre. The coast line featured extends left from just below the eastern end of Anglesey to the mouth of the Dee Estuary to the right

Flint Castle, on the Welsh side of the Dee Estuary looking across to the Wirral, was the first of the chain of fortifications that Edward I built as part of his strategy to bring North Wales under his rule

Prestatyn is the first of the holiday resorts on the road west from the mouth of the Dee. The wide sandy beach stretches back towards the Estuary. Formby Point and Sefton Sands can be seen in the far distance

Looking west the beach continues almost to the tip of the Great Orme, glimpsed across the sea as a distant outline

Rhyl, seen here from Prestatyn’s western promenade, was the first holiday resort to be developed along this coast at the end of the eighteenth century

The fishing port at Rhyl is far older than the resort town and once served communities further inland in the Vale of Clwyd

At Colwyn Bay the shore line bends more northerly and creates a view back along the whole extend of the North Wales coast

At Penrhyn Bay the beach line narrows and is interrupted by the rocky headland of the Little Orme

The Little Orme and part of the Penrhyn Bay village seen from the Great Orme

Llandudno’s pebbly north beach looking back towards the Little Orme

Llandudno north beach, some of its hotels and pier (with the Great Orme behind)

Llandudno’s south beach is sandy from the base of the Great Orme

Conwy with its suspension bridge and castle seen from the Great Orme

Conwy Castle was another North Welsh fortification built by Edward I

Penrhyn Castle, near Bangor, is an early nineteenth century gothic revival

The Great Orme (from Penrhyn Castle) dominates the North Welsh coast. Copper was mined from its interior from the Bronze Age