PENTRAETH 4 miles NW of Menai Bridge on the A5025 A Parish Church of St Mary A Plas Gwyn C Three Leaps Before land reclamation, this sleepy village stood on the edge of Traeth Coch (known in English as Red Wharf Bay). Its name reflects this, as it means head of the beach. At low tide, the almost 15 square miles of sand supported a flourishing cockling industry.
Nowadays, this is a popular place for a holiday, even though it is not ideal for swimming due to the strong tidal currents. The Parish Church of St Mary dates originally from the 14th century, and in the graveyard is the mass grave of people who perished on the Royal Charter, a sailing ship that was blown onto the rocks near the village as it sailed from Australia to Liverpool (see also Moelfre). There are no names on the stones, as very few bodies were identified. Close to Plas Gwyn, an 18th-century Georgian mansion, is the Three Leaps – three small stones in a row that commemorate a contest in AD580 between two rivals for the hand of the granddaughter of the warrior Geraint.
The contest was won by the man who could leap the furthest, in this case, by a champion named Hywel. The stones mark his efforts, in possibly what we now know as the triple jump. The loser is said to have died of a broken heart. BENLLECH 6½ miles N of Menai Bridge on the A5025 C Castell Mawr G Goronwy Owen With its excellent beach to attract holidaymakers, Benllech is probably the most popular resort on Anglesey, but those coming here should take care as there are strong tidal currents and the sands can be treacherous. This resort has another claim to fame, as the birthplace of the poet Goronwy Owen. He lived between 1723 and 1769, and spent his last years in Virginia as the rector of St Andrew’s Church in Laurenceville. His fame rests on an output of just 55 poems. Traces of a hill fort, Castell Mawr, can be found on the west side of Red Wharf Bay, and on the evidence of coins found here, the site could once have been occupied by the Romans