WEST OF LLANFAIR P.O. 17 



of the retiring fluid." How could it be otherwise ? Had 

 not men, digging for coal on Malldraeth Marsh, found 

 shelly sea- beaches deep beneath the turf ? Were not the 

 peat-bogs full of tree-stumps, evidence of inundation ? 

 What did the old parson make of the Maen Mordhwyd ? 



West of Llanidan the character of the country changes; 

 woods no longer border the Straits, and the undulating 

 country falls to flat, cultivated land in the valley of the 

 Braint. The road runs along a low ridge, sloping to the 

 south to the Straits and to the north, beyond the little 

 Braint, to the wide valley of the Cefni, Anglesey's most 

 important river. Cromlechs, camps, carnedds, maenhirs 

 relics of the vanished races remain as single or heaped 

 stones, or, often as not, as mere place-names on a map; 

 it is a fine country for archaeological and antiquarian 

 speculation. Giraldus, crossing from Carnarvon to Aber 

 Menai, remarked that at first sight " the island of Mona 

 is a dry and stoney land, rough and unpleasant in its 

 appearance," but that inland it is " more fertile in corn 

 than any other part of Wales." This, to a great extent, 

 is true to-day. The cultivated land stretches away to 

 Newborough, now but a typical Welsh village, but once 

 of great importance. Rhos-vair was a British town, over- 

 looking the impassable marshes of the Cefni; Edward I. 

 made it the seat of justice for the island, calling it the 

 New Borough, a set-off for the royal town of Aberffraw, 

 with its port and palaces, away across the sands. The 

 mansions of the rulers were here, the business of the 

 island centred in the town; it was within reach of Carnar- 

 von, of strategic value. Pennant, however, says that it 

 has " greatly fallen away from its antient splendour." 

 We echo his lament " the glory of Newborough has now 

 passed away. " 



South and west of Newborough the Warren extends for 

 miles, a waste of blown sand, dune after dune, the home 



