Of Shipwrecks, White Ladies & Mice

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    The coast of Anglesey has some incredibly treacherous waters, the Menai Strait being particularly notorious for vicious eddies and sandbanks. And, in the waters off the top of the island, there have been many notable shipwrecks over the centuries: the most well known being The Royal Charter, a steam clipper wrecked off Porth Alerth in Dulas Bay, northeast Anglesey on  the 26th of October, 1859. Some 450 people lost their lives in the sinking and a total of around 200 vessels were lost during the storm, killing 800.

The Lower White Lady with West Mouse in the background. Photo © Jane Harvey

    If you take a walk over the headland at Trwyn Y Gader, or Carmel Head in English, you will find yourself confronted with two forty-five-foot tall stone towers, one behind the other, on the slope towards the sea, with a third marker offshore, on the little islet of Maen Y Bugail: West Mouse; one of three 'mice' around the top coast of the island - the photos above and left show the lower of the two beacons and West Mouse in the background. The two stone towers are known locally as The White Ladies, formerly having been painted white for visibility. The purpose of this odd arrangement was to warn ships of the presence of Coal Rock, one-and-a-half miles offshore, which, along with Ethel and Archdeacon Rocks, presented a serious hazard to shipping, particularly in the days of sail with vessels tacking against the wind as they negotiated between The Skerries and Point Lynas by Amlwch.
    They're clearly marked on the OS maps of Anglesey and are well worth the half-hour or so walk to see them, and the view out to sea there is wonderful. When COVID-19 permits, a picnic by the old copper-works chimney stack (you might need it's shelter if it's windy,) is a very pleasant way to spend half a day.

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